Three Crosses On A Hill: A Study In Evangelism

The agony of the crucifixion and the final hours of Jesus are recorded in all four gospels, each written with their own unique perspective of what happened that dark day (Matthew 27; Mark 15; Luke 23; John 19). Each one tells of the jeering, mockery, contempt, and seething hatred towards the LORD coming from the spectators, the Roman soldiers, the hypocritical Pharisees whom He had openly condemned just a couple of days before (Matthew 23), and the two thieves that had been crucified along with Him, one to His left and one to His right. The dark forces of evil were on full display, both from the human and the hidden presence of the demons and Satan himself. They all reveled in the sight of watching their mortal enemy put to death and hopefully out of mind, forever shattering the plan of God to redeem His fallen creation, or so they believed. The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:7-8 that these same forces were totally ignorant of the fact that what they saw as the convenient murder of Jesus was in fact the preordained plan of God all along (Genesis 3:15; Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:4-5; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2; 1 Peter 1:2; Revelation 13:8). Jesus told His captors that "their hour had come" in order that "the Scriptures might be fulfilled" ((Luke 22:53), referring to everything that had been predicted and the events leading up to it (Matthew 26:55-56; Mark 14:48-49; John 18:1-9). The crucifixion of Jesus was no accident or something that caught God Almighty off guard. Nothing does, period.

Jesus' act of sacrifice was not only the foreordained plan of redemption for our sins (John 19:30) but is itself the entire reason for evangelism. Jesus' own work in personal and public evangelism was taught to His disciples as the example to follow and they did so when assigned to go tell everyone in the nearby towns and villages about Him (Luke 9:1-6). Jesus was a continuous "soul-winner", even while He was in both physical and spiritual agony upon the cross. Scripture tells us that at no time did the Lord Jesus ever cry out in anger or rage against those who had taken part in putting Him to death (Luke 6:11, 19:14; John 7:7, 15:18, 25, 19:6). Instead, He asked God the Father to forgive the people for their ignorance in the midst of their contempt for Him (Luke 23:34). Take a moment to stop and think about this. The Lord Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, allowed His creation to put Him to death. The sheer hatred that fallen humanity has for the Creator is reason enough for Him to have refused to go to the cross and instead obliterate the entirety of creation out of existence and begin again if He had so desired (Romans 1:18-22, 5:6-11), yet He did not. He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23, 32) and while He has and will punish both individuals and nations for their rebellion and sin, He also shows incredible mercy and grace to this world even though we do not deserve it. The composure and attitude Jesus showed was noticed by these two thieves that had been sentenced to die along with Him.

Each one's reaction showed the influence Jesus had upon them as they stared off into eternity. The thief on the left had the chance to make peace with God while the thief on the right took the chance to get right with God in the few moments he had left in this world. The Gospels describe these men as "thieves", but the severity of their crimes was far worse. They had not been merely caught with someone else's possessions, but more than likely were members of the zealot movement that was prominent throughout Judea. For years, the zealots had fought for an independent nation of Israel and the revival of the Davidic kingdom, free from all foreign influences and governments. Their hatred of the pagan Romans was such that they consorted to murdering Roman soldiers, citizens, and anyone who aided Rome. One of the twelve apostles had been a member of this faction until called by Jesus to follow Him. The fact that Matthew, a former tax collector for Rome, and Simon, who had been one of these zealots against Rome, were both now apostles of Jesus instead of adversaries at each other's throats was a testimony to His power and ability to transform minds and hearts of all who followed Him. The two thieves had a companion named Barabbas who had been sentenced to die with them but at the last moment been set free by the decree of Pontius Pilate and the cry of the people for Jesus to be crucified instead (Matthew 27:16-17, 20, 26; Mark 15:7; Luke 23:18; John 18:40). Barrabas faded from the story and became a part of oblivion, never aware of or caring about the One who had taken his place for death that day.