“Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die?….this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Luke 23:40, 41
-THIEF
There he hung, a man only known as “thief”-on a cross- facing the punishment for his sin. He was judged and found guilty of theft. His number had been called; He had no more life left. Next to him hung the greatest man ever to walk the Earth, who also was the Son of God. Together they hung frail and defenseless before a skewed justice system and corrupted leaders. As they hung, side-by-side, bloody and bruised, the thief turned his eyes to Jesus and saw a crown of thorns. While the mocking crowds ridiculed, and His disciples scattered, the thief judged Jesus innocent and recognized Him, King – God.
The words of an untrusted man have little value in most courts and before rulers, but this thief understood. He knew the value of discretion. Sometimes Kings dress to go unnoticed. They come to fit in; they come to relate; they come to make friends; they come to see the state of their kingdoms. This sinner sentenced to death recognized the Messiah King next to him hidden like a thief in the night.
Against all reason, all opposition, Thief spoke up to defend his King. A sinful, untrusted thief mustered up all he had left to defend Jesus. For the most special moment in all of creation history the man standing up for Christ the King was a thief. Who knew but the King? Who knew this thief from his mother’s womb? Who knew that as they mocked and humiliated Jesus for claiming to be King while dying on a cross, He was making fools of them ALL when history would soon record our King of king’s knight was the thief?
His return is close. The way to recognize Him has been and always will be to draw close to Him, taking up your cross and know He is next to you.