by Pat Sieler © 2026
There’s a thief in me.
It started with desire, not a good desire for something beautiful, wonderful, healthy.
It started with a desire that was dark, embarrassing, shameful. My own desire deceived me. It was evil.
There’s a thief in me.
James told me it would happen.
It started because I was drawn away. I was drawn away from the One who loved me. I was drawn away from what is good for me. I was drawn away by the thief. I was enticed by my own desire.
What if I went that way? What if I get closer, and closer to what I want?
The thief said “Go. Be enticed. Be allured.”
Desire conceived. Something was being born in me; not something good, not something whole or pleasant. Something evil.
James told me it would happen: “Each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire.”
There’s a thief in me. He’s after my thoughts, my emotions, my will, my intellect, my very soul. He’s taking over and putting my under
Sin is coming—no! it’s here. It’s who I am, it really is my desire, my dark desire.
Sin is growing in me. I do what I don’t want to do, and I can’t do what I want to do.
I need help, I can’t do this on my own.
There’s a thief in me.
Is there a thief in you?
Is his name…Barabbas
Barrabas
Barrabas was a revolutionary. He led a rebellion. He was a murderer. He killed someone. Maybe he killed many people.
Jesus’ follower Matthew describes him as a notorious prisoner.
When Jesus was arrested, the governor, Pilate, had a custom to release one prisoner, whatever prisoner the crowd wanted.
Pilate suggested Jesus. He knew that they handed Jesus over to him out of envy. He knew Jesus was innocent. He knew Jesus didn’t deserve to die.
But there was a thief in Pilate too. A thief that wanted acceptance. A thief that wanted to please the crowd. A thief that wanted to keep his high position of political power.
“Who is it you want me to release for you—Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” he said.
This would be an easy out. Let them chose Jesus, Pilate selfishly hoped.
Guess who the crowd chose? They chose the revolutionary. The chose the notorious prisoner. They chose the one who had killed human beings. They chose Barabbas.
Is there a thief in you? Is his name Barabbas?
“I’ve never killed anyone,” you reason.
But Jesus taught us that murder comes from hatred.
The Old Testament said, “Whoever murders is subject to judgment.” Jesus said, “Whoever is angry with his brother or sister is subject to judgement.”
Anger is my thief?
That time, that time you called someone a fool? That time your words stung your loved one.
Do you insult other people?
“You know you’re better than them. If they could just be as smart or as kind as you!” Barabbas whispers in your ear.
This criminal is making your soul his residence.
Judas
Have you heard of Judas? I wonder if the thief in me is named Judas?
Judas followed Jesus. He walked with Peter, James, John and Matthew. He knew them. They were friends.
They all kept a common money-bag. Guess who took care of it? Judas.
He would often help himself to what was in the money bag. (John 12:6). Nobody would miss it, it was just a little bit here and there. “I deserve it,” the thief reasons.
Judas lacked integrity. He was selfish, he loved money and he wanted more of it. He didn’t care about the poor.
Do I care about the poor?
There’s a thief in me.
Judas was a betrayer. He said one thing and did another. The ultimate hypocrite. He looked good on the outside; but on the inside he was a different person. Stained, dark, careless.
He wasn’t loyal. It looked like he was—for almost three years Judas was one of them. Traveling, laughing watching the Lord’s work
Why did he betray Jesus? Did he think following Jesus would lead to power or fame? Was he hoping to get rich? Did he crave popularity? Or did he just want control?
Judas, are you living in me?
There’s two more criminals we will see. We don’t know their names, only their location.
One on his right, one on his left, both on a cross. We’ll call the first…
Criminal #1
He’s close to death. He’s been hanging on a cross for hours? We don’t know how long.
He’s in pain. How much time until he breathes his last.
He could have been a slave or guilty of treason. We don’t know his crime before the cross, but we know his crime while upon the cross.
Dr. Luke tells us that he yelled insults at Jesus.
“Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39)
“If you’re God, get me off this cross!”
