"words From The Cross" Father Forgive Them Series

In Jesus Holy Name February 26, 2023

Lent I Luke 23:43 Redeemer

“Words from the Cross” “Father Forgiven Them”

Visitors from around the world travel to Barcelona, Spain to visit the new Cathedral being built. On 19 March 1882, construction of the Sagrada Familia began. By October 2015 construction was 70 percent complete. 20 million people a year visit the cathedral. Many of the first time visitors are not Christian, nor do they understand the theology of Christianity. They are enthralled with the architecture.

As they walk around they can see the various scenes from the life of Christ on display in granite. The nativity. The crucifixion. They realize the cathedral is built in the shape of a cross. Standing inside you marvel at the building’s proportions. The stained glass windows. Everywhere the visitor looks he sees a cross. In the small chapels a cross is prominently displayed. Over the central altar one sees Jesus lifted, suspended on a cross, under a canopy. During the service people are seen wearing a cross on their lapel or around their neck.

Suddenly the congregations stands and sings:

“We sing the praise of Him who died,

Of Him who died upon the cross;

The sinner’s hope let men deride,

For this we count the world but loss.”

As the service ends the congregation sings another hymn:

“When I survey the wonderous cross

On which the prince of glory died

….All the vain things that charm me most,

I sacrifice them to His blood.”

The stranger, though awed by the architecture leaves the cathedral impressed but puzzled. Why so much focus on the cross, and the one who died there. As Christians we know the cross is a reminder of the forgiveness of our broken commandments. The cross is a reminder that God Himself chose to accept the blood of Jesus shed on the cross as the way to restore peace, harmony and friendship with His most treasured creation, human beings.

In the Gospel of Luke last week we read: That on the Mount of Transfiguration “two men, Moses and Elijah appeared in glorious splendor talking with Jesus. They spoke about His departure which He was about to bring to fulfilment at Jerusalem.”

Jesus knew what awaited Him in Jerusalem. He knew He would be arrested. He would be tried and falsely accused. He knew he would experience the pain of crucifixion, the pain of nails being driven into His hands and feet, the struggle for breath, the bleeding form the scourging of the Romans. He knew. He also knew that on the cross He would be abandoned by God… in His death he would carry the weight of all the wrath of God against sinful humanity. That’s why He prayed in the agony of the garden…”Father if possible remove this cup from me…the cup of wrath.”

Over the next five Sundays of Lent our sermon series will focus on the “Words of Jesus from the Cross”. While nailed to the cross His first words were spoken, not to the men and women at the foot of the cross but to God in heaven. “Father forgive them.”

Forgiveness. It is what every human being needs. When Jesus died on the cross, He made it possible for us to experience friendship, acceptance with God by the attachment of our baptism and faith. Alienation is replaced by acceptance. John Stott notes that “our sins were the obstacle preventing us from receiving the gift God wanted to give us.” The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was the ransom price for our sin, paid in full. Paul writes in Colossians. “God took the list of broken commandments and nailed them to the cross of Christ and left them there, taking away the power of Satan to accuses us.” (Cross of Christ p. 64)

Read I Corinthians 15:4-5

To many supposedly sophisticated people in our modern world, sin appears to be a primitive concept. We Christians know differently. “Sin” is a short word used in Christianity to describe “broken commandments”. Sin remains a very serious and contemporary spiritual worry. The question for every human being is: “how can I have my “broken commandments” erased, removed, forgiven by my Creator.”

Perhaps we should remember what the old Evangelist Billy Sunday once said, “One of the reasons why sin blossoms in a culture is that it is treated as a cream pie and not like a rattlesnake.”

Only at the cross do we see “God’s holy wrath under the perfect control of His limitless love. Try to imagine it! The innocent Son of God, mocked, tortured and murdered while God the Father, His Father watches.” This was God’s plan from the beginning of creation when Adam and Eve broke their one commandment. It would take centuries, but redemption, reconciliation would happen.