The Thief on the Cross Suffered Well
This morning I was moved to read the hymn, “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood” by William Cowper, and came upon this verse:
The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away:
Wash all my sins away,
Wash all my sins away;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.
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And it struck me: all my life I’ve heard about the thief on the cross who repented at the last moment, as if he had an easier time than the rest of us. But then I had a thought — this man was on a cross!
I’ve heard all my life that the agony that Jesus endured on the cross was an awfully difficult thing, but I’ve rarely heard mention of the thief’s agony.
People often speak of Jesus carrying the weight of all of our sin, which the thief wouldn’t have experienced — but nevertheless, I am told that being literally crucified on a cross is very hard to bear.
Someone might say that Jesus died for our sins, while this man died for his own. This is very true. The thief himself understood this point:
“Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong”” (Luke 23:39-41).
This realization is not a thing to be sneezed at — to understand that whatever level of suffering we are going through — even crucifixion! — it is just.
We are told in the Bible not to complain. In 1 Corinthians 10, there is a list of things that the children of Israel did in the wilderness that we are warned not to do. Verse 10 reads, “nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.”
Never complaining is not easy. Regrettably, how many times have I grumbled at a particular bother in my life? And I’ve never been crucified — yet this man was, and he bore it, testifying with his own mouth that he was receiving the just reward of his deeds.
Before we shake our head at the easy road of the thief on the cross, let us examine our own life and make sure that we are not falling short of the peace in suffering that he was able to realize, along with resignation to God’s will — that whatever befalls us, whether it be crucifixion, or something far less awful — it is just.
And if we’ve come past this point, that we’ve already suffered for our own sins, and are now able to suffer for Christ, let us not complain at this type of suffering, either. However, if we do, I believe that we are not yet done suffering for our own sins. My conviction is that those who are done suffering for their own sins would take any further suffering as the apostles did — recognizing it as suffering for Christ and thereby finding great joy in it:
“Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God” (I Peter 4:1-2).
“When the Sanhedrin had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. So the apostles departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Acts 5:40-41).
