The criminal on the cross

In a flash of insight, I suddenly realized why the criminal on the cross must have exercised unparalleled faith. This man put his faith in a “lost cause” — a shuddering, near-corpse at His own public execution. He recognized that Jesus was innocent, yet he must have also recognized that He had been allowed by God to be killed — just like the wicked ones who deserved death.

What a God. What a Savior?

Only a handful of women and one lone disciple stood at the foot of the cross. Jesus had no army, no contingent, none of what we might even today call “a following.”

What faith it took to look at an abandoned, dying Man and say, “Remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”