THE REBELS MET GRACE
1. The Rebel Who Walked Away
There are days when history itself shakes, when heaven bends low, when hell trembles, and when humanity stands face-to-face with a God who refuses to abandon His rebels. Calvary was that day. Soldiers thought they were carrying out a routine execution. Rome believed it was stamping out another handful of troublemakers who dared disturb Caesar’s peace. But heaven knew the truth. This was not a day of defeat. This was the day grace marched into enemy territory and claimed victory with nails and a cross.
The cross that Jesus died on was not originally meant for Him. Rome had already carved out three crosses for three rebels who had shed Roman blood. Three violent insurgents. Three enemies of the state. The Greek word for them is lestai, not petty thieves but dangerous men. The kind who chose daggers over diplomacy. The kind Rome crucified to warn everyone else. These were men condemned by the Empire, and they would die in a way that screamed, “Rebellion will be crushed. Caesar will not be mocked.” That was the message Rome sent.
Yet on that skull-shaped hill, the message of heaven took over. Because another Name joined the lineup. A Name Rome did not plan for. A Name Pilate did not expect. A Name that every demon feared. Jesus Christ, the King of Jews and Lord of all creation, was placed in the center. Not accidentally. Not symbolically. Prophetically. God arranged the scene so the whole universe could see salvation unfold right between two rebels.
There were originally supposed to be three crosses: one for Barabbas and two for his fellow rebels. The cross in the middle was built for Barabbas. His name almost stamped into the wood. That central cross bore the weight of rebellion long before Jesus carried it. Barabbas was guilty. He had taken life. He had caused bloodshed. He had sparked an uprising. Rome wanted him erased.
Pilate stood before a crowd that morning trying desperately to avoid condemning Jesus. He offered them a choice. Tradition allowed for one prisoner to be released during the Passover. On one side stood Jesus—healer, teacher, giver of life. On the other stood Barabbas—violent, unpredictable, a danger to every street in Jerusalem. Pilate expected logic to win. Pilate underestimated sin’s insanity.
The crowd cried out, “Give us Barabbas!” They chose a rebel over a Redeemer. A murderer over the Maker. A taker of life instead of the Giver of life. And Barabbas walked out of his cell free. Chains falling. Death sentence cancelled. He didn’t ask for mercy. He didn’t repent. He didn’t even thank Jesus. He just walked away, breathing borrowed air he didn’t earn.
Barabbas is the first rebel who met grace that day. He is the rebel who walked away. Grace stood in his place. Grace took the nails meant for him. Grace went where he deserved to go. Grace was punished so that a criminal could go home.
Barabbas is not just a man in the story. He is a mirror. He represents every person who has ever benefitted from Jesus without acknowledging Him. Every life spared by mercy yet lived like grace is cheap. Every heart that enjoys freedom but resists surrender. Barabbas shows us that grace will rescue rebels before they are ready to receive it. Jesus took his cross. Jesus took his guilt. Jesus took his place.
Barabbas walked free while Jesus walked to Golgotha. Barabbas was the first rebel saved by substitutionary sacrifice, the first name on the long list of sinners who live because Jesus died. He met grace that day and didn’t even recognize it.
2. The Rebel Who Rejected Grace
Now the scene shifts. Jesus, already beaten and bloodied, arrives at Calvary. The soldiers stretch Him out on that central cross. As they drive nails through flesh and bone, God’s love writes its sermon in crimson. The earth watches grace bleed. Heaven watches justice satisfied. Hell watches its own defeat unfold.
On either side of Him, the other two rebels are lifted up. They have no illusions of innocence. They know Rome’s judgment is deserved. They feel every jolt of pain. They hear the crowd’s mockery and the religious leaders’ sneers. They breathe in misery, exhale regret, and taste death creeping closer with every heartbeat.
Yet even in agony they react differently to the Man in the middle. One joins the chorus of the crowd. Through clenched teeth and bitterness, he mocks Jesus. “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us!” His heart is hardened even as hope hangs right beside him.
This rebel is a picture of those who want God only if He serves their agenda. He demands proof before he will believe. He wants rescue without repentance. He wants escape from consequences without surrender to the Savior. He is so close to the only One who can save him. The blood that could cleanse his guilt is flowing inches away. But he turns salvation into sarcasm. He insults grace while grace is dying for him. In the presence of eternal life, he clings to the very rebellion that is killing him.
This is what sin does. It blinds us. It convinces us that we can stand in front of the Son of God, see Him suffer for us, and still refuse His offer. The mocking rebel wants relief from suffering but not release from sin. He wants a ticket off his cross, not a Lord over his soul. His words reveal a hardened heart: If You are who they say You are, then prove it on my terms.
Jesus could have proven it. One word and every soldier would drop dead. One breath and the earth would swallow Golgotha whole. One thought and nails would fall like raindrops. But if Jesus had come down from the cross, salvation would have come down with Him. Redemption required that He stay.
So the mocking rebel dies unchanged. He dies close to Jesus but forever separated from Him. That is hell’s strategy. Keep a soul close enough to religion to feel safe, but far enough from surrender to stay lost. The mocking rebel met grace, but he rejected it.
3. The Rebel Who Reached for Grace
There is still one more rebel. One more soul gasping through the pain. One more who has run out of excuses, out of strength, and out of time. His hands are pinned. His feet are bound. His life is chained to a cross he earned. There are no more lies to tell himself. No more pretending he’s better than he is. He admits what the other will not: “We are receiving the due reward of our deeds.” He confesses guilt without defensiveness.
