Click here to view Image

0.0.1. Key Characters

1. Introduction

In Part 1, we considered people who had deep compassion for Jesus’ grief on the cross, namely, Governor Pilate, Some grief-stricken women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus. Here, we shall observe the disposition of Jesus to other pious observers of Jesus accordingly: the commander of the centurion; and the repentant thief on the cross… And further, discuss how these characters of His either approves or rebuke ours given various circumstance of life in which we may find ourselves.

1.1. The Commander of the Centurion

According to the account of Doctor Luke, Jesus stated: Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do; was triggered by the hard nails driven into His hands by the Roman army. Others in such a state would have been cursing, so sorrowful and unloving. He was thrilled to see Jesus exactly behave oppositely. The soldiers stripped Jesus bare and gambled for his cloth. His soldiers beat him as with a rebel and mocked Him too. In all, not a word! Not a threat! No ranting nor retaliation! The physical agility Jesus had to ensure that every act that led up to His death was by predefined events must have been a challenge to this execution supervising officer.

Furthermore, in an attempt to help Jesus by numbing His sensitivity to pains, he permitted his subordinate soldiers to offer Jesus some wine. To his dismay, Jesus would not accept such, giving Satan no chance to say, “It was an alcoholic and not a saint that died for the sins of men.” He watched the thief on the cross-insult Jesus, and He saw Jesus’ grace-filled response to the other who was willing to be saved. It was mayhem to the centurion that they had to use torches to supervise the death of Jesus for 3 complete hours. To cap it all, he was an adult. And knew that the most cogent words in the life of a man are uttered on death occasions. Never in his war-fairing lifetime has he heard a man say in death: “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” “If this is all this man has to say for all that was done against Him, then His after-life cannot be in doubt,” he must have considered. Therefore, the centurion concluded, “Surely this man was innocent.”

However, he was slow. Unlike the thief on the cross, he had the dignity of a Roman soldier to protect, just like Pilate, his commander. He was innocent because he acted on the legal order. Acknowledging Jesus publicly, which would have been unusual of a man of his calibre, showed a sense of conviction and remorse for being unlucky to have been saddled with the responsibility of supervising the death of the son of God. I would not be surprised to see Him in heaven.

Jesus did not interact with this comrade. Because he spoke only after Jesus’ death. Jesus is not a menace, brother, but a prince. This was the Jesus the blind cried for minutes to gain access to. Touching the hem of Jesus garment was an opportunity if a lifetime for the woman who had the issue of blood. It was a great experience to sit under His teaching. But this man let Jesus go by ignoring the voice of his conscience. Do people around you have odd opinions about Jesus, and your conscience tells you something else? Why don’t you follow the voice of your conscience to Jesus? Is it not the still small voice whispering the way into your ears? Be sure that when you step into that way, the whisper will become louder and more assuring.

1.1.1. Character of Jesus

Jesus issued forgiveness for cruelty. Jesus showed himself as knowing the weakness of men. In the record that the angels would have recorded against all men, he struck it out by watermarking it with ignorance. Jesus showed himself as a Father of mankind who had vast consideration for ignorance of mankind like any earthly father for his child. For if they knew, they would have avoided the crucifixion of Jesus. Every Christian needs a sense of allowance for ignorance of their fellows to be able to manifest Christ’s kind of tolerance and forgiveness.

1.2. The thief on the cross

This thief had a distinctive character of sincerity. He watched as Jesus proceeded to the cross. They were all lead out at the same time from Pilate’s courts to Golgotha. The thieves’ attendant shame and sorrow arising from death by crucifixion was subsumed by Jesus’. Jesus was the focus of the event of the day. As such, all eyes were on Him. It was at Him all jeering tongues were directed. The most pain and shame were His. He was the least physically strengthened of the three. If not for the careful consideration and graceful utterance of this thief, he could have passed without mentioning, even though the pains of crucifixion were no fun.

