The Penitence of
the “Thief”
Our first example comes from the end
of Jesus’s ministry before his death and resurrection, in the story of the
penitent “thief” in Luke 23:39-43. The Gospels all include the detail that
Jesus was crucified alongside two others—Luke calls them kakourgoi,
“criminals” or “malefactors” (Luke 23:32-33, 39). We are not told their crime
in particular. They are often described as “thieves,” popularized by the King
James and Douay-Rheims translations of their description in Matthew 27;38, 44,
and Luke 15:27. But we should not imagine either of them as being crucified for
petty theft. Mere burglary or thievery “was not a capital offence” in Roman
Law. The term used by Matthew and Mark is better rendered “brigand” or “bandit”
(Greek lēstēs, not simply kleptēs), a term also employed to refer
to anti-Roman revolutionaries such as Barabbas, whose brigandry included murder
(cf. Mark 15:7; Luke 23:19; John 18:40).
What is striking here is Jesus’s mercy
toward the brigand who shows penitence and faith. Both criminals hang beside
Jesus. But Luke presents a contrast in their response to Jesus. [20] one
reviles Jesus and asks him, if he is the Messiah, to act with power and save
them from crucifixion now. The other, however, rebukes him: “Do you not fear
God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have
been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but
this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:40-41). Differently than the other,
the second criminal accepts his coming death and its justice, knowing and
admitting his guilt. Differently again, rather than demanding earthly
deliverance from Jesus, he asks Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your
kingdom” (Luke 23:42). Jesus promises in reply, “Truly I tell you, today you
will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).
Despite some popular uses of this
passage, this is not an example of one who is saved by faith without
repentance. The thief turns to Christ with expressions of penitence that are
fit to his current circumstances. [21] he admits his guilt and accepts
his crucifixion as a “just” punishment of it. He likewise turns to Christ not
in a demand but in a humble prayer, in which he also implicitly expresses faith
in Jesus’s status as master of a “kingdom”—one whose reign includes and does
not contradict the cross. [22] Had he continued to live after this, he
would be called to the same life of obedience and repentance to which all
Christ’s disciplines are called in their loyalty to Jesus as Lord and king
(otherwise Luke 6:46 would apply). What this episode does depict is the
extravagant power and mercy of Jesus; Christ’s love is for all who turns to him
in repentance and faith and acknowledge him as Lord. Christs love covers even
one who by his own admission deserved crucifixion, and his saving death and
resurrection have the power to bring him to the “paradise” from which Adam was
expelled. It is this same love that is shown in the other examples we will
highlight here: the love of the Shepherd who wants all his sheep home, the love
of the God who wants “all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). (James B
Prothro, The Bible and Reconciliation: Confession, Repentance, and
Restoration [A Catholic Biblical Theology of the Sacraments; Grand Rapids,
Mich.: Baker Academic, 2023], 127-28)
Notes
for the Above:
[20] This contrasts with the depiction of the
brigands in Matthew and Mark, who report only that they both derided him (Matt.
27:44; Mark 15:32).
[21] for John Wesley, the criminals salvation
cannot nullify Christ’s call for “repentance” and works or “fruits meet for
repentance; which if we willingly neglect, we cannot reasonably expect to be
justified at all.” It shows rather, that the response of faith in works is
conditioned by “times and opportunity” (“Sermon XLIII: The Scripture Way of
Salvation,” in The Works of John Wesley, 3rd ed., 14 vols. [Grand
Rapids: Baker, 1986], 6:48)
[22] “According to Luke, the good thief
acknowledges Jesus’ royal messiahship but realizes that it is not for today and
that is not separate from death. He will be only too happy if on the other side
of his suffering Jesus does not forget him” (François Bovon, Luke 3: A
Commentary on the Gospel of Luke 19:28-24:53, trans. James E. Crouch,
Hermeneia [Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012], 311).
