EASTER ISSUES 2026: Why You And I Are Both Thieves On The Cross
Jesus is nailed to the cross He did not deserve.
(578 WORDS) — Today is Good Friday, the day Jesus Christ was convicted in a kangaroo court for telling the truth about Himself, tortured mercilessly until His back was torn to a hideous bloody mass of skin and muscle ribbons, and then finally brutally nailed to a cross where He suffered for hours till His death.
Why did Jesus do that? John 3:16 tells us He did so because He “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Why was His sacrifice required? Romans 3:23-25 tells us He did so because we are all sinners who are unable to save ourselves, so He came and suffered the penalty of death for us:
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance He had passed over former sins.”
And Colossians 2:14 tells us that:
“And you, who were dead in your sin and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
When the Romans crucified Jesus, they did so along with two criminals, one on a cross to His left and the other on a cross to His right. The Gospel of Luke at 23:39-43 tells us this about the two criminals:
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at Him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And He said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
One of the criminals mocked Jesus, thus denying Him, while the other criminal recognized His innocence and asked Him to save him. Jesus told the one who recognized His innocence that he would be in Heaven with Him that very day.
Three days later, Jesus was resurrected from His tomb, thus proving that He could indeed do what He promised the thief to His right: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no man comes to the Father but through me.” (John 14:6).
So which criminal will you be?
We are all sinners i.e. violators of God’s perfect laws. For most of the first 41 years of my life, I was like the criminal to the left of Jesus. I was lost in sin, selfishly devoted to my own advancement, drinking to excess, partying and much else. But then at 9:15 am on March 1, 1991, Jesus opened my eyes to my sin and, like the criminal to the right of Jesus, I cried out to Him.
So, which criminal are you today on Good Friday 2026? Infinitely more important is which criminal will you have been on the day you die?
WANT TO TALK MORE ABOUT THIS? GOT QUESTIONS ABOUT IT?
I was 41 years old before I recognized my need to confess my sins to Jesus and ask Him to be my Lord and Savior for eternity. He did and I wouldn’t trade one second of my life since He did for any slice of time beforehand.
If you have questions, if you have doubts, and you have a few minutes for an honest, from-the-heart, completely and totally off-the-record, non-judgmental conversation about you and Jesus, email me at mark.tapscott@hillfaith.org. We can meet anywhere on the Hill or closely by the Hill at your convenience.