{"id":15176,"date":"2026-01-05T02:19:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T02:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=15176"},"modified":"2026-01-05T02:19:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T02:19:26","slug":"jackie-hill-perry-talks-man-on-the-middle-cross-at-passion-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=15176","title":{"rendered":"Jackie Hill Perry talks ‘Man on the middle cross\u2019 at Passion 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"


By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Assistant Editor Sunday, January 04, 2026<\/span><\/a>Screenshot\/Passion 2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Standing before tens of thousands of college students and young adults at Passion 2026, Jackie Hill Perry delivered a message centered on the paradox of the Christian faith: that salvation comes not through self-preservation and human heroism, but through surrender and the death of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Perry, an author, Bible teacher and poet, opened her message delivered before thousands gathered at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, with an illustration drawn from the 1997 film \u201cTitanic.\u201d Recounting the now-famous scene in which Jack Dawson sacrifices his life so Rose DeWitt Bukater can survive, Perry highlighted the longstanding debate over whether the floating door could have saved them both.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople love saviors,\u201d the 36-year-old Upon Waking <\/em>author said. \u201cWe love heroes. We love those who will sacrifice themselves for the greater good. What we don\u2019t like are those who save themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scene, Perry contended, resonates so deeply because it exposes something fundamental about human nature. People want to see themselves as the heroic figure who gives their life for others. But in reality, she said, humanity more closely resembles Rose, the one who must be saved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why that scene sticks with us,\u201d Perry said. \u201cWe all want to be like Jack. But we are actually like Rose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reading from Luke 23:32-43, Perry focused on the moment Jesus is crucified between two criminals, mocked by religious leaders, soldiers and even one of the thieves beside Him.<\/p>\n

Again and again, the crowd around the cross issued the same challenge: \u201cSave yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perry noted that the demand echoes throughout the Gospel narrative, from Satan\u2019s temptation of Jesus in the wilderness to Peter\u2019s insistence that the Messiah should not suffer. Each time, the temptation is the same: use divine power to preserve life and escape suffering.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they didn\u2019t know what they were asking for,\u201d Perry said. \u201cThey hadn\u2019t read the script.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quoting filmmaker James Cameron\u2019s explanation for Jack\u2019s death in \u201cTitanic\u201d \u2014 \u201cIt says on page 147 of the script that Jack dies\u201d \u2014 Perry said the same logic applies to the cross. Jesus\u2019 death was the point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe man in the middle cross isn\u2019t the one who needs to be saved from death,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is always us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perry traced the story of Jesus\u2019 crucifixion backward through the Gospel of Luke, from His condemnation by religious leaders to His betrayal by Judas, His anguished prayer in Gethsemane, the Last Supper and the prophetic declarations surrounding His birth and identity. Each moment, she stressed, reinforced the same truth: Jesus\u2019 death was always part of God\u2019s redemptive plan.<\/p>\n

She also pointed to Luke\u2019s genealogy, which traces Jesus\u2019 lineage back to Adam, \u201cthe son of God,\u201d emphasizing that Christ stands both within human history and above it, uniquely qualified to deal with humanity\u2019s deepest problem: sin.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere is the Son of God,\u201d Perry said, \u201cbeing put to death like a sinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

To the left and right, she noted, were men who truly were guilty, criminals who had broken both Roman law and God\u2019s law. Jesus, by contrast, had committed no sin, yet bore the punishment of the guilty.<\/p>\n

To explain why, Perry turned to Genesis 3 and the fall of humanity. When Adam sinned, she said, death entered the human condition, not just physical death, but spiritual separation from God. Because Adam is the father of humanity, all people inherit his sin and its consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wages of sin is death,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery single person who has ever been born is born deserving death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet even in Genesis, Perry said, God announced a plan of rescue: a coming offspring who would be wounded by Satan but ultimately crush him. That promise, she said, finds its fulfillment in Jesus, born of a virgin, sinless and able to defeat sin and death.<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus was not on the cross because He was a criminal,\u201d Perry said. \u201cHe was on the cross because we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perry returned repeatedly to the mocking refrain hurled at Jesus: \u201cSave yourself,\u201d a demand she said revealed more about humanity than about Christ.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe use our gifts to save us from certain insecurities. We use our friends to save us from what our parents are lacking in. We use drugs and intoxicants to save us from anxiety and boredom. We even use legalism, dressed up as faith, to save us from having to repent for real. We are all always trying to save ourselves from something, and it is because we don’t believe that what Christ accomplished on the cross is able to save to the uttermost,\u201d she emphasized.<\/p>\n

In contrast, the cross exposes the limits of self-salvation. To the \u201cnatural mind,\u201d she said, a bleeding, crucified Savior looks foolish, incapable of addressing guilt, shame or sin. Yet Scripture insists that it is precisely through Christ\u2019s weakness that salvation is accomplished.<\/p>\n

\u201cKings don\u2019t hang on crosses,\u201d Perry said. \u201cUnless the King is Yahweh.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the sermon\u2019s most emotionally charged moments came as Perry examined the transformation of one of the criminals crucified alongside Jesus. According to the Gospel accounts, both thieves initially mocked Christ. Yet at some point, one undergoes a radical change of heart, rebuking the other and acknowledging his own guilt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened?\u201d Perry asked.<\/p>\n

Though Scripture does not describe the moment in detail, Perry suggested the turning point may have come when Jesus prayed, \u201cFather, forgive them, for they know not what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus has been unjustly condemned. Jesus has been beat up. He has a crown of thorns on His head. Both of His hands and His feet have been pierced to the wood, and there between the two criminals, He hangs naked while everybody beneath Him is throwing insults. That’s a lot of personal injury for any human being to take, let alone one who claims to be the Son of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

That display of forgiveness amid humiliation, she explained, likely awakened the thief to his own sinfulness and Jesus\u2019 innocence. If God could forgive those crucifying His Son, perhaps there was hope even for a criminal.<\/p>\n

Perry emphasized that salvation is not merely about being spared suffering or earthly consequences. One thief wanted Jesus to save him from the cross; the other recognized that he needed saving from God\u2019s judgment and reconciliation to God Himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be saved by God is to be saved from God for God,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Drawing from Romans 3, Perry explained the doctrine of substitutionary atonement: that Jesus\u2019 death satisfies God\u2019s justice while extending mercy to sinners. Through Christ\u2019s sacrifice, God remains both \u201cjust and the justifier\u201d of those who have faith.<\/p>\n

The thief\u2019s final request \u2014 \u201cJesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom\u201d \u2014 demonstrated extraordinary faith, Perry said. Despite Christ\u2019s apparent weakness, the man recognized Him as a king with authority beyond death. Salvation, she emphasized, is achieved solely by trusting the \u201cman on the middle cross.\u201d<\/p>\n

To illustrate the point, Perry recounted a story often told by preacher Alistair Begg: imagining the thief arriving in Heaven with no r\u00e9sum\u00e9 of religious accomplishments, able to offer only one explanation for his presence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe man on the middle cross said I could come,\u201d Perry concluded her message, followed by a time of worship led by artist Brooke Ligertwood.<\/p>\n

The Passion movement was founded in 1995 by Louie Giglio and Shelley Giglio to call college-aged young adults to live for what the organization describes as \u201cthe name and renown of Jesus.\u201d Other speakers at this year\u2019s conference include Earl McClellan, Jonathan Pokluda and Sadie Robertson Huff.<\/p>\n