While recently reading Mark 15, I noticed something curious in verse 32. Most are familiar with the passage in Luke 23:39-43, where one thief mocks Jesus, while the other seeks Him, and is promised Paradise that day. But in Mark's account, those--not just one--crucified with Christ are mocking him: "Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him." Similarly, Matthew 27:44 has multiple robbers insulting Christ, mocking His ability to get down from the cross.
Indeed, the traditional picture is of Christ and two thieves. John 19:32 chronicles two men getting their legs broken. I don't see any Gospel mentioning more than two other convicts. That would be useful to explain the Luke difference, as many could mock, and one could convert. But it seems the more likely reading is that there were only two, and Luke picked up on a change in one. While there might be another explanation, I think this might be a case, like Saul, where an enemy of God converts upon experiencing or encountering Jesus. Notably, this happens even while others around, having a similar encounter, do not convert. The conversion story in Luke, together with Mark, is just what Paul wrote of in Romans 5: "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."
"Through the death of His Son" seems to be exactly the way the thief was reconciled. He had been, it seems, mocking Jesus as they both were dying. Then, as the end got near, something in the very way Jesus died or the way the thief saw his own looming death, or both, changed him. We often focus on the way Jesus lived, maybe there is more still to learn in the way He died. As Romans 5 shows, we are reconciled through His death, saved by His life.
More to learn,
Thomas More
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