Look in a common dictionary, and you’ll find luck defined simply as “chance”. To be lucky is “to have good fortune, to be more successful than one deserves.” We usually don’t think of execution as a “lucky” thing…but for one offender, it was the most fortunate, undeservingly good occasion of his life.

“And one of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, ‘Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!’ But the other answered, and rebuking him said, ‘Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.’ And he was saying, ‘Jesus, remember me when You come in Your Kingdom!’ And He said to him, ‘Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.’” (Luke.23:39-43)

We generally think of Jesus alone on the cross…but for a few short hours, He had a friend. And for that criminal, on the cross with Jesus was the best place he could be.

What was it that had changed his hardened heart? Had Christ, in earlier times, healed his mother? Had he witnessed and been convicted by the compassion Jesus demonstrated on the streets of Jerusalem? Before denying His teachings, had he been in the multitudes that Christ had taught and fed? Somewhere, the criminal had had contact with Jesus before. He knew this Man to be innocent, have a Kingdom, and be most capable of a soul’s Salvation. Looking through the eyelids of death, this penitent was willing to admit his wanton need for a Saviour. You can see in his defense of Christ how he longed for a King worthy of praise and citizenship in a Kingdom where forgiveness was the rule of the day.

Yes, two criminals died on the cross, that day. But one died at the same time as Jesus… while the other died with Him.

Their crimes? Robbery…not too much unlike our own, for we have all robbed God of His Glory when we sully His Image with our sin. Pilfering moment-by-moment the time with which He has blessed us, intending for us to return it to Him in service and honor. And, although He gave Himself freely, it was our iniquities which stole the very lifebreath from The Son of The Living God.

We all have the same choice as the criminals. Die with Him, or in spite of Him. Paul acknowledged his choice in Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.”

The day I chose to be crucified and buried with Jesus in baptism was a cool October evening in 1978. I obeyed because I’d determined that on the cross was the best place I could be. And now, for a few short hours—which is the sum of my life—Jesus has a friend. To be crucified with the Saviour is to be exalted with the King. Oh, the glory of Paradise with the bright, shining Son.

What good is the confession of a criminal?
What good is the defense of The Truth from the mouth of a sinner?
What good fortune is it, to find the Grace of God?