Good Friday marks the moment Jesus took the sins of humanity upon himself as a willing sacrifice to bring us into relationship with the Father. Two thieves were crucified along with Jesus. One rejected him. One reached out to him and found hope.
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Message Notes by Ricky Echeona:
32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” – Luke 23:32-43
The hill is called Golgotha, “the place of the skull.” This is not novel, many an execution has taken place here. The ground is hard, bleached, uneven, scattered with stones and the memory of death. The sky hangs low, heavy, as if creation itself is holding its breath. To the executioners, this is another capital punishment. To some spectators this is a moment of jeering. To mourners, this is gross injustice. To all of Heaven and Earth- ETERNITY is in the balance.
Three crosses cut into the skyline. No polish or modern symmetry. Just rough-hewn beams, splintered and stained from prior executions. The center cross stands slightly higher, but not in honor, but in emphasis. Rome wants everyone to see what happens when you put yourself in between the people and the power.
And there hangs Jesus.
His back, torn open from the scourging, is pressed against raw wood. Every breath is work. His arms are stretched wide, nails driven through His hands, feet pinned, body sagging under its own weight. To inhale, He must push up against the spikes; to exhale, He collapses again into suffocation. It is a rhythm of utter agony.
Above His head, the sign reads in multiple languages:
“This is the King of the Jews.”
A crown of thorns is twisted into His scalp, not gently placed, but forced down. Blood has matted His hair, streaking His face. It runs into His eyes, mixes with sweat, dries, and runs again. His lips are cracked. His throat burns with thirst as His body loses blood at a steady pace.
There is pain. Unimaginable pain. And yet… His face is not twisted in rage.
And there hangs our Savior. Between two rebels- criminals.
And it is here where we focus on this Good Friday. It is here where we find ourselves. 3 men. 2 choices. 1 way. This is Good Friday. And RIGHT HERE between 2 criminals is a PERFECT PORTRAIT of the Gospel. This is the Gospel- That God created us to be with Him. Take note of that…WITH HIM. But in the paradise of Eden and ever since our sins separated us from a holy and righteous God. And those sins cannot be undone by the amount of good you and I do. But Jesus, fully man and fully God, sinless and perfect became the sacrifice on our behalf and with arms stretched wide became the bridge between us and the Father. There is no eternal life apart from Him. There is not path to God without Him.
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. -John 14:6
And with two arms extended to both men, there is an invisible invitation, for them and FOR US. In between reprobation and redemption; in between lost and found; in between mockery and meeknes- there lies the Messiah. In the in-between.
The title of this message is this: The In-Between Cross
The In-Between Cross Reveals There Is No Neutrality.
Two men suffering the same fate, sentenced to death. But with two diametrically opposed responses to the work of Jesus.
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” – Luke 23:39-42
I know we create space for no matter where you are at in your faith journey, and we always will but hear me clearly- When we come face to face with the Cross of Christ, there are only 2 choices. Acceptance or rejection. You might be stuck in indecision- in the eyes of God it is still a decision.
And that is not a condemnation on your state of being it is a reality we ALL must face. Because we all come in broken, sinful, deserving of punishment.
I mean… just look at these men!
We can infer they were likely a part of the same group as Barabbas, the one freed in Jesus’ stead. A band of rebels. At a time when Roman authorities preferred to execute people on festivals to warn the most amount of people about rebellion, they would kill several convicts at once. These were robbers, rebels, insurrectionists guilty of rebellion to the emperor. And here is Jesus counted among them!
You and I are no different! Guilty of insurrection to the goodness and justice of a Holy King. And yet still here is Jesus before you, among us. And there’s a choice to make. All of us, are either reaching for Him, or resisting Him.
Both criminals saw the same suffering Savior
One mocked Him saying “Save yourself and us”…A transactional faith we are too guilty of often. “God if you’re real, you would save me from this circumstance.”
One surrendered: “Remember me”… A trusting faith that says “You don’t owe me anything. I see who you are. You’re enough.”
The In-Between Cross Reveals The Character of the King.
