If we read the accounts of the crucifixion in each of the
four Gospels, we find that each Gospel writer records different details: same
story, but different details. They record Jesus saying different things during
the 6 hours he hung on the Cross, and if we take all the accounts and read them
as one, we find Jesus saying 7 things from the Cross.
- Luke
23:34: Father,
forgive them, for they do not know what they do. Jesus in affect authorising God
the Father to begin the process of forgiving the sin of the world, knowing
that something had to be done with all that sin … in God’s righteousness
it had to be dealt with … and that was by Jesus taking it into Himself.
- Luke
23:43: Truly,
I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. These words of grace and
salvation spoken to one of the other men being crucified as He responded
in faith to what he saw happening on the Cross.
- John
19:26–27: Woman,
behold your son. Son, behold your mother. Jesus taking care of His mother.
- Matthew
27:46 & Mark 15:34 My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus experiencing the
consequence of sin on His
relationship with the Father
- John
19:28: I
thirst. Jesus
exposing His humanity … He has almost bled out by now and is severely dehydrated.
- John
19:30: It is
finished. Jesus realising that the saving
work for which He gave up heaven and came to earth is now completed. He,
who had no sin, obviously feels in some way, the full burden of all our
sin and realises it’s all … all … yours and mine … all… on him.
- Luke
23:46: Father,
into your hands I commend my spirit. Jesus surrendering Himself into God’s care as the
load of sin and resultant abandonment of God drain Him who is life, of His life.
And then He dies.
The Cross shows us many things; here are some:
The Cross
exposes us to what it means to be truly human as Jesus was truly human: that to be truly human is to be vulnerable.
We are not our own (… you are not your own? For you were bought with a price…
2 Cor 6:19-20); as disciples we
are, like our Lord, with others and for others … and this means making
ourselves available and being vulnerable. Once Jesus decided He was for us, he became vulnerable to whatever
we decided to do to Him. When we decide to be for and with others, we
become vulnerable but at the same time we discover what it is to be truly human
… seeking to serve and not be served. Most of us seem to believe the popular
saying, “It’s my life to live.” The Bible insists, however, that our lives are
not simply our own to live. Genuine life, true humanity, abundant life, is
found in submission to God.
The Cross
shows us what sin does … it separates us from God. Why do we cling to it? Jesus
has been one with the Father, forever, but as he takes our sin upon Himself, so
separation from God becomes inevitable … My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? … after an eternity of communion with the
Father, He senses God’s withdrawal and silence. God’s usual conversation with
people is silenced when people stray … oh why do we stray so much?
The Cross
shows that God does not seem too interested in answering the question: “Why do
the innocent suffer?” If we are looking to explain why bad things happen to
good people, we will not find the Bible a suitable source of information. In
fact, in the Bible and especially on the Cross, we see that of course we will
suffer loss and pain in this life. The question is not “Why?”, but rather “How
will we respond?” We can’t choose how we will suffer, but we can always, always choose how we will respond … and
that response should always be that even though it might not look like it, we
believe that our God reigns; that is our faith … God reigns. Which leads to the
last lesson I want to draw from the Cross:
The Cross
shows what true faith is. Jesus has cried out My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? … but then goes on to commend His
Spirit into the very hands of the God who has abandoned Him … Father, into your
hands I commend my spirit. I’ll put it another way: Jesus is
saying that God has abandoned Him, but He has nowhere else to go, no one else
to trust, so he goes to and trusts in the One who has abandoned Him. God has
let go of Jesus, but Jesus refuses to let go of God … that is faith.
Now, the truth is that God will never let go of us, He
will never abandon us as He had to abandon Jesus … but sometimes we struggle to
believe that glorious truth. When we see no signs of God’s presence, when weeks
or months or years of prayer have gone unanswered, when suffering just gets
worse and worse, many give up on God, sometimes even saying “God has abandoned
me.” Jesus teaches us from the Cross that even when we feel that way, the only way forward is to trust God! That
is real faith.
This truth really struck me afresh when I recently read
the story of a rabbi in one of the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. He knew
that His people were suffering gravely and had lost hope. The people gathered
around him and said: “Rabbi, God does not hear our prayers. God has abandoned
us in our sufferings. The God of our people does indeed sleep. The Lord of
Israel does not hear us.” The rabbi responded: “What then shall we do?” And they did what they knew to do: they
prayed to the Lord their God!
The Christian gospel has to do with the practise of
living faithfully at the foot of the Cross even in a world filled with pain,
vulnerability, suffering and darkness. The cross is a constant reminder that
God does not exercise power by suddenly eliminating all evil and opposition and
pain and suffering. Rather, God’s power is made perfect in weakness (see 1 Cor
1:25; 2 Cor 12:9-10). For Christians, the resurrection is the sign of God’s
victory, but we are called to live as people of the cross as well as of the
resurrection. More on the resurrection on Sunday when we stand at the tomb …
for today we stand at the Cross committing ourselves, I hope, to:
Becoming
more vulnerable as we commit to being with others and for others, especially in
their suffering, which we don’t try and explain or understand;
Submitting
afresh to God and His reign in our lives;
Seeking
forgiveness from Christ and offering forgiveness to others;
Trusting God
even when He seems absent and is silent.
Let us pray: Father, some of the sin you piled onto Jesus
and that caused you to abandon Him, was sin I committed earlier today. Please
forgive me;
Lord, I am so afraid of being more vulnerable with others
and sometimes when I have, they have hurt me. Help me to forgive those who’ve
hurt me.
Lord, help me to be someone who seeks to serve rather
than be served.
Lord, sometimes it seems to me as if I am really on my
own … help me at these times to trust that you are with me, even if I don’t
believe that you are with me.
Lord, please help me to live faithfully at the foot of
the Cross.
