A MEDITATION ON THE LAST SEVEN WORDS
OF JESUS ON THE CROSS
The Rev. Canon Dr. Winfred Vergara (4/15/2022)
Jesus Christ made seven final words during
his last hours on the cross. Like the
last will and testament of a dying man, these statements were couched in poetic
words like the song of the thorn bird. As I meditate on these words, you may
close your eyes and imagine the man impaled on the cross. He alone can answer your
deepest needs, He alone can mend your broken hearts, He alone can wipe the
tears from your eyes, He alone can give you abundant life on earth and in the
age to come, life everlasting.
1. The first word: “Father,
forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34)
From the vantage of the cross, Jesus could see
his tormentors, his torturers: the Roman soldiers, the crowd who only last
Sunday were waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David,
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” Now, part of the same crowd
are screaming, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Yes, the people can and always are
manipulated by the powers that be.
And Jesus looked at the Father and said, “Father,
forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”
It recalls to mind Abraham interceding for the people
of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Book of Genesis 18. “Lord, supposing there are ten
righteous people there, are you still going to destroy the city?” Sodom and
Gomorrah were destroyed. But this time, it is the Father’s Son, the sinless
incarnate Christ interceding. Surely, he should have raged to the sinners who
nailed him on the cross; he should have raged against the unrighteous and
unjust system that brought him to trial and execution, in the evil that men do.
Yet forgiveness is the word that he utters. In
his ministry, Jesus had proven his power to forgive sins. He had taught his
disciples to forgive both enemies and friends. Now he practices what he has
been preaching. In the midst of his excruciating pain, he sings of compassion and
unconditional love, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are
doing.”
2.
The second word: “Today, you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:39-43)
There were two crucified with Christ, one on
his right and the other on his left. One threw an insult, “Aren’t you the
Messiah? Save yourself and us!” The other one however recognized who Jesus was
and expressed his faith in him as Savior. After rebuking the other criminal, he
turned to Jesus and said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you; today, you will be with me in paradise.”
Here we see the power and unconditional salvation
in Christ. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ. “When anyone is in
Christ, one is a new creation; the old has passed away, the new has come.” This
repentant sinner would not even have to wait. Now is the day of his salvation, now
is the time of his sanctification. Jesus promised the man that he would share
eternal life with Christ in paradise that very day. His faith secured him an
immediate home in God’s kingdom. My friend, you maybe like the first thief full
of anger and self-pity, or you maybe like this second thief who despite his
sinfulness can still see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living,
when you come to Jesus in faith, you will receive the promise of eternity.
3.
The third word: “Woman, behold thy Son; Son, behold thy Mother”
(John 19:25-27)
Standing close to the cross of Jesus were the
three Maries: Mary, his mother Mary; his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of
Cleofas; and Mary Magdalene, the woman whom He delivered from many demons.
Standing with them was John, the youngest of his twelve apostles. Apparently,
he and the three women were the only ones, who remained with his in his arrest,
trial, persecution and crucifixion. Judas betrayed him, Peter denied him and
the rest of the other fled for fear of being implicated.
Who can grasp the pain of the grief of Mother
Mary watching her son suffer and die on the cross? A sword, an invisible sword
was piercing her heart also. The famous sculpture by Michelangelo, the Pieta
(or Piety) displayed in the Vatican at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, captures
the poignant moment of Jesus on the lap of his ever young-looking mother, Mary.
Michelangelo did not
want his version of the Pietà to represent death, but rather
to show the "religious vision of abandonment and a serene face of the Son.”
The artist wanted to express the heart image of Mother and Son.
But what can a Son offer to his Mother from the cross? How
can he hold her? How can he honor her? How can he comfort her? How can he
embrace her? He turned to John, the disciple whom he loved and said, “Here is
your mother.” He entrusted Mary to John. Here is the one I love for you to
love. Here is the one who taught me, who fed me, who wiped away my tears, who kissed
my fears away, who showed compassion for me and now, the one who grieves with
you.
To those who are listening right now: Mothers, behold your
children; Children, behold your mothers!
4. The fourth word: “My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:33-34)
The Bible says in Mark 15:33-34 “ And when the
sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth
hour. At the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
In the context of Palestine during the time of
Jesus’ crucifixion, the sun was shining in the eastern sky from 9AM and on the
sixth hour, which is 3PM, the sun would always be at its zenith, directly
overhead in Calvary. In other words, the sun would be at its brightest on the
sixth hour. But at the crucifixion of Jesus, the sun stopped shining and darkness
covered the land, until the ninth hour. In other words, from 3pm when it was
supposed to be the hottest and brightest time, there was darkness that
enveloped the land until six pm.
In that darkest moment of his suffering, Jesus
cried out the opening words of Psalm 22. “My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?” Psalm 22 was one of the night prayers taught by his mother when
he was just a child. And if you read Psalm 22, it begins with “My God, my God
why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me? So far from the
words of my groaning?” But it actually ends with hope that “all the ends of the
earth will remember and turn to the Lord.” Psalm 22 will be followed by Psalm
23 which says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”
Although many scholars have different
interpretations of why Jesus uttered Psalm 22, it was quite apparent that he
was in horrible agony. Crucifixion is the one of the cruelest forms of torture,
second only to being boiled in burning oil alive. And Christ felt uttered an
expressed separation from God because the Father turned away from Jesus as he
was bearing the full weight of our sins, your sins and my sins and the sins of
the whole world. St. Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians chapter 5,
verse 21 says: “He who had no sin was made sin for us, that in Him we might
become the righteousness of God.” What he has done was therefore
substitutionary: he suffered the suffering that should have been ours and he
died the death that should have been ours. Why, so that by his suffering we
will be made free and by his death, we will have life.
