Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ! It is that time of the year when we are reminded of our Lord Jesus's last moment and suffering on the Cross .
It was indeed a deciding and crucial moment in the history of all mankind. The persecution, torment and suffering of Jesus on the cross, was to prepare a way for our redemption and salvation. Jesus spoke his last words of hope and assurance on the cross.
I want to talk about the significance of : "THE SEVEN WORDS OF JESUS ON THE CROSS!" Jesus Christ died on the Cross to redeem mankind, and to save us from our sins because of His love for us.
As recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Holy Bible, Jesus Christ was mocked, scorned, and tortured in the praetorium ( governor's or judgement hall)( Matthew 27:27, Mark 15:16, John 18:28, John 18:33)
He suffered an indescribable end, recalled by the Church on Good Friday of the Holy Week.
You may meditate on the Passion of Christ by reflecting on his Seven Words on the Cross or by a devotion known as The Way of the Cross. The way of the Cross arose during Lent retracing the Passion, Crucifixion, and Death of Jesus.
Here are his Seven Words, the last seven expressions of Jesus Christ on the Cross recorded in Scripture.
THE FIRST WORD
" Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." ( Luke 23:34).
Jesus Christ of Nazareth is looking down from the cross just after he was crucified between two criminals.
He remembers those who had sentenced him - Caiaphas and the high priests of the Sanhedrin.
Pilate realized it was out of envy that they handed him over ( MATTHEW 27:18, Mark 15:10)
Jesus at this moment in his words was thinking of his disciples who had deserted him and the crowd that cheered him, when he entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey and few days later demanded his crucifixion.
Was Jesus also thinking of us, who daily forget him in our lives? Did he react angrily? No!
At the height of his physical suffering, his love prevails and He asks his Father to forgive!
Could there ever be greater irony?
Jesus asks his Father to forgive, but it is by His very Sacrifice on the Cross that mankind is able to be forgiven! Right up to the final hours on earth, Jesus preached forgiveness. Can you and me do it in our moments of betrayal and hurt, to forgive those who torture and offend us? He teaches forgiveness in the Lord's prayer: " Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us" ( Matthew 6:12).
At the foot of the Cross is where you find grace and forgiveness. It is at the foot of the Cross where you find love and unity of purpose. And even following his Resurrection, his first act was to commission his disciples to forgive: " Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven ; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained " ( John 20:22-23).
THE SECOND WORD
"Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43 ) Jesus showed mercy and love to the criminal who was crucified with Him on the cross. " Jesus responds with mercy in His second word, living out his own Beatitude, " Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." The second word again is about forgiveness, this time directed to a sinner. Jesus shows his Divinity by opening heaven for a repentant sinner- such generosity to a man that only asked to be remembered! We will also be with Jesus Christ at the end of our lives, if we turn our hearts and prayers to Him and accept his forgiveness.
THE THIRD WORD
" Jesus said to his mother: " Woman, this is your son." Then he said to the disciple: " This is your mother." ( John 19:26-27).
Jesus and Marry are together again, at the beginning of his ministry in Cana and now at the end of his public ministry at the foot of the Cross.
John is the only Evangelist to record our Lord's mother Marry at the Cross.
The Lord refers to his mother as woman at the Wedding Feast of Cana ( John 2:1-11) and in this passage, recalling the woman in Genesis 3:15, the first Messianic prophecy of the Redeemer, anticipating the woman clothed with the sun in Revelation 12.
What sorrow must fill Mary's heart! How she must have felt meeting her Son as He carried the Cross on the Via Dolorosa( a distressing or painful journey or process).
"Behold I make all things new" ( Revelation 21:5).
And then she had to watch him being nailed to the Cross. Once again, a sword pierces Mary's soul: we are reminded of the prophecy of Simeon at the Presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple ( Luke 2:35).
Jesus Here again rises above the occasion as he cares for the ones that love him. Here Jesus demonstrated again a loving and caring attitude towards his own people, a thing that lacks among us as fellow believers. Instead there is too much hatred and jealous among brothers and sisters as well as fellow Christian believers. Let us love one another unconditionally!( John13:34-35).
THE FOURTH WORD
" MY God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
( Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34).
This was the only expression of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark.
Both Gospels related that it was in the ninth hour, after three hours of darkness, that Jesus cried out this fourth word.
The ninth hour was three o'clock in Judea. After the fourth Word, Mark related with a horrible sense of finality, " And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last " ( Mark 15:37).
This cry is from the painful heart of human Jesus who must feel deserted by His Father and the Holy Spirit, not to mention his earthly companions the Apostles.
But is not this exactly what happens to all of us when we die?
When we suffer pain and anguish? We too are alone at the time of death and suffering!
Jesus completely lives the human experience as we do , and by doing so, free us from the clutches of sin.
