Which Thief?

December 28, 2021

The photo doesn’t do it justice, but it’s the best I have. It’s my son’s  logo for his knife-making business, a Christmas gift from his wife that is now mounted proudly on the front of his garage. He designed it years ago, and it appears on the blade of every knife he makes. Three crosses in a rising sun comes from all three synoptic Gospels which tell us that Jesus was crucified between “two robbers, one on his right, and the other on his left.” 

This detail isn’t in the Gospel accounts by accident, nor merely as an historical note. This fact is there by design, to be instructive: Jesus hung between them and for them. One thief received him, one rejected him. He would have received them both, but only one repented of the sins that sealed his fate. The other railed against the punishment he received. They both wanted salvation, but one only wanted deliverance from his fate; the other from his sins. 

I am the thief on the cross. The only question is, “Which one?”