Seven Things that Jesus said from the Cross give context to his command that his followers should make the way of the cross a daily decision
“If anyone would come after me he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” Luke 9:23 (Matt. 16)
“Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing..”
1. POWER TO CREATE FORGIVENESS IN ADVANCE
Jesus gave a very powerful insight into something that was going on within him while he watched the empty spaces in the crowd created by the absence of all but one of his disciples. He watched the religious leaders who were supposed to represent the heart of his Father to the people but who had rejected him and worked with all their might to have him put on the cross. He watched Roman soldiers carry out orders from the world’s greatest political force as that force was powerless to confront the clear lack of evidence from the Jewish leaders. He forgave them in advance. He forgave them when they didn’t deserve it, weren’t asking for it and while they were carrying out their foulest deeds. The cross spells the forgiving force of the love of God. This is our characteristic heritage. It is core culture for us. The work of the cross provides us with the same motivation and the same power to forgive in advance. Just think what happens to offences when they are met with advanced forgiveness.
“I tell you, this day you will be with me in paradise…”
2. POWER TO EXPERIENCE CITIZENSHIP OF HEAVEN
The Bible says that both the thieves hurled insults at Jesus. At some point in the proceedings one of those realized there was something different happening. He moved from the place of denigration to the place of revelation. The amazing thing is that the revelation he received was greater than every other person present (or absent for that matter). He knew Jesus was the ruler of a heavenly kingdom. He stopped hurling insults and bowed his heart to the king. Jesus responded by proclaiming his new citizenship right there.
The cross has power to remove the offences that prevent us from entering the kingdom of heaven. In the most amazing of transactions we are made citizens of heaven by the power of God. That citizenship is our identity. We are not to have dual citizenship. We exchange our citizenship of earth for a citizenship of heaven. We then hold a temporary resident’s visa on earth.
“ ‘Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’”
3. PRODUCING FAMILY FROM STRANGERS
Jesus said a number of radical things about family. He said that he was inventing a new expanded version of family made up of those who do the will of the Father. He said that loyalty to God must exceed the worlds most common primary loyalty, to blood relatives. He said that if people left their own families to serve him they would discover multiple substitutes.
If we can just set aside our sometime sense of offence at the idea of putting our own family second to our loyalty to Jesus and focus on the fact that God elevating those who have been made his children by their faith commitment and his matchless grace, we will understand something very special about the cross. It is the power to produce family out of unlikely relationships
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”
4. JUSTICE SATISFIED VICARIOUSLY
Not a single person who has ever lived will know the experience that these words describe. It is the experience of the self fracturing of the Godhead. Something that never happened before and will never happen again happened at Calvary on a cross. The Son was cut off from fellowship with the Father. It was the greatest pain of the massive measure that Jesus was called to carry. On the cross Jesus became the world’s greatest sinner. None of it was his own, but he carried all of yours and all of mine and all of everyone else. If you’ve ever felt the pain your own sin has caused or if you have ever felt the pain of someone else’s sin when you were the victim of it then you will understand, if only in minutiae, what Jesus experienced.
Have you ever been blamed for something you didn’t do. More to the point, have you had to do it publicly. Jesus was made out to be a horrible sinner. He died the death of the lowest among humankind. In the process he was estranged from his Father. This experience carried him beyond the line of rationality and reason. His cry was the cry of a broken heart.
The deepest part of vicarious suffering is always irrational. The feelings are irrational and the thoughts they produce are most certainly irrational. Such was the cry of the sinless one who “learned obedience through the things he suffered.” (Hebrews 5:8) When we are called to take up our cross daily a part of that will be the opportunity to experience suffering for things we don’t deserve. It will be our privilege to walk with Jesus in the “fellowship of his sufferings” (Philippians 3). It is a lonely walk and as we learn to walk it we will find ourselves wanting to let someone know how the injustice alienates us. We need to do that work in the presence of the only person who will ever really understand: our beloved Saviour.
“I am thirsty”
5. SUFFERING AS THE FULL EXPRESSSION OF INCARNATE LOVE
It is a no brainer to say that Jesus experienced excruciating suffering on the cross. Physically he was taken to within an inch of his life by the Roman experts. He was then subjected to a process of dying that was known to take many hours, sometimes days of the most unbearable pain. The words from his lips that refer to Jesus thirst should provide the least surprise of all. The context of this statement speaks of the fact that Jesus knew everything had been accomplished and that there were prophetic references to the fact that his sacrifice would create great thirst (Psalm 22, 69). It would be hardly likely that he suddenly had a flash of remembrance and said the words just to satisfy a Bible scholar or three. There are around a thousand OT prophetic references to Jesus. Just think of what it would have been like for Jesus to have to remember each one and tick it off his list as it was fulfilled.
It seems to me that the context most strongly suggests that this simply referenced the humanity of Jesus and as such highlights the end point of the incarnate journey. “Knowing that all was completed” no doubt refers to the fact that whatever the mystery of substitutionary atonement, it had been completed. Having refused a drink that was offered previous to this, Jesus now accepted the taste of the wine vinegar given to him in a sponge. It would not have assuaged his thirst of course. It was a comfort to the Son of God who was about to invade death and hell for the one and only time…and take back the keys from their previous owner.