His fourth word is the opening line of Psalm 22, and his cry from the Cross recalls the cry of Israel, and all innocent persons who suffer.
Psalm 22 of David makes a striking prophecy of the crucifixion of the Messiah at a time when crucifixion was known to exist: " They have pierced my hands and my hands and my feet, they have numbered all my bones " ( Psalm 22:16-18).
The burden of all the sins of humanity for a moment overwhelm the humanity of our Saviour. " But this is your hour" ( Luke 22:53). It is the defeat of his humanity that the Divine plan of His Father will be completed. It is by his death that we are redeemed.
" For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as ransom for all" ( 1 Timothy 2:5-6 ).
There is no other name that can save mankind, besides the name of Jesus. All was decided and finalized at the foot of the Cross. Whatever, you may have been experiencing in the past take to the Cross and let it be nailed and destroyed in the name of Jesus!
THE FIFTH WORD
" I thirst." ( John 19:28). The fifth word of Jesus is the only human expression of His physical suffering. Jesus is now in shock.
The wounds inflicted upon him in the scourging, the crowning with thorns, losing blood on the three hour walk through the city of Jerusalem on the Via Dolorosa to Golgotha, and the nailing upon the cross are now taking their toll.
The Gospel of John first refers to thirst when Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well.
After first asking for " a drink," he answers the woman, " Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty . The water I give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life"( John 4:13-14).
This passage implies there is more than just physical thirst. Jesus also thirsts in a spiritual sense. He thirsts for love. He thirsts for the love of his Father, who has left him unaided during this dreadful hour when He must fulfil his mission all alone. And he thirsts for the love and salvation of his people, the human race. Jesus practiced what he preached. ( John 15:12-13). It is my prayer that we also have the same spirit of thirsting for the word of God and the love for one another. ( Psalm 42:1-2). Thirsts for love is what we must all desire all the time. We must also thirst for the love of God. Those whose love were now cold in their marriages and homes, may you begin to thirst for one another at such a time as this.
THE SIXTH WORD
" When Jesus had received the wine, he said, " It is finished;" and he bowed his head and handed over the spirit." ( John 19:30). The Gospel of John recalls the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb in Exodus 12 in this passage. The soldiers offered wine on a sprig of hyssop to the Lord. Hyssop is a small plant that was used to sprinkle the blood of the Passover Lamb in the doorposts of Hebrews ( Exodus 12:22).
John's Gospel related that it was the day of Preparation, the day before the actual Sabbath Passover, that Jesus was sentenced to death ( John 19:14) and sacrificed on the Cross ( John 19:31). John continues in John 19:33-34: " But when they came to Jesus and saw he was already dead, they did not break his legs," recalling the instruction in Exodus 12:46 concerning the Passover Lamb. He died in the ninth hour ( three o'clock in the afternoon ), about the same time as the Passover Lambs were slaughtered in the Temple.
Christ became the Paschal or Passover Lamb; as noted by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:7.
Christ the innocent Lamb was slain for our sins, so that we may be forgiven. It is now a fait accomplit.
The sixth word is Jesus' recognition that his suffering is over and his task is completed. Jesus is obedient to the Father and gives his love for mankind by redeeming us with His death on the Cross . The phrase " It is finished " carries a sense of accomplishment. But when Jesus died, He " handed over" the Spirit . Jesus remained in control to the end, and it is He who handed over his Spirit. So I want to say that victory for us all, in all areas of our lives was accomplished at the Cross by our Lord Jesus.
THE SEVENTH WORD
" Jesus cried out in a loud voice, " Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." ( Luke 23:46)
The seventh word of Jesus is from the Gospel of Luke, and is directed to the Father in heaven, just before He dies. Jesus recalls Psalm 31:5 - " Into thy hands I commend my spirit, thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God."
Jesus was obedient to His Father to the end, and his final word before his death on the Cross was a prayer to His Father.
The relationship of Jesus to the Father is revealed in the Gospel of John, for He remarked, " The Father and I are one" ( John 10:30), and again at the Last Supper: " Do you not believe I am in the Father and the Father is in me? ( John 14:10, John 16:28) Jesus fulfils His own mission and that of His Father on the Cross. ( John 3:16).
The seven words on the Cross are a fulfilment of prophesies concerning Jesus' mission accomplished on earth at the Cross.
So I persuade you at such a time as this, to come closer to the cross with your humble and willing heart as you reflect on the Lord's suffering and victory on the Cross.
Remember, we are all victors through Christ our Lord.
Whatever has been bothering and worrying you over the years, take it to the Lord in prayer!
As you know it is not over, until He says it's over.
Today He has said it on the Cross that "It is Finished " and it's over! Hallelujah! Amen!
May God richly bless you all!
Evangelist Fanuel Masikati
Email:divinerevelations7@gmail.com
Cell:263778495363
Amen Apostle
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