Make no mistake my friends. No one TOOK His life. He gave Himself up willingly. And as He’s been beaten, pierced, and jeered even during torture. There is still only love and humility and grace in His voice.
34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
700 years before Jesus Isaiah will prophecy: Isaiah 53:5-7
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
Do you understand the character of this suffering King?! What kind of LOVE is this? That He would trade His innocent life for our guilty ones.
Jesus COULD have saved Himself. But if He would have come down from His Cross, you and I stay on ours. And we would be dead in our transgressions. But thanks be to God for this inexplicable, scandalous, act of grace and love and mercy and justice.
It is proof positive that you can trust Him. That the Father LOVES you and Jesus was the evidence. 1 John 4:9-10, 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
The character and love of God is on full display. He dies for both those who reject Him and those who reach out for Him. And if you’re at the scene, and especially if you are the crucified criminals. There is no proof of this power you’ve heard about regarding this rabbi. So rejection is justifiable.
The In-Between Cross Reveals What Faith Looks Like.
This blew my mind as I was studying and thinking through this message. There is 0 natural evidence to trust Jesus in this moment. Especially if you’re this thief humbly pleading with Him. There are no miracles in this moment. There is no sermon. No multiplication of food. No eyes being restored. No bodies being healed. In fact we get the EXACT opposite! So what possesses this man to put his FAITH in Jesus?!
And not a blind faith like, “I really hope you are who they say you are, please do me a solid at the gates?” No! A BOLD faith. One that only clear-eyed faith alone could see- that this dying rabbi was truly who He said He was… the Messiah. The one who takes away the sin of the world.
And for a brief moment I wondered- how? Why? Because Easter hasn’t happened yet. And 10 out of the 12 have run away scared. The only one at the Cross is John.
And while one thief only sees in the natural, the other sees in the supernatural
One thief sees the flickering light of revolution die out. The other thief sees the KINGDOM coming
One thief demanded a miracle-worker. The other thief declared Him Messiah
And you know why? Because of the way Jesus suffered. That even in His final moments victory is written all over His face. The thief looks at the majesty of our God in this moment of torture and says “Remember Me”.
The humble thief. He shows us that Faith is not certainty in outcomes. It is trust in a crucified King. He shows us what faith looks like.
You may be here today not knowing why you are going through what you’re going through. You can still TRUST Him. And as Charles Spurgeon once said, “…when you cannot trace His hand, You can trust His heart.”
The In-Between Cross Reveals That Grace is Given, Not Earned.
The thief reaches out to Jesus, and Jesus doesn’t say “go to church first”, “get baptized”, or “Quote john 3:16”
There are no works to be done. Just the gift of grace to be received.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. -Ephesians 2:8-9
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. -Romans 6:22-23
A reputation of rebellion and robbery is all he had to offer. And he gets grace. That which he did not deserve.
And Jesus utters words that change history… “…today you will be with me in paradise.”
What he deserved, what we deserved was pain and punishment. And what we get from the outretched arms of Jesus instead is paradise. But can I tell you Jesus is not putting the emphases on a location or what it looks like, and what is or isn’t there. “Heaven” is not the emphasis.
It’s those 5 words in the middle
“..You will be with me..”
That is the Gospel. When you reach out to your savior in repentance and surrender. The goal is not “I get Heaven”… it’s that YOU GET HIM. Now and Forever.
I almost named this message The Tale of 3 Thieves. Because the Grave-Robber is on His way. And because of Saturday and Sunday, death, hell, and the grave no longer have power.
Why? Because You have HIM. When our Sin put Him on the Cross 2000 years ago, it was His love that drove Him to it willingly. Because it started in paradise with Him and though it led through Pain, it will conclude in a new paradise with Him. And in the in-between… we still have Him.
Matthew 28:20- And I will be WITH you always…
And the invitation tonight from Jesus, for you is “You will be with me”
But the choice is yours. As we grapple with the weight of our sin just as the thieves did. We have a choice to make:
Rejection or redemption
Jadedness or Jesus.