One of Rembrandt’s more famous paintings is entitled The Three Crosses. When one looks at the painting, he is immediately drawn to the center cross on which Jesus died. As one looks further at the crowd gathered around the foot of the cross, he is impressed by the facial expressions that depict so clearly the attitudes of the people involved in the awful crime of crucifying the Son of God. It would be easy to miss the character who can be seen in the lower edge of the painting. That figure is almost hidden in the shadows. According to many art critics, that figure is Rembrandt’s representation of himself. He recognized that by his sins he helped to nail Jesus to the Cross.

It is easy to blame Pilate or the Roman soldiers or the crowd who cried out, “Crucify him” (Mk. 15:13), or the religious leaders. One author put it this way, “It is a simple thing to say that Christ died for the sins of the world. It is quite another thing to say that Christ died for my sins. It may make us feel better to point the finger at those who put Jesus on the cross, but it is a shocking thought that we can be as indifferent as Pilate, as scheming as Caiaphas, as calloused as the soldiers, as ruthless as the mob, or as cowardly as the disciples. It isn’t just what they did—it was I who nailed Him to the tree. I crucified the Christ of God. I joined the mockery.”