The important revelation of the cross at this point was the fact that even though Jesus indicated the deep physical abuse experienced on the cross, there was no blame, no recrimination. The reason for this was the fact that Jesus knew the suffering was working God’s redemptive purpose. We, likewise can embrace suffering when we pursue the will of God into various forms of suffering and hardship. We can fully acknowledge the pain but we won’t need to find someone to blame.
“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”
6. TRUST THAT GOES BEYOND DEATH
Freedom from the fear of death is a profound experience. There is a “no fear” attitude that exists in some people, but the only reason it does is because they don’t value life. If you place no value on life, you won’t fear death, but for all the wrong reasons. The cross demonstrated the supreme value of life. Jesus died because he values every life. The price is paid for every life. Every life has a value and it is the measure of the life of the only Son of God. To value life that much and still not be afraid of death can only happen when one thing is true. Only when we have a trust in the sovereign power of God over and beyond death will be know this freedom. Jesus was going to the darkness of death knowing that his death was the will of his Father and knowing that beyond death lay victory. That victory was guaranteed by the sovereign power of the Almighty Father.
Someone once said, “If you want to know how to live, you’ve got to know how to die.” You will never embrace life with trust in the goodness of God if you can’t trust his goodness in death. Paul sought after this trust: “That I may know Him…being made conformable to his death, so that I might attain to the resurrection from the dead. The cross makes it possible. Only embracing the cross. Jesus said we would need to take up our cross daily. We need to live life through the trust that goes beyond death in order to do that. It was Paul who said, “For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.” II Corinthians 4:11
“It is finished”
7. TRIUMPH OVER EVIL
While it happened totally on the plane of human history, the cross is the only event that changed eternity forever. The Bible talks quite naturally about the twin realms of natural or worldly and supernatural or heavenly. Use whatever words you like and they till talk about the same thing: carnal and spiritual, temporal and eternal, earthly and heavenly etc. Jesus death on the cross bound what was on the loose in the earth so that it was forever bound in the heavenly realm. He also loosed on the earth something that was loosed in the heavenly realm (Matthew 16). He bound the power of death and hell and loosed the power of life and heaven.
This is the triumph of the cross. The New Testament talks about it as a regal victory march:
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Colossians 2
We are called to live the life of heaven even though we are on the earth. We are called to live as a tangible prophetic testimony to the lifestyle of heaven. The cross gives us the power and the authority to do this. Once again we need to take up our cross daily and follow him in order to fulfill this prophetic calling.
“Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing..”
1. POWER TO CREATE FORGIVENESS IN ADVANCE
Jesus gave a very powerful insight into something that was going on within him while he watched the empty spaces in the crowd created by the absence of all but one of his disciples. He watched the religious leaders who were supposed to represent the heart of his Father to the people but who had rejected him and worked with all their might to have him put on the cross. He watched Roman soldiers carry out orders from the world’s greatest political force as that force was powerless to confront the clear lack of evidence from the Jewish leaders. He forgave them in advance. He forgave them when they didn’t deserve it, weren’t asking for it and while they were carrying out their foulest deeds. The cross spells the forgiving force of the love of God. This is our characteristic heritage. It is core culture for us. The work of the cross provides us with the same motivation and the same power to forgive in advance. Just think what happens to offences when they are met with advanced forgiveness.
“I tell you, this day you will be with me in paradise…”
2. POWER TO EXPERIENCE CITIZENSHIP OF HEAVEN
The Bible says that both the thieves hurled insults at Jesus. At some point in the proceedings one of those realized there was something different happening. He moved from the place of denigration to the place of revelation. The amazing thing is that the revelation he received was greater than every other person present (or absent for that matter). He knew Jesus was the ruler of a heavenly kingdom. He stopped hurling insults and bowed his heart to the king. Jesus responded by proclaiming his new citizenship right there.
The cross has power to remove the offences that prevent us from entering the kingdom of heaven. In the most amazing of transactions we are made citizens of heaven by the power of God. That citizenship is our identity. We are not to have dual citizenship. We exchange our citizenship of earth for a citizenship of heaven. We then hold a temporary resident’s visa on earth.
“ ‘Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’”
3. PRODUCING FAMILY FROM STRANGERS
Jesus said a number of radical things about family. He said that he was inventing a new expanded version of family made up of those who do the will of the Father. He said that loyalty to God must exceed the worlds most common primary loyalty, to blood relatives. He said that if people left their own families to serve him they would discover multiple substitutes.
If we can just set aside our sometime sense of offence at the idea of putting our own family second to our loyalty to Jesus and focus on the fact that God elevating those who have been made his children by their faith commitment and his matchless grace, we will understand something very special about the cross. It is the power to produce family out of unlikely relationships
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”
4. JUSTICE SATISFIED VICARIOUSLY
Not a single person who has ever lived will know the experience that these words describe. It is the experience of the self fracturing of the Godhead. Something that never happened before and will never happen again happened at Calvary on a cross. The Son was cut off from fellowship with the Father. It was the greatest pain of the massive measure that Jesus was called to carry. On the cross Jesus became the world’s greatest sinner. None of it was his own, but he carried all of yours and all of mine and all of everyone else. If you’ve ever felt the pain your own sin has caused or if you have ever felt the pain of someone else’s sin when you were the victim of it then you will understand, if only in minutiae, what Jesus experienced.
