Audio By Vocalize
Suna East MP Junet Mohamed claimed that money exchanged hands among MPs during the impeachment of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. [FILE]
Three crosses stand on Golgotha. In the middle, the sinless Son of God. On either side, two criminals — equally guilty, equally close to Jesus, equally near death. Yet only one enters paradise. The difference is posture, not proximity. One thief bows. The other slides — not falls, slides — into hell with his eyes open, running his foul mouth and thumping his chest the whole way down. That is the more frightening image. Falling suggests surprise. Sliding suggests a slow, willing descent, one refusal at a time, right to the edge.
The repentant thief's concern moves quickly beyond himself. He rebukes the mockery. He confesses their guilt. He declares Christ's innocence. In moments, a thief becomes a witness, because grace always turns a rescued man into someone anxious to rescue another. Even dying men can still save someone.
His companion never loosens his grip on self. We assume suffering humbles people. This part of Scripture disagrees. Pain can soften a heart or harden it, and what decides the direction isn't the size of the suffering but the posture already rehearsed long before it arrived. A heart practiced in small refusals will refuse a large one too. Character is not made at Calvary. It is only revealed there.
