The Criminal – Jesus’ Last Friend (A Glimpse of Hope)

The last embers of life were fading out in Jesus. He had endured a sleepless night, celebrating a Passover meal with his disciples before the temple guards arrived with Judas the betrayer leading them. This was followed by an arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, and then to hasty nighttime trials, a transfer to Pilate, the Roman procurator, then to Herod, the Jewish king, and finally back to Pilate. His accusers had plied him with many questions throughout the evening; then came the unlawful beatings at the hands of both the temple guards and the Roman soldiers placed in charge over him. Finally, he was stripped, tied to a post and whipped with a cat of nine tails, tearing through his back and into his muscles. Marched to the place of execution and nailed to a cross, he now hung naked and bleeding profusely, only to have to endure the taunts and jeers of the crowd and the two men crucified on his left and right. One of the men, our passage for today demonstrates, cursed Jesus while at the same time begging to be saved from his fate. The other, however, saw in Jesus one last hope.