5. The fifth word: “I thirst” (John
19:28)
Jesus knew that everything was now finished,
and to fulfill the Scriptures he said, "I thirst."
(NLT)
Jesus refused the initial drink of vinegar,
gall, and myrrh (Matthew 27:34 and Mark
15:23) offered by the soldiers to alleviate his pain and suffering. But here,
several hours later, we see Jesus fulfilling the messianic
prophecy found
in Psalm 69:21: "They offer me sour wine for my thirst."
Water to a thirsty one is life. Water to
moisten a dry mouth; water to free a swollen tongue; water to open a rasping
throat that cannot grasp enough air; water to keep hope alive, even just for a
few moments longer. But Christ was not only thirsting for physical water, H20.
He was expressing the human thirst for God.
Psalm 42 “As the deer pants for the water so my
soul pants for God; my soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” Psalm 63: “O
God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my body
longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
Here Jesus, with life’s breath ebbing away, remembers
the promises that seem distant and far away: streams in the desert, waters
gushing out from the rocks, mighty waters in a dry land, washing away every
tear, healing every wound and cleansing every stain of sin and shame. “I
thirst.”
6. The sixth word: “It is
finished” (John 19:30)
6.
The sixth word: “It is finished” (John 19:29-30)
Jesus knew he was suffering the crucifixion for
a purpose. Earlier he had said in John 10:18 of his life, "No one takes it
from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down
and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my
Father."
These three words :It is finished” are therefore
packed with meaning. For what is finished here was not only Christ's earthly
life, what is finished here was not only his suffering and dying. What is
finished here was not only the payment for sin and the redemption of the world.
What is finished here was the very reason and purpose he came to earth. His
final act of obedience was complete. The Scriptures has been fulfilled in our
sight and in our hearing. His mission was accomplished on the Cross.
In other words, “it is finished” is not just a
cry of relief. Suffering is ended. Pain is gone. Sister death has come and
snatched the pain away. There is peace and joy and deliverance.
But Jesus did not simply say “it’s over and
done with.” He sings like the thorn bird, “It is finished!” Meaning, it is
accomplished, it is achieved, it is fulfilled.
It is therefore a cry of triumph, of victory.
As the Easter song says, “the strife is o’er the battle done, the victory of
life is won.” The work he came down on earth to do is done, it is finished.
Do you have a mission in life? What is your
mission? When your time is up, will you be able to say to God, “I have done
what you have called me to do? It is finished?”
7.
The seventh and final word” Father, into thy hands I commit my
spirit’ (Luke 23:46)
Here Jesus closes with the words of Psalm 31:5,
again another “night prayer” taught him as a child by his mother Mary, which actually
says: Into your hands I commit my spirit; Redeem me O Lord, the God of truth.”
Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, the famous
Swiss-American psychiatrist who pioneered the study of near-death experiences encapsulated
her findings in the bestseller book “On Death and Dying”. In that book which
earned her place in the Women’s Hall of Fame in the 20th century,
she presented five stages of dying.
First, Denial: “No, not me!” Second, Anger:
“How can this happen to me?” Third, Bargaining: “Lord, if you heal me, I will go
to church everyday.” Fourth, Depression: “Nobody cares for me.” And fifth:
“Acceptance: thy will be done.”
While Jesus many not have exhibited all these
stages, especially denial, anger and bargaining; he actually expressed
acceptance right from the beginning. Jesus entered death in the same way he
lived each day of his life, offering up his life as the perfect sacrifice and
placing himself in God's hands. “Not my will but thy will be done,” he said so
in the Garden of Gethsemane.
But why would he, as the scripture says, muster
all remaining strength to express that acceptance? It was not intended to the
Father who knows our needs even before we ask; who sees our hearts even when
men see only the outside; who sees us and who hears us, even the silent cries
of our souls.
No, he was not calling the Father; he was
expressing it aloud so we can hear, so the people beneath the cross can hear.
So we can hear the final dedication of his own spirit. In God alone, we put our
trust; in God alone we offer our souls, our bodies as living sacrifice; in God
alone, do we commit our spirit. In God alone, do we offer our faith. Even when
this fleeting breath and chaotic earthly life fade away and even if the world
abandons us, God will never, ever abandon us.
By the Cross of Jesus, God alone who sits above
the floods and who holds the world in the palm of His mighty hands, has
inscribed us into His own heart. And even if your heart is too small for God,
God’s own heart is too large for you. Through the Cross of Jesus, the repentant
sinner has received the promise of paradise, eternity is now written in our
mortal flesh, the resurrection from the dead has become our future and God will
wipe away every tear from our eyes, wars will be no more, pains will be no
more, deaths will be no more, and the kingdoms of the world will be the Kingdom
of the Lord and of His Christ forever. Amen and Amen.
(WERE YOU THERE WHEN THEY CRUCIFIED MY LORD)
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