The Thief on the Left and Why You Might Not Be the Good Thief that You Think You Are
Who was the thief on the left side of the cross?
This thief is known as the “Impenitent” thief. Impenitent means that someone does not feel shame or regret for their actions. It comes from the opposite of penance, which would be to voluntarily self punish as an outward expression for having done wrong. It’s a very Catholic idea that may generate discomfort among Protestants that believe no penance is necessary as a result of Christ’s death on the cross. Protestants use the word “unrepentant” to describe the thief to the left of Jesus. Unrepentant carries the same connotation as impenitent however Protestants believe simply turning away from the action or sin is the all the that is needed. We often hear stories, and homilies devoted to the “thief on the cross” as a shinning example of a poor soul being saved by Christ at the hour of death by grace alone. Protestants use this repentant thief to support grace over works. The thief was a sinner like us who turned to Christ at the end and received salvation because of it.
I used to believe only this.
Years of conversion to Catholicism has taught me that this thief had indeed performed penance (works) and this had been seen by Jesus on the cross. The “good thief” as he is often called, took his suffering in crucifixion and had given it up as a sacrifice to Jesus. He had given his suffering to join with Christ in His suffering on the cross, just as Jesus asks us to do. What must one do to be a follower of Christ?
Jesus says in Matthew:
Matthew 16:24: “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.’”
A protestant understanding of this passage might lean heavily on the metaphor of this command. The emphasis goes to the “follow me” part of the statement. The problem that many Christians have with this interpretation is that they only apply their understanding of “follow” to their lifestyle. To many, this means that we believe in Christ, profess Him as our savior, and live our life to the best of our ability. We try to be good Christians. We read our Bibles. We post inspirational memes about God and angels. We pray for each other. We attend Church once a week. These are all great actions, but a Protestant would say that all good and pious works are done as a result of salvation.
For me Luke offers more clarity on what Jesus commands,
Luke 9:23: “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’”
The emphasis here is on the word “daily”. If this command was based solely on “salvation”, the need to repeat daily as instruction, is not necessary. We would repeat as a result of being saved. Here we see Jesus telling us, as if to make us aware, that we need to strive to deny ourselves and follow Him again and again.
As a Catholic, I shift my attention to the discipleship of both statements. What does it mean to be a follower of Christ? What is a disciple? In the times of Jesus and the Apostles, a disciple was a student that immersed themselves into the life of the teacher. To do this, you had to give up your occupation, your family, your spouse, your possessions, your home, and your pride, so that you could follow the teacher and observe their every action. It’s very foreign to the concept to that of the modern day pupil. We go to class, receive information, and then go back to our homes to serve our families. This was not the case in first century Israel. The Apostles would have observed and mentally recorded every action and word of Jesus so they could eventually teach disciples of their own. The primary mode of communication during this time was spoken word, and song. We see this displayed in prayers, psalms, and oral tradition of the age. Using this understanding and filter, I can now examine “deny myself” and “taking up my cross” to follow Jesus daily.
We see the Apostles demonstrate this in their own lives. Not always by choice we see each of the Apostles suffer greatly in the name of Christ. They are rejected, beaten, tortured and all but one are martyred. These followers of Christ would give up everything to teach the Gospel and spread Christs’ Church. This did not end at the Apostles. The Church Fathers were real men that followed in the footsteps of the Apostles. They also spread the Gospel and the teachings of Christ because they were disciples. It would have been of the utmost importance to teach every fine detail of what they were given by one of the twelve. Many of these early Church Fathers also suffered gruesome and horrid martyrdom's in the name of Jesus.
I go back now, to the thief on the cross. Tradition tells us that the good thief was named Dismas. In Catholic tradition, St. Dismas was canonized because Jesus said that after death, the thief would be with Him. Tradition also tells us through the non canon writings of the time, that the “bad thief” was named Gestas. This man suffered crucifixion, was placed next to Jesus and still chose to be separated from Him. When we read about him in scripture, we can surmise that he knew who Jesus was.
Luke 23:39 “One of the criminals (Gestas or the bad thief) who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
In this short statement we see acknowledgement of who Jesus claimed to be. The thief must have known of Jesus’ teachings. He knew Jesus, even if he didn’t believe. It wasn’t just that he didn’t believe but we see where the impenitence comes in the mocking statements that he makes directly to Jesus. He is mirroring Satan’s temptation of Christ in the wilderness. There is anger and pride in his words. Even at the moment of death, he chooses his own vanity over the mercy that will come in death. The end of suffering.
Dismas gives added context, “we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds…”
These are the words that every sinner understands at some point in their life. We suffer in life as a result of our actions, our thoughts, and our words. We all sin. We are no different from each thief on the cross. What separates the good thief from the bad is the action they take with their suffering. The good thief takes his works and offers them over to Christ. “we are getting what we deserve for our deeds… Jesus, remember me…” Protestants may discredit these sufferings as works because they are not voluntarily given nor are they a result of salvation, but they cannot be separated from the cross. Although it was not the will of the thief to suffer and die, and these works were placed upon him as condemnation, it does not change the fact the he suffered. It was the action he took with the suffering that saved him in the end. Although Jesus willingly steps into His passion, it was not God’s will that his creation would fall or live in a fallen world. The ultimate act of love from a Creator to His creation was to step into that creation and willingly suffer and die to redeem us. This is why taking our own suffering and offering it up to God, is an act of love which brings us into communion with Christ.
As Christians, aren’t we taught to give everything over to God? We are not just to offer Thanksgiving for the blessings we receive, we should also offer thanks for the sufferings we endure. Aren’t these sufferings the result of our fallen and sinful world?
Proverbs 3:5–6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
Isaiah 41:10: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”
Romans 8:28: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
Psalm 46:1–3: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.”
It’s easy to see ourselves in the good thief, however the good thief and the bad thief were the same up until the point of death. Following Christ is a daily action. Jesus didn’t tell us to deny ourselves and follow Him only until we believed in our heart and confessed with our mouth that he was raised from the dead. We are saved because we now know who to offer up thanksgiving for all blessings and sufferings in our life so that at the moment of death, after we have carried our own cross, we can say, “Lord, I know you because I was your disciple, please allow me to follow you forever.”
The good thief is at the end of life. If we have lived our whole like unrepentant, or impenitent intentionally or even out of ignorance, we can still turn to Jesus and understand what the works of Christ on the cross means.
The truth is, our whole life is much similar to the Getmas, the thief on the left of Jesus. We know who Jesus is, but are we really following Him? The thief on the left is me. We live our whole life only offering bits and pieces to God. We often trust Him through our blessings but turn to our own pride during sufferings. We don’t like to be corrected. As Christians, we have deeply seeded beliefs on right and wrong, but how much compassion, mercy, and forgiveness to we have for one another? We know of Jesus as followers, but do our actions and works show that of a disciple of Christ? In the end, will we look to Jesus as Dismas and say, “Lord, I know why I am here and I deserve this, please remember me in paradise” or will we look to Jesus as Getmas and say, “I believed in you my whole life. I read the Bible. I gave money to the Church. I was nice to people most of the time and when they deserved it, yet I still suffered. I should be saved. Why did I have to carry this cross?”