Then he does the most important thing any human can ever do. He turns his head toward Jesus. He sees innocence where everyone else sees defeat. He sees a Savior where Rome sees a criminal. He sees a King where the crowd sees a joke. And he whispers through blood and belief, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
This rebel doesn’t ask for a miracle. He asks for mercy. He doesn’t demand freedom. He begs for fellowship. He knows he cannot save himself, so he casts his soul into the hands of the One who can.
The repentant rebel met grace… and grace answered.
The repentant rebel has nothing left to offer. His hands are nailed. His feet are pinned. His rap sheet is longer than his remaining breaths. But he does the one thing hell cannot stop: he turns toward Jesus. Not toward the crowd. Not toward the soldiers. Not toward the mocker on the other side. He turns toward the Savior.
He sees what no one else sees. A King on a cross. A throne made of wood. A reign established by sacrifice, not by sword.
Jesus turns His face toward this dying rebel and gives him the greatest promise ever spoken to a sinner. “Truly I say to you today, you will be with Me in paradise.”
Those words are a declaration of certainty, not a comment on timing. In Greek, the punctuation isn’t fixed. The comma can go after “today” and the whole meaning gets unlocked. Jesus isn’t saying paradise begins at sunset. Jesus didn’t go to paradise that day. He rested in Joseph’s tomb. He told Mary after the resurrection, “I have not yet ascended to My Father.” So here’s what the King was really saying:
“You can trust this right now, in this darkest moment. You have a place with Me. You belong in My Kingdom. You will rise when I rise. You will wake up to My voice. You will be with Me in paradise.”
Death would interrupt his life for a moment.
Resurrection would restore it forever.
The thief didn’t look better.
He didn’t live better.
But because he believed better, he died with hope.
In one sentence Jesus shattered every lie hell had used to own this man. His criminal record could not stop grace. His past could not veto his future. His crucifixion could not cancel his resurrection. God’s pardon was stronger than Rome’s verdict.
You are never too guilty for grace.
You are never too late for mercy.
You are never too far gone for Jesus to say,
“You will be with Me.”
4. Jesus — The Redeemer Who Saves Rebels
When Jesus cried out, “It is finished,” it wasn’t a sigh of relief. It was a victory shout. The debt was paid. The war was won. Rebellion’s curse crushed under the weight of redeeming love. The earth shook. The graves cracked open. The veil tore. Hell’s gates rattled as the King laid down His life on His terms.
The body of Jesus was placed in a tomb. The mocking rebel died without hope, his heart sealed in the darkness he chose. The repentant rebel died with a promise burning in his final heartbeat. His last sight on earth was a bleeding Christ. His next sight will be a blazing Christ.
Barabbas walked away that afternoon not knowing salvation had stepped into his place. He is the rebel who benefitted from grace without surrendering to it. The mocking rebel is the one who demanded proof before faith and lost eternity while salvation hung inches away. The repentant rebel is the one who grabbed hold of grace with the only thing he had left: faith.
Three rebels.
Three outcomes.
All decided by what they did with the Man in the middle.
Jesus is always the dividing line. Standing between yesterday’s rebellion and tomorrow’s resurrection. Between guilt that condemns and grace that saves. Between graves that hold us and promises that raise us.
Everyone meets Him.
Not everyone receives Him.
Barabbas received a pardon but refused a relationship.
The mocking rebel demanded a miracle but rejected mercy.
The repentant rebel surrendered… and received a Kingdom.
The next sound that repentant rebel will hear is the trumpet of God. The next voice he will recognize is Jesus calling his name. The next place he will stand is the paradise he was promised. He sleeps with the Savior’s words stitched into his soul: “You will be with Me.”
The rebels met grace that day.
And grace has not changed addresses.
Grace still meets rebels, especially the ones who think there’s no hope left.
Because the God who died between rebels was always dying for rebels.
That’s why He stayed on that cross.
That’s why He sleeps in borrowed tombs.
That’s why He rises with keys in His hands.
To rescue every rebel who dares to believe.
5. Conclusion
Most of us don’t feel like rebels. We aren’t insurrectionists. We aren’t gang members plotting an uprising. We shop on Amazon. We scroll Netflix. We order dinner from Uber Eats because getting off the couch feels like too much work. We buy things from TEMU we absolutely do not need because the app swears it’s 92% off and how can you argue with that?
We are polite. We pay our taxes. We mow the lawn—eventually. We would never call ourselves rebels.
But rebellion is not measured in how wild our crimes are. Rebellion is measured in who we crown as king.
Rebellion is deciding I know better than God.
Rebellion is trusting my wants more than His Word.
Rebellion is living like surrender is for somebody else.
Rebellion is smooth and comfortable and very, very normal.
In other words, rebellion looks exactly like us.
We may never lift a dagger against Rome.
Yet we often lift our will against God.
That makes Barabbas uncomfortably familiar.
That makes the thieves not criminals to critique, but reflections to recognize.
The choice they faced is still the choice today:
Walk away like Barabbas, shrugging off the Substitute.
Mock like the hardened rebel, demanding God prove Himself.
Or surrender like the repentant rebel, whispering the one prayer that melts eternity open:
“Jesus, remember me.”
Netflix won’t save us.
Amazon can’t ship salvation Prime.
Uber Eats won’t deliver resurrection to the doorstep.
TEMU has great deals—none on eternal life.
There is only one place rebels become redeemed:
that's at the cross of the King.
Because one day soon, the rebels of earth will sleep in the dust,
and the King who hung between rebels will return with resurrection in His voice.
The trumpet will sound, the graves will open,
and every rebel who reached for grace
will wake to see the Savior who remembered them.
Grace met the rebels that day.
And grace is meeting rebels still.
Right here.
Right now.
Waiting for one sentence to become our story:
“Jesus… remember me.”
