Thought from today’s Bible reading from Luke 23; John 18-19.
There are several lessons to be learned from the thief who was crucified next to Jesus. Notice what Luke recorded in his gospel:
“One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, ‘Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!’ But the other answered, and rebuking him said, ‘Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’ And he was saying, ‘Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!’ And He said to him, ‘Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise’” (Luke 23:39-43).
This penitent thief is often used as an example by many in the religious world to argue that one can be saved today by faith alone without water baptism. This is not the point of this passage at all. [For more on this point, see this article: What About the Thief on the Cross?] But there are some other lessons to be learned, particularly as we consider the things the thief understood.
- He understood the need to fear God, as he rebuked the other thief for failing to do so (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
- He understood that it was just for criminals to be punished (Romans 13:3-4).
- He understood that Jesus was innocent and undeserving of death (Hebrews 7:26).
- He understood that Jesus, despite certain death, would be receiving a kingdom (Matthew 16:18-19).
This thief on the cross understood what many do not. Let us learn from him, not to find out what we need to do to be saved, but to understand what he knew about God, justice, Jesus, and the Lord’s kingdom.
Tomorrow’s reading: Matthew 28; Mark 16
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
