Pastor’s Point: The Man in the Middle

As we approach Holy Week, we’ve spent much of our preparation talking and singing about the cross.  After hearing the passion story so many times, it is easy to almost grow numb to the incredible drama that was actually playing out in the life of Jesus and those within earshot of him that final week.  Perhaps no other scene grips my attention or imagination quite like the one which involves his encounter with the two thieves on the cross.  It was one of his last acts of ministry before His death.  One of the songs we will sing at our Good Friday service, Blessed Redeemer, really attempts to visualize that moment—

Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer

 Seems like I see Him on Calvary’s tree; 

Wounded and bleeding for sinners pleading 

blind and unheeding… dying for me.

The scripture version is brief and to the point:

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.  When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.  One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? 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, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Literally and figuratively, Jesus was the man in the middle.  That is how he died, between two others, two needy ones…like you and me.  Died right where he belonged, in a sense—at the center.  I don’t think it’s coincidental that the gospel writer pays attention to Jesus’ position in relationship to them. One was on his right, the other on his left. Both sensed that this Jesus was no ordinary criminal.  The one says, “if you are the Messiah…”  The other one suspects Jesus’s kingdom lies just ahead. “Remember me” then, he pleads.  And what could these two guys offer him in exchange? Absolutely nothing.  Or more specifically, their lives of brokenness and squandered opportunities. They are meeting The Man empty-handed, and would face Him, their Maker, again—in a few short hours.

What does this encounter have to do with you and me?  Everything.  If we don’t see ourselves beside Jesus on that cross, just as desperate for His salvation as those thieves, then we don’t understand Calvary at all.  The “place of the scull” was not just a place for the really bad guys…it was the destiny of Everyman apart from Christ.  On our best days, we fall short of the glory of God and deserve His wrath and punishment.  At one time, we were all “blind and unheeding,” and even now as followers we can choose to stray.  That’s why we need to hear “dying for me” over and over again.  I believe this scene is a kind of template for all of humankind, when we stand before The Man someday to be judged.  The hymnwriter, Augustus Toplady, wrote these words in 1763:

Not the labor of my hands can fulfill Thy law's demands;
Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone; Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress; helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die.

These were the very sentiments of the humble thief on the cross, bringing nothing to the table: like you and me, he came naked, helpless, foul.  The solution to his desperate situation was the same as yours and mine. 

As we near Holy week, I urge you to take time to position yourself before Christ—willingly, not reluctantly. Agree with the thief who found the Man in the middle to be His savior and king.  Admit your desperate need, and savor the grace that follows.  It’s what makes Good Friday so good.

tad