Luke 23-24

Two Men on Either Side of the Cross

Dr. Luke doesn’t miss details. He wants us to see the picture on Golgotha in all its horror, honesty and hope. And while he puts the spotlight squarely on Jesus, did you notice the two others held up beside him? The two thieves. We’re all familiar with the three crosses on the hill. But if you dismiss the two men beside Jesus as wicked twins who only act as contrasts to the holiness of the Lamb of God, you miss something I think Luke would have us see.

We don’t know their names, but early Christian writers called the thief on Christ’s right Dismas and the one on his left Gestas. While they are often spoken of as “the thieves”, the two men on either side of the cross are really very different. They are as different as heaven and hell. As different as lost and saved. In fact there may be no more important difference in the world than this: Which side of the cross are you on?

The first of the thieves to speak, Gestas, “hurls insults” at Jesus. Not a strange thing for a person in pain to do. People injured and in shock are likely to take it out on anyone nearby. Loving wives, while giving birth, have been known to cuss out their shocked husbands. But this guy’s insults aren’t random: They’re personal. He challenges Christ’s divinity. He dares Jesus to do something about their situation. He is an angry mocker who speaks the thoughts of an unbelieving world with spit and venom. Gestas has no trouble calling Jesus out and few there would have disagreed with his rant.

But at least one person one did: The other thief.

Dismas was on the other side of Jesus… in every way. He reaches past the unbelievable pain he was enduring and blocks the mocking words from Gestas. He defends Christ as having done “nothing wrong” and rebukes Gestas for his attitude. It is the perfect picture of the person who sees who Jesus really is. And he knows that being this close to the Son of God at the moment of one’s death is a privilege that should not be wasted. He asks for help and mercy and its no surprise when he gets it.

What do you want to hear at the moment of your death? “This day you will be with me in Paradise” sounds pretty good to me.

And we can hear those words from a loving Savior… as long as we are on the right side of the cross.

May God increase your faith today and may we all be ready to hear words of welcome because we have claimed the grace of the Christ on the cross.

Easter is coming… have you invited someone to come hear His story?


Jeff Walling
March 17