Salvation of the villain on the cross
Along with Jesus, two villains were crucified:
John 19.18 "Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst."
At first, they mocked Jesus together:
Matthew 27.38,44 "Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.", "The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth."
Mark 15.27,32 "And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. ", "Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him."
However, in the Gospel of Luke we read:
Luke 23.32.39-43 "And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.", "And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."
Why is it that in three of the Gospels two of the crucified blaspheme against Jesus, and in the fourth only one, while the other defends Christ? Read all four chapters of these Gospels and you will see that they share common features: there are two evildoers on the right and left sides of the crucified, people laugh at the Lord, utter words like "he saved others and cannot save himself," darkness falls after the sixth hour, vinegar is served and the Lord's death occurs.
There is no doubt that the two ruffians laughed at Jesus. However, the Gospel of Luke does not depict the previous accusations of the saved thief (this situation is described in three other Gospels), but only his conversion. The saved thief at first blasphemed against Jesus. However, he was close to the Lord and saw that not a single bad word came from His mouth; on the contrary, he asked God to forgive people's sins. He forgave those who had wronged him so much, caused him so much suffering, pain and continued to do so. Instead of challenging them, Jesus showed unprecedented love, defended them before his Father. Who among us, having been beaten almost to unconsciousness and finally killed, would pray for a persecutor? Jesus did just that.
The villain recognized Jesus as God
The evildoer understood that with him was crucified not an ordinary man, but God Himself, he proved it by saying "Do you not fear God." At the time, he was one of the few people on earth who saw God in Jesus. The villain with further words again proved that he considered Jesus to be God "And he said: Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom." We conclude that the villain must have heard of Jesus before, perhaps even attended His lectures. For he knew the words of the Lord, who sometimes spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. We don't know exactly who this man was, what he was crucified for, or what kind of internal spiritual struggle he had previously waged. Certainly God was already interacting with him, just as He fights for each of us.
Until the crucifixion, the scoundrel did not believe in the Savior (otherwise he would not have been mocked before), only Jesus' behavior, the love he showed to his persecutors made the truth reach his heart. The apostles fled, Peter denied himself, which of them believed without any doubt what the Lord had told them before? They had serious doubts, you can read about it in the following verses of the Gospel, even one of them had to see Jesus before he believed in the resurrection. Before the death of the Son of God, the thief was the one who accepted what Christ had previously preached. He showed the faith that those closest to the Lord lacked at the time.
The words "Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise." show that true faith in Jesus and his grace can give salvation to anyone. This is very important and wonderful news for us. Each of us can be saved if we accept Jesus into our hearts. God is able to forgive sins, but we must trust Him.
However, it is a mistake to think that you can sin all your life and repent at the end. Know that God knows your heart and intentions. God cannot be fooled. Only true conversion and the grace of Jesus will give you a guarantee of salvation, nothing will give you such a planned artificial conversion. A person who plans such unwise actions falls into his own trap. He will not be able to, sincerely convert before death. It is also important that you do not know when you will die, it could be today, will you have time to convert? Postponing the acceptance of Jesus to himself, is one of the greatest foolishness of man.
Was the evildoer saved, then? Certainly yes, said Jesus himself: Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
