The Faith of the Thief on the Cross

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:39-43

Hanging on crosses at Jesus' right and left hand are two criminals. Based on scripture we don’t know exactly what they did merely that they were criminals. Matthew and Mark don’t go into as much detail as Dr. Luke. They just referred to these two as robbers. Other translation calls them revolutionaries and King James Version calls them simply - thieves. Whatever, they were criminals.

One of these bad dudes, dying on a cross on one side of Jesus, now takes up the cat-calling begun by the soldiers, "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" The thief is making fun of Jesus' seemingly inability to do anything despite the exalted title of "Christ/Messiah" that has been used concerning him. Where is this talk of "Messiah" now? he sneers. You're dying just like us. Death is the great equalizer.