He hung between two thieves so that it might be clear to all and sundry that it was not His sin that hung Him there, for He had none, but it was ours. Judas himself, our Lord's betrayer, testified to Jesus' innocence when he said, “I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood” (Matthew 27:4).
In apocryphal writings, the impenitent thief is given the name Gestas, which first appears in the Gospel of Nicodemus, while his companion is called Dismas. Christian tradition holds that Gestas was on the cross to the left of Jesus and Dismas was on the cross to the right of Jesus.
One thief died mocking Jesus and railing at his own circumstances, defiant to the end. The other thief, in his agonizing hours hanging beside Jesus, realized the error of his ways, trusted in God, repented, and was promised by Jesus: “Truly, I say to you, today you'll be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).
Angry with Jesus for being unable to help Himself or anyone else (Luke 23:39), the first thief died with his own sin in him and on him. There was a second thief executed that day. At first he joined the others who ridiculed and insulted Jesus.
The Gospels portray an indecisive Pilate.
They dragged him before Pilate to be tried for blasphemy—for claiming, they said, to be King of the Jews. And they pressured Pilate, the only one with power to impose a death sentence, to call for his crucifixion.
Jesus believed or hoped that if he surrendered to the cross, though the Romans would crucify him as leader, they would let his followers go. He surrendered himself accordingly, to save his followers from suffering a similar fate.
He shows Jesus' death as a collusion between the compromised leaders and Pilate, kind of 50/50, but Mark 15:15 makes it clear that it was Pilate who had him crucified.
Yes, Jesus chose John because he was tender and affectionate. He told her, “Woman, behold, your son” (John 19:26, ESV). Then, to John, He declared, “Behold, your mother” (verse 27, ESV). The disciple knew what He meant precisely.
Just before he breathed his last breath, Jesus uttered the phrase “it is finished.” Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips.
Answer. Answer: The thieves decided to give the pot to the woman for safe keeping as they did not trust one another.
Jesus answered the repentant thief with the most hopeful words possible: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). A thief who woke up in the morning on his way to hell had his eternal destiny changed with a simple plea to the Savior. “Jesus, remember me.”
One legend says that Dismas and his fellow thief held up Joseph and Mary when they were fleeing to Egypt with the child Jesus. Dismas is said to have been moved to compassion and bribed his companion to let the Holy Family pass safely.
At death his Spirit went to the Father in heaven, and then returned to be clothed in the resurrection body, in which he appeared to the disciples over a period of 40 days before the ascension. The statement in John 20:17 tells us that the ascension of the resurrected Christ had not yet happened.
Dismas was the “Good Thief” that was crucified at the right hand side of Jesus. He asked Jesus to remember him, and Jesus told him that he would be in Paradise with him that very day. The repentance of this Good Thief shows us the importance of the necessary steps we must take to arrive at salvation through Christ.
In the Gospel of Luke, we are told that during Our Blessed Lord's crucifixion, there were two other men suffering the same death, one to either side of Him. The one to Christ's right has become known as the “Good Thief,” while the one to His left is referred to as the “Unrepentant Thief.”
The Second Crucifixion of Jesus by Rick Massey is an interesting read.
7. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
“About three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? '” which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (ESV, Matthew 27:46).
One first word from Jesus, “Father, forgive them for they no not what they do.” And three words from us. O God, forgive them.
John was a leading member of Jesus's original Twelve Apostles, one who had a close personal relationship with the Savior and served important roles as His witness, as a leader of the Church, and as a revelator.
After the Ascension of Jesus
Her death is not recorded in the scriptures, but Orthodox tradition, tolerated also by Catholics, has her first dying a natural death, known as the Dormition of Mary, and then, soon after, her body itself also being assumed (taken bodily) into Heaven.
On December 27, we celebrate the Feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist – the “disciple Jesus loved” (John 13:23). As the author of a Gospel account, three epistles, and the book of Revelation, John was not only a close friend of Jesus during his time, but a spiritual teacher for the ages.
Among the eyewitnesses named in the gospels are Mary Magdalene, Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary of Clopas, and Salome, often identified as the wife of Zebedee.
Aramaic is best known as the language Jesus spoke. It is a Semitic language originating in the middle Euphrates. In 800-600 BC it spread from there to Syria and Mesopotamia. The oldest preserved inscriptions are from this period and written in Old Aramaic.
There are several references in the Synoptic Gospels (the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke) to Jesus predicting his own death, the first two occasions building up to the final prediction of his crucifixion.