Have you ever been blamed for something you didn’t do. More to the point, have you had to do it publicly. Jesus was made out to be a horrible sinner. He died the death of the lowest among humankind. In the process he was estranged from his Father. This experience carried him beyond the line of rationality and reason. His cry was the cry of a broken heart.
The deepest part of vicarious suffering is always irrational. The feelings are irrational and the thoughts they produce are most certainly irrational. Such was the cry of the sinless one who “learned obedience through the things he suffered.” (Hebrews 5:8) When we are called to take up our cross daily a part of that will be the opportunity to experience suffering for things we don’t deserve. It will be our privilege to walk with Jesus in the “fellowship of his sufferings” (Philippians 3). It is a lonely walk and as we learn to walk it we will find ourselves wanting to let someone know how the injustice alienates us. We need to do that work in the presence of the only person who will ever really understand: our beloved Saviour.
“I am thirsty”
5. SUFFERING AS THE FULL EXPRESSSION OF INCARNATE LOVE
It is a no brainer to say that Jesus experienced excruciating suffering on the cross. Physically he was taken to within an inch of his life by the Roman experts. He was then subjected to a process of dying that was known to take many hours, sometimes days of the most unbearable pain. The words from his lips that refer to Jesus thirst should provide the least surprise of all. The context of this statement speaks of the fact that Jesus knew everything had been accomplished and that there were prophetic references to the fact that his sacrifice would create great thirst (Psalm 22, 69). It would be hardly likely that he suddenly had a flash of remembrance and said the words just to satisfy a Bible scholar or three. There are around a thousand OT prophetic references to Jesus. Just think of what it would have been like for Jesus to have to remember each one and tick it off his list as it was fulfilled.
It seems to me that the context most strongly suggests that this simply referenced the humanity of Jesus and as such highlights the end point of the incarnate journey. “Knowing that all was completed” no doubt refers to the fact that whatever the mystery of substitutionary atonement, it had been completed. Having refused a drink that was offered previous to this, Jesus now accepted the taste of the wine vinegar given to him in a sponge. It would not have assuaged his thirst of course. It was a comfort to the Son of God who was about to invade death and hell for the one and only time…and take back the keys from their previous owner.
The important revelation of the cross at this point was the fact that even though Jesus indicated the deep physical abuse experienced on the cross, there was no blame, no recrimination. The reason for this was the fact that Jesus knew the suffering was working God’s redemptive purpose. We, likewise can embrace suffering when we pursue the will of God into various forms of suffering and hardship. We can fully acknowledge the pain but we won’t need to find someone to blame.
“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”
6. TRUST THAT GOES BEYOND DEATH
Freedom from the fear of death is a profound experience. There is a “no fear” attitude that exists in some people, but the only reason it does is because they don’t value life. If you place no value on life, you won’t fear death, but for all the wrong reasons. The cross demonstrated the supreme value of life. Jesus died because he values every life. The price is paid for every life. Every life has a value and it is the measure of the life of the only Son of God. To value life that much and still not be afraid of death can only happen when one thing is true. Only when we have a trust in the sovereign power of God over and beyond death will be know this freedom. Jesus was going to the darkness of death knowing that his death was the will of his Father and knowing that beyond death lay victory. That victory was guaranteed by the sovereign power of the Almighty Father.
Someone once said, “If you want to know how to live, you’ve got to know how to die.” You will never embrace life with trust in the goodness of God if you can’t trust his goodness in death. Paul sought after this trust: “That I may know Him…being made conformable to his death, so that I might attain to the resurrection from the dead. The cross makes it possible. Only embracing the cross. Jesus said we would need to take up our cross daily. We need to live life through the trust that goes beyond death in order to do that. It was Paul who said, “For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.” II Corinthians 4:11
“It is finished”
7. TRIUMPH OVER EVIL
While it happened totally on the plane of human history, the cross is the only event that changed eternity forever. The Bible talks quite naturally about the twin realms of natural or worldly and supernatural or heavenly. Use whatever words you like and they till talk about the same thing: carnal and spiritual, temporal and eternal, earthly and heavenly etc. Jesus death on the cross bound what was on the loose in the earth so that it was forever bound in the heavenly realm. He also loosed on the earth something that was loosed in the heavenly realm (Matthew 16). He bound the power of death and hell and loosed the power of life and heaven.
This is the triumph of the cross. The New Testament talks about it as a regal victory march:
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Colossians 2
We are called to live the life of heaven even though we are on the earth. We are called to live as a tangible prophetic testimony to the lifestyle of heaven. The cross gives us the power and the authority to do this. Once again we need to take up our cross daily and follow him in order to fulfill this prophetic calling.
posted by BrianMedway @ 9:12 PM
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