The image of three crosses on a hill is a familiar one. We know that our Lord was not crucified alone, but hung on a cross between two criminals. While we may easily gloss over that fact, it does set before us some central truths of the gospel.

Firstly, it reminds us that our Lord was numbered with the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12). Throughout His life that had been the case. He was known as the friend of sinners because He mixed with prosti­tutes, outcasts and tax collectors. Be­cause He went to parties He was called a drunkard, because He healed on the Sabbath He was called a law-breaker, because He claimed to be the Son of God, He was regarded as a blasphemer. Throughout His life He was numbered with the transgressors. And in His death it was no different. He hung between two thieves. He was regarded as no differ­ent than a criminal.

Our Lord endured the humiliation and disgrace of being numbered with the transgressors because sinners were His mission. He had come to seek and to save the lost. He had not come for the righteous but for sinners. He had come for thieves, and murderers, and adulter­ers, and liars, and gossips... And as sin­ners, we can only stand in wonder, that the Holy One should bear such disgrace, in order to bring us to glory! He is still the friend of sinners and although others may disown us because of our sin, He will never disown the sinner who humbly, and brokenly trusts in His love and grace.

Secondly, the three crosses remind us that our crucified Lord suffered most in His soul. It is very easy to dwell on the physical agony of crucifixion. It is not uncommon to hear graphic descriptions of the Saviour wracked with pain. It was indeed an aw­ful death. His sufferings in body were immense. But no greater than the thieves either side. They underwent the same pain, the same death.

What was unique about the Man in the middle was His suffering of soul. He was despised and rejected by men. He was mocked and derided. Carrying the sins of His people, He was subject to the wrath of God. He bore God's curse. While the other two were paying for their own sins, He was paying for the sins of the whole world. "He descended into hell." It was that which caused Him to sweat drops of blood. That which wrung from Him the agonising cry of God-forsakenness.

As we respond to our Saviour, we should not merely be moved by pity toward Him for His physical suffering. We should be moved by the love and grace of one who bore the curse in our place. He who had no sin became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God!

Finally, the three crosses remind us that the Man in the middle demands response. The men either side of Him interacted with Him from their crosses. One hurled insults. He had no regard for Him, no fear of God. He joined with those who nailed Him to the cross. We can only assume that when he breathed his last, he departed eternally from the Son of God. He had been justly con­demned to death, and eternal death would be his lot.

The other, however, esteemed Christ as holy and sought salvation from the Lord. He acknowledged the sinlessness of Christ, and asked that the Lord would remember him. And at that point, we see the Lord's most gracious response. He gave to that dying thief immediate as­surance of salvation. Entrance into paradise was granted not on the basis of the man's life, but on the basis of his simple faith and plea for mercy.

It is a graphic reminder of the fact that we all must respond, one way or anoth­er, to the Man in the middle. Either we view Him as the Holy One, or we despise and reject Him as the world does. Either we plead with Him for mercy, or we make light of His death. Either we are saved by faith, or lost for­ever. Either we are on the right, or on the left. We need to remember that when Jesus comes again, wearing a crown of glory rather than a crown of thorns, He will separate all people into those on the right and those on the left. All will be sinners. The difference is between sinners saved by grace, and sinners justly condemned to hell.

We can be thankful, then, for the wisdom of God in allowing His Son to be murdered between two criminals. The very scene of three crosses portrays graphically these central gospel truths. How important that we take time this Easter to meditate on the work of our Saviour, so that our hearts may again overflow with love and praise for the Man in the middle.