"Crucified with Thieves"

Matthew 27:38: Then two robbers were crucifed with Him, one on the right and another on the left.

It was normal in Roman times to have several people crucified at once. The horrific visual was indelibly placed in the mind of any who might think that they lived in a free society. Crucifixion victims were often political prisoners. In this case, Jesus would have been the only one who would represent some sort of rebellion against an oppressive society. Although He made it clear that His Kingdom was not of this world, His detractors made it such.

Matthew is quick to remind his Jewish readers that even in the arrangement of the crosses, there was a fulfillment of Scripture. Isaiah 53:12, part of that great chapter that so accurately depicts the scene of the crucifixion, confidently affirms: And He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

The fact that Christ was crucified with robbers was to all of us a reminder that He came for sinners. Jesus Himself said that He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Christ's motive and mission in coming to earth was not a great photo-op with the leaders of planet Earth, but rather to offer redemption to the hopelessly lost in this sin cursed world. As the second Adam, He came to right the wrongs and set the record straight that had been so marred by the first Adam. How thakful we can be for the cross. How thankful we can be that He even permitted Himself in death to be associated with sinners. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!