Luke 23:32-43: Which Thief Are You?
Stay True with Madison Prewett Troutt
Madison Prewett Troutt
4.8 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 2 April 2026
⏱️ 10 minutes
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Summary
It's Holy Week! You've probably seen this image before… three crosses on a hill. Maybe on a bumper sticker, a piece of jewelry, a church sign, or a social media post; but in Luke 23:39-43, we're invited to look closer. In this episode, Madi and Grant unpack the powerful reality behind those three crosses, specifically the two thieves beside Jesus. In their final moments, both men face the same Savior… yet they respond in completely different ways.
One hardens his heart.
The other humbly turns to Jesus.
And the question we're left with is: which one are we?
We're talking about:
-The contrast between a hardened heart and a surrendered one
-What it looks like to recognize our need for a Savior
-The power of salvation
-And how even in his final breath, one thief found grace
This episode is an invitation to reflect, to soften, and to remember that it's never too late to turn to Him.
My prayer is that you would see yourself honestly, respond to Jesus fully, and rest in the truth that salvation is available to YOU.
New episodes every Thursday at 7am EST 🤍
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Luke 23, verse 32 through 34. Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. |
| 0:10.2 | When they came to the place called the skull, they crucified him there along with the criminals, |
| 0:15.9 | one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. |
| 0:23.3 | And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. If you've been around church or you've been |
| 0:30.5 | in the church at all, you may know the story of Jesus getting crucified. This might be familiar. |
| 0:39.9 | You've probably heard a sermon on this or two. |
| 0:47.2 | It's really impactful to me for a few reasons. One that sticks out is there's two strange characters that show up in the climax of this story. You've been reading the Gospels. You've seen |
| 0:54.0 | his miracles. You've seen his miracles. You've seen his teaching. |
| 0:56.4 | You've seen so many miraculous, powerful moments. And we're leading up to this final climax of the |
| 1:04.1 | payment of our sins to be on Jesus Christ on the cross. And it says there's two criminals that are to die with him. |
| 1:13.8 | Now, if you're anything like me, I read the Bible and I try and see it as a movie. |
| 1:18.7 | I try and go, okay, there was color, there was the dust of the sand that would pop up as they walk. |
| 1:24.0 | There would be people watching this. |
| 1:26.3 | And I just imagine being one of these criminals |
| 1:28.6 | who your whole life up into this point, all you've done are bad things. You've sinned. We don't know |
| 1:35.3 | why they're here, but they've done something bad enough to be killed for it, to be crucified for it. |
| 1:41.2 | And I just imagine being one of these criminals and hearing the commotion, |
| 1:45.6 | knowing it's your death day, and they're going, who are we, who are being killed with? |
| 1:51.1 | Like who's this other person we're about to die with? And you start to kind of peek out and you're |
| 1:55.7 | looking around and you're going, that's cheap. That's the one they're calling the Messiah. |
| 2:00.3 | There's this massive crowd. |
| 2:02.1 | There would have been no one there for these two men. |
... |
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