There is a part of language use called the subjunctive mood that allows us to talk about things that have not yet been achieved, but which might become true or factual at some point in the future when certain conditions have been met. The usual indicator of this subjunctive mood is the presence of the word If at the beginning of the sentence or phrase in question. The best biblical example of the subjunctive mood is found in Psalm 90 where it says, "The days of our lives are three score years and ten. Yet if by reason of strength they be four score years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away." Notice that living four score years is not a certainty. It is a condition that might happen if one has the strength. It is subjunctive. It is marked by the word If.

There is a popular poem by Rudyard Kipling that is entitled, If. Perhaps you have heard a few lines of this poem before.

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs

And blaming it on you ...

If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;

If you can think and not make thoughts your aim ...

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings -- nor lose the common touch ...

If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds

Worth of distance run --

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!

Notice that while the promise or hope offered by this poem is everything that Earth can afford, it is all still conditional. It is in the subjunctive mood. It only happens if you can do all the things suggested. Nothing is guaranteed. Certain conditions must first be met. Whenever someone uses the word If, you know there is something more that must be said or done before the matter can be resolved.

That is what is at stake in the Conversation on Calvary that involved the three men who are hanging on crosses next to each other. Jesus is on the center cross. On one side of Jesus is a man who has somehow come to recognize that he is dying in the presence of the Son of God, and this man asks Jesus to remember him when the Lord comes into His kingdom. This man has no doubt, no uncertainty, and no reluctance. He turns to Jesus and calls Him Lord! Notice, however, that this is not the case for the man hanging on the other side of Jesus. He makes no confession of faith. He asks nothing with the conviction that Jesus was able to meet his request. He approaches Jesus in the subjunctive mood, "If you be the Christ, save yourself and us."

This scene on Calvary points to the fundamental challenge that faces everyone as they make up their minds about a relationship with Jesus. Some people are persuaded already. They believe it is possible to "take their burdens to the Lord and leave them there." They accept what Jesus says in John 15:17, "Ask whatever you will and it shall be done unto you." But not everybody is in this group. Some people are still unconvinced. They do not have enough faith even to raise a prayer, much less to believe that prayers can be answered. At worst they are cynical about God, not even believing that God exists. At best, they are subjunctive, giving conditions within which they are challenging God to operate. Perhaps they can be persuaded, If .... Perhaps they will believe, If .... Perhaps God is real, If ....