There’s a video that went viral on Instagram called The Man on the Middle Cross. It’s a short clip from a sermon by Alistair Begg, a well known preacher in the U.S. with a cool Scottish accent. In the clip, Begg talks about the moment when three men were hanging on three crosses. The two on the outside were convicted criminals, while the man on the middle cross was there because the Jewish leaders considered him a heretic.
Here’s the actual account from Luke 23:39-43
39 Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at Jesus: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other answered, rebuking him: “Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment?”
41 “We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
43 And Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
What a moment.
Begg then gives a hypothetical scenario when that thief arrives at the entrance gate of heaven and an angel asks him, “How did you get here?”
Let’s pause for a second. How would you answer that question if it were you?
Would you answer it in the first person?
“Because I…”
“I was a good person.”
“I didn’t steal a penny from the company I worked for decades.”
“I never killed or even got into a fight with anyone.”
“I had faith.”
“I went to church on Sundays and Bible study group on Tuesday nights.”
This is the kind of logic many people today would use if they were about to suddenly die, both Christians and non Christians. Many of us answer the angel’s question in the first person.
Continuing the story, the puzzled angel asks the thief, “How did you make it here?”
The man responds, “I don’t know…”
So the angel goes to get his supervisor. The supervisor starts drilling him.
“Are you part of a church?”
“No,” he replies.
“Are you clear on the doctrine of justification by faith?”
“I’ve never heard of it in my life” he responds.
Frustrated, the supervisor finally asks him, “So on what basis are you here?”
The thief answers, “The man hanging on the middle cross said I can come.” (Luke 23:43)
For those who follow Jesus, we have realized that the only correct answer is not in the first person, but in the third. This is what sets Jesus apart from all the religions and philosophies throughout human history. Every religion and belief system bases entry into heaven, or some version of it, on the first person.
What I have done.
What I have achieved.
What I have earned.
But Jesus says the only way to heaven is through what he has done. Only his deeds were good enough to make it there.
And now the same man who hung on the middle cross says, “You can come.”
The only action required is not to work but to receive his invitation, just like the thief did.
Jesus’ invitation is for you today.