Good Friday: The Thief's Story

As Jesus was led to the hill where He would be crucified, we are told in all 4 gospel accounts that there were 2 other men being led to the same hill to be crucified on either side of Jesus.

Matthew and Mark calls them robbers, but Luke just calls them criminals.

We aren’t told what they robbed or why their deeds had led to this day, but it doesn’t seem their guilt is in question.

All the gospel writers make note of the fact that they were placed on the right and the left of Jesus, He was in the middle.

As the crowd begins to mock Jesus and taunt Him as the supposed “King of the Jews”, Matthew tells us the two robbers joined in, reviling him in the same way.

But at some point, one of the two criminals quieted down, likely due to the pain he was feeling, but also likely reflecting on his life.

He seemed to believe in God, maybe even had grown up in a Jewish family.

But his belief in God hadn’t really made much of an impact in his life.

Maybe his childhood had been rough, so at a young age he started to act out, make bad choices, and run with others who did the same.

He never planned to become a criminal, and he sure had never thought it would lead him here, hanging on a cross with nails through his wrists and ankles.

Yelling insults at a man who he knew didn’t deserve to be hanging next to him.

Maybe there was something to this Jesus

He had heard the stories, maybe even witnessed some of the miracles.

And here He is, beaten and mocked, dying of asphyxiation and He calls out to God on behalf of the ones mocking and murdering him:

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

“What have I become? What is going to happen to me once my legs can’t hold me up anymore and my lungs can no longer take in enough breath? This guy must be the Messiah…He has to be...”

Finally he hears his friend on the other side of Jesus yell out mockingly:

“Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

Even as he is dying for crimes he knows he had committed. Paying justly for his own rebellion and sin, he is mocking the very man who is his only hope.

His friend yells out:

“Do you not fear God?”

These two men are in the exact same position; tried, convicted, and condemned criminals.

But the weight of the reality that he will soon stand before the God that he is cursing and give account for the life that he has lived crushes the pride and rebellion in his heart.

And he turns to Jesus in humble desperation, keenly aware of his guilt and hopeless state, and pleads with Him:

“Jesus, remember me...”

when you come into your kingdom.

when you take up your thrown

when you win this war

When you defeat sin and stand victorious over our enemy DEATH…remember me.

Oh the sweetness and comfort that must have been found by this man when he hears the words of Jesus:

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Be confident brother, that THIS VERY DAY you are forgiven.

99.9% of his life he had lived in rebellion against God, and yet in these final moments, as he hangs condemned for the pain and suffering he had caused through his own, selfish, evil pursuits he calls out IN FAITH for mercy, forgiveness, and grace.

It truly is never too late.

Only the cross separated the Men

John records that as the day drew to a close, in order to not let the bodies hang until the Sabbath the next, the Jews asked for the legs of the prisoners to be broken.

Both men’s legs were broken, yet Jesus had already died.

It likely wasn’t long after this that the two men also breathed their last breaths.

They had followed similar paths to the cross, but as they died, each man’s soul took a very different path.

And the only thing that separated these two men was the man in the middle, the Cross of Jesus Christ.

For one man it was his salvation

For the other is was his curse.

Our only hope is in the Cross

It can be quite unsettling for us as believers in Jesus to hear about someone coming to Christ at the very last moment of their lives.

Or even hearing of someone who has done some really awful things coming to Christ and receiving salvation that they just don’t seem to deserve.

The reason we struggle with those stories is that we don’t really grasp the magnificence of the cross.

See it really isn’t about our works or our goodness.

It REALLY is about His Grace.

Now we believe in our minds that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone, but deep down we all desire to take at least some credit for the salvation we have received.

But this story destroys any notion that we have any part to play in our salvation.

We are the men on the cross.

Some of us are the man who remained in rebellion

But, by God’s grace, some of us are the man who surrendered to Jesus.

The only thing that separates is the cross of Christ.

Karla Faye Tucker’s Story

Karla Faye Tucker was born and raised in Houston, TX and had a rough childhood to say the least.

By the age of 14, Karla dropped out of school and followed her mother into a life of drugs and prostitution.

Life was not shaping up to turn out well for her.

So in 1983, at 23 years old, she and her boyfriend Danny Garrett, broke into their friend Jerry Deans home attempting to steal a motorcycle.

Under the influence of drugs, the two brutally murdered both Jerry and Deborah Thornton with a pickax.

5 weeks after the murders, Karla Faye and Danny Garrett were arrested and tried for murder.

While Karla Faye was awaiting trial at the Harris County Jail in Houston, a ministry came to the jail to put on a puppet show.

She went just so she wouldn’t be alone in her cell. When asked what happened at the show she said:

"The most amazing thing, I heard about Jesus and forgiveness and I felt such a warm loving feeling that drew me to Him. I knew I had done something so terrible that I didn't even think God could forgive me. I didn't think He could even love me.”

After the show, she stole a bible from the prison, not knowing the prison gave out bibles to any prisoner who wanted one.

That night she began reading. She said in an interview with Larry King “that night I started reading the Bible. I didn't know what I was reading and before I knew it, I was in the middle of my floor on my knees and I was just asking God to forgive me.”

It was October 1983, just a few weeks before her 24th birthday and months away from the trial that would end with her being charged with capitol murder and sentenced to death for her crimes.

But the Karla Faye Tucker who for nearly 24 years had lived a life of rebellion, sin, and evil was no longer the same woman. God had captured her heart and began a new work in her.

Karla Faye was executed by the state of Texas on Feb. 3rd 1998. 1 month before her execution, Larry King interviewed her on his CNN talk show.

Toward the end of the interview King asked Karla Faye how she could stay so positive and upbeat knowing she was facing death:

KING: You have to explain that to me a little more. It can't just be God?

TUCKER: Yes, it can. It's called the joy of the Lord. When you have done something like what I have done, and you have been forgiven for it, and you're loved, that has a way of so changing you. I mean, I have experienced real love. I know what real love is. I know what forgiveness is, even when I did something so horrible. I know that because God forgave me and I accepted what Jesus did on the cross. When I leave here, I am going to go be with him.

Karla Faye died because of the the gruesome crimes she had committed before she had trusted in Christ for salvation.

But the very moment she breathed her last breath on that table in the Huntsville Prison in Huntsville, TX, her next breath was in paradise, in the presence of Jesus.

Not because of her goodness

Not because of her hard work

Not because of the family she was born into.

Only by the cross.

PRAY

Take your Cross

As we sing this last song together I want to encourage you to take a moment and come forward, before the cross of Christ and receive this small reminder that our hope is found only in the Cross of Jesus.

Not in our good works

Not in our church attendance

Not in our family, finances, career, or accomplishment.

Only in the cross

Let’s sing out “Lead Me to the Cross”

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