What About the Righteous Criminal on the Cross?

The righteous criminal on the cross is sometimes used as an excuse to be ignorant and lazy to learn about the truths of God: “I am not interested to know so much about the truths of God. I want to be just like the righteous criminal on the cross; he did not know any scripture or Theology, and yet was saved!”

Their assumption, of course, is that the criminal on the cross truly did not know any scripture or Theology. However, that cannot be further from the truth. Take a look at what this criminal said which prompted a salvation-assuring response from Jesus:

Luke 23:42 And he said to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom!”

In his profession of faith to Jesus, this righteous criminal on the cross had spoken thoroughly scripturally and theologically. He had used language that only a scripturally-trained mind would use. What does it mean for him to say to Jesus, “Remember me”? What does it mean for Jesus to “come into [his] kingdom”? Whether you like it or not, the righteous criminal on the cross had a theological background! His profession of faith demonstrates that he had an accurate knowledge of the Messiah on which he based his faith.

At this time, the rest of Jesus’ disciples were starting to despair and feel disappointed. According to their inaccurate Theology, the Messiah is someone who would conquer Israel’s enemies, and not be conquered by them as Jesus seemed to be. To them, Jesus’ crucifixion was a humiliating defeat; solid evidence that that they had identified the wrong person as the Messiah and hence wasted their time.

This criminal crucified beside Jesus had every reason to believe that Jesus was not the Messiah. In fact, he would be more justified than the disciples for not believing; after all, he was staring in the eye this solid evidence that Jesus was not the Messiah: he was dying right beside him! Yet, despite all that, he identified Jesus as the Messiah and put his faith in him.

This criminal knew that this crucifixion would not end in death for Jesus, because he would rise again from the dead. When, after his resurrection, Jesus would berate his disciples for being “slow of heart to believe” the Scriptures which clearly taught that the Messiah would have to die first and then rise again (Luke 24:25), right here is a criminal whose eyes were already open to what the Scriptures have taught from the beginning. Although he had the biggest excuse not to, this criminal actually believed in the death and resurrection of the Messiah!

I believe that if this criminal were taken down from the cross and given a second chance to live, he would have spent the rest of his life eagerly learning the truths of God. Beloved, we have a precious opportunity which the righteous criminal on the cross could not have: to know God better and deeper in this life! Let us not be lazy and despise this tremendous privilege!