Why did only certain people go on the cross?

Wow, awesome question! First of all, let me be clear about crucifixion…it was basically a death sentence. Crucifixion wasn’t intended to be a punishment with set time. It wasn’t like the Roman judges said, “You will be crucified for a period of three hours.” The act of crucifying someone was meant to kill them. Not only that, but it was meant to kill them in a very slow, painful and tortuous way. Roman crucifixion was also meant to humiliate and dishonor a person.

Now, having said that, crucifixion was reserved only for the worst criminals, basically your murderers and thieves. In the Bible, we only have two instances of crucifixion mentioned. The first involves Jesus and two thieves, the second is when the Apostle Peter is told he will be crucified as a martyr (John 21:18-19).

Since the second instance is vague and has been debated by many Biblical scholars, let’s go to the first instance, which we know to be true. Here we have two thieves and Jesus who are being crucified. Do you remember what Jesus did to warrant death by crucifixion? According to the Jewish leaders, He blasphemed by claiming to be God. Even Pontius Pilate couldn’t find a reason to crucify Jesus so he handed Jesus to the Jews who had Him crucified by the Roman soldiers. So, Jesus, who was perfect and without sin and who had committed no crime, was crucified along with two thieves.

As unfair and unjust as that seems, it fulfills Old Testament prophesy about the Messiah. Jesus had to die on that cross. But, here’s the glorious and wonderful part about his death on the cross: when Jesus died He took the sins of world past, present and future with him and redeemed us. And because Christ died for us, we can have eternal life with God, the Father, in Heaven.

So, even though the cross was reserved for certain criminals, Jesus’ crucifixion was necessary to fulfill God’s unstoppable plan.