“If you’re God, do something about my pain!”
“If you’re God, make my life more comfortable!”
“If you’re God, give me what I want!”
“If you’re God, why am I so miserable!”
“If you’re God, why did my mom die!”
“If you’re God, how come I’m still single!”
The sin of the man hanging next to Jesus was a sin of words that came from a bitter soul.
How many of us give this thief a home!
“Do what I want God!”
“If you’re God…..” WAIT!
“If you’re God!?”
Criminal #1 lives on. He is popular.
The sin of the criminal about to slip into hell was a sin of insulting God and telling Jesus what to do.
I don’t know his name, but I think there’s a thief in me.
I beginning to despair. My own heart has gone astray. The black, the evil, the lost-ness is almost too much to bear. Something is wrong.
One last thief.
Criminal #2
One more…
This one’s different.
Oh, he’s a bad man, he’s a criminal. He’s done something worthy of execution. I don’t know what it was.
I don’t who he hurt, or maybe even killed.
I don’t know what he’s did.
This criminal—this human being—insulted Jesus too!
Matthew 27:44 tells us that both criminals, both thieves, heaped insults on him.
What were his words?
What insults poured our of his mouth?
But something happened to criminal #2, something happened to this thief, his words are telling.
He rebuked his counterpart, “Don’t you even fear God!” he said.
Wait, what?! What is this a criminal that fears God?
How can a robber, a bandit, a rebel claim to fear God?
A ray of light, a revelation from the Divine, penetrated this dark soul. Truth that belongs on the lips of a judge or philosopher or preacher was heard from the mouth of an almost dead criminal:
“We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man—this man hanging on the cross in the middle—this man did nothing wrong.”
And that insight, that truth, that small ray of light that broke into his dark soul all of a sudden in a wild moment of grace, smashed the work of the Prince of Demons in that thief’s life that day.
He was a robber, a bandit, and rebel no more.
He feared God, he saw his sin, and his last words were “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”.
The words were met with a welcome! There was grace for the one who could never do a good deed, could never go to Bible study or get baptized, would never read a word of Scripture, because he was at death’s door.
This thief, though, found peace for his soul, when his new found Savior, bloodied and beaten, told him, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”
It would only be a short time and this man that had nothing to give would experience a wholeness, a newness that can only be found in the presence of Jesus
Yes, there’s a thief in me. In you too! There’s a thief in you.
It may be Barrabas or Judas or the man on the cross.
Anger, hatred, lust, greed, gossip, pride, covetousness, gluttony, jealousy, violence, division, addiction, secrecy, murder, slothfulness, hypocrisy, it’s in me.
Why do we pretend we are innocent? Why do we think we are so good?
When the thief has settled in my heart?
But that’s why Jesus came, that’s why he healed, that’s why he taught, that’s why he touched so many, that’s why he died…for me…for you…for the thief in me…for the thief in you
And so with the thief in my, I say, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
It’s not my goodness, my works, my performance. It’s your grace.
And just like 2000 years ago, to a man that could give Him nothing, Jesus promises me and you that one day, maybe one day soon, we will be with him in paradise.
Because of his death.
Because sin was placed upon the sinless.
Our sin—the thief—was confronted by grace.
What a miracle, what love, what forgiveness! There are no words, there is no way that we could ever express our thanks, our gratitude. It changed our destiny.
We remember tonight, Jesus. We remember his life, and tonight, especially tonight, we remember his death.
And so we come to the table, we come to communion.
We take a cracker that reminds us of his body, his flesh was pierced, pain shot through every nerve.
What does it feel like to have sharp thorns driven into your scalp?
What does it feel like to be beaten by soldiers trained to kill?
We take a cup of juice that reminds us of his blood that was poured out when he hung on the cross.
One drop would have been enough.
This holy blood.
What does it feel like to have the punishment for every sin in the world laid upon you?
So I invite you to come.
To take a cracker, to take a cup.
And remember that he died for your sin, for your brokenness, for the thief that lives in you,