Messiah: this is what happens to failed Messiahs! And the purpose of crucifying him between the two thieves was to say—That’s the sort of man he is! In fact, calling them ‘thieves’ as we normally do obscures the matter. The word in Greek is lestes—a word which the Jewish historian Josephus uses of revolutionary Jews who used force in the attempt to rid Palestine of Roman rule. There were many of them in Jesus’ day; a kind of holy brigand, so keen to see Israel’s God triumph in the world that they