There came the point where he could no longer hide his amazement about this peaceful suffering Prince. Triggered by the aberrative character of his counterpart felon, he spoke. Having watched Jesus reviled and suffered without threat nor retaliation, he wondered what assurance Jesus must have had to afford Him the fortitude that maintained such calmness. This calmness was not guilt-compelled as theirs. With this opportunity, not alone did he speak up in defence of Jesus, but unworthily sought pardon. Every time he looked in Jesus’ direction, he saw a head crowned with thorns and bent in agony. The bent head allowed him a clear view of the inscription hung on the cross of Jesus – the King of the Jews. It was a mockery to the Jews but a summary for this thief. “If truly this man is not a king, He would not suffer such injustice. He would not be this peaceful if there were no reward.” He must have contemplated further, “Seeking for a kingdom where I am king plunge me into robbery and here am I. In my stealing days, I knew Him as a compassionate One. Let me try if I could be part of this His kingdom.” So, Satan inspired his fellow to his good. The moment the first thief spoke those dunghill-fitting words, he upbraided him and offered his plea for pardon. And he got a straight admission into that kingdom whose king’s disposition he so admired.

At the start of our Christian race, to require holiness from us is as unimaginable as requesting a day-old baby to walk. This thief and new-borns share a similar character which is relatively scarce among physical adults that are spiritual babes (born-again Christians) - the trait of sincerity. Holiness comes with a progressive understanding of Jesus and His nature. But the honesty that admits its mistake almost when immediately made can not only sustain us just like the thief but also get us into heaven. Alas, a Christian who is not sincere, especially in acknowledging his mistakes, can never attain such glorious and precious heights of holiness! We ought to be like Nathaniel, who had no guile. He was not righteous but had no duplicity. Contrarily, Jesus was in constant confrontations with the Pharisees and the scribes because they were men needing help to fulfil the laws but covered up their inner deficiencies because of the outward honours accorded. At some point before Jesus’ death, he disgraced them. Therefore, while a sincere weakling or sinner will get forgiveness from Jesus, an unrepentant self-righteous long born-again is apt to get a disgrace from Jesus on earth and condemnation in heaven.

Jesus received recognition from the repentant and honest thief. He accepted the honour of being called a king. And promised him paradise. He was impartial, nor was He begging for acceptance, so He did not make an emotional plea to the other thief to consider his ways. He left him entirely to make his decision. And hence one was left in hell, and the other was rescued.

Likewise, at such a level of exhaustion, one would not expect anyone to speak – either good or bad. Yet, the blessings left in the mouth of Jesus was not held back. With the last strength, as far as blessing humanity is concerned, Jesus will summon all His strength even if it were the last to bless them.

Who do you focus your gaze on when in problems? The thief looked unto Jesus, was smitten to the heart and found grace for repentance. Would you focus on God? Or introspect? If you look inward and not upward, you will forever be comparing yourself to or coupling with others like the unrepentant criminal. By so doing, instead of seeing a saviour, you would catch an idea of an impersonator who cannot save Himself as well as you.

1.3. Conclusion

In all, Jesus was found to be merciful. None of these sympathizers was left uncatered for by Him except His execution commanding officer, who only acknowledged Jesus after His death. But Jesus was essentially more merciful to people than they were to Him. Do you long to be like Jesus? The world was founded by God on water[^a], therefore, the events in it, which surrounds our daily lives, can not be but unstable. Today manageably serene, tomorrow boisterously meandering. Sometimes smooth rides along slidding coasts; other all-night struggles off the hills of trouble. But these have been planted by God. Through this, we may access the opportunities to learn and to test the improvement of our Christian-character. That is, how much of the image of Jesus is being portrayed by you and me. But when under life pressure, do we venge our anger on others? Or, like Jesus, extend an arm of compassion to everyone?

With the cross comes shame. But happy are they who identified with Jesus. He did not speak parables nor in dark saying when He included taking up the cross was a condition for following Him. Thus, with those that identified with Him, He also identified with. Those who were weighed down by His cruel suffering, He encouraged them. The thief on the cross who confessed him before his contemporary, that same day, Jesus would be identifying with Him in Paradise.

1.4. References

[^a]: Psalm 24:2
[^Jn-19-11]: John 19:11
[^might]: Genesis 49:3
[^lion]: Proverbs 28:1