There are only a few things that we have recorded of what Jesus said from the cross…and it’s interesting to note, because as I was preparing for today, I was trying to wrap my head around the things Jesus was going through at the time…of course there is absolutely no way for me to do this, because how can you try to imagine the things that he was thinking, or feeling, or even his state of mind as he hung on the cross, dying for our sins…the weight of the world, literally on his shoulders…the son of God…willingly taking on my sins…the sins of those who spit in his face…bleeding…struggling to breathe…thirsty…dirty, dying the most painful death…
Earlier…he has been beaten…with a whip that literally took the flesh off of his back…leaving behind a mangled, mess…Pilot, who ordered the beating, thought that maybe this would be enough for the people to satisfy their blood lust…but Jesus wasn’t finished yet…it wasn’t over until it’s over…
After this, he was given a heavy, splintered filled cross to carry a long path up to where he would eventually be nailed to the cross…we think of the cross as this beautiful symbol, all polished and sanded down, but that’s not how it was…it was heavy, cumbersome, rough, unforgiving…he stumbled, and fell under the weight of it…and as his body could no longer take the pressure, was eventually carried or drugged up the last remaining steps to Golgotha…where he would give up his life for us…
He was nailed to the cross…hung up to die…put between two criminals, who most likely deserved the fait that was awaiting them…but this man, the son of God…who’s love knows no bounds, was innocent…was blameless…and yet, was left bleeding, and dying, in the hot son…on that first good Friday…
Now you may ask yourself, why is she telling us all this…we know this, we have all heard the story…we know what happened…
I wanted to paint this picture for you, so that you could try to understand, if it's possible, the state of mind that Jesus was in at the time…I tell you all that he had gone through, so that that when I tell you about these words he says here in John chapter 19, verses 26-27, that you truly grasp what they mean…I tell you these things…so that you can better understand the love of Christ, more than you ever have before…
Jesus is on the cross, and has been there for some time…he is slowly dying, knowing that soon, it would be over…hurting, betrayed, bleeding, exhausted, dying…just after being humiliated by the soldiers who gambled over who would get the clothes he had on, Jesus sees his mother in the crowd…
Now, if it had been me on the cross…you can bet, with everything in me, I would have pleaded with her...Mom, tell them what a good man I was…you saw the miracles I did, you know I’m the son of God…tell them, tell them what you know! Don’t let this happen…get me down from here!
But what does Jesus do?....he sees her hurt, he sees her tears…he sees her anguish…and he loves her…he doesn’t think of himself, but of her…and he says to one of his disciples who was close by…she is your mother now…take care of her like she was your own…and the scripture says that that’s exactly what he did…
Guys…this is how he loves us…never thinking of himself, but of the things we need…he sees our hurts, he sees our tears, and what does he say? Be a big girl and get over it? No! He says come to be all who are weary, and I will give you rest! Come to me with your burdens, and your sorrows…come to me, and I will give you the living water, so that you will never thirst again…our souls, long to be with him…and because of his great sacrifice, we can once again be with him, for all eternity…
This world is not forever…the things we are going through right now, will eventually pass away…the struggles, and hardships we face are only temporary…Jesus has given us life eternal…that’s how much he loved us…he thought of us more than himself…that’s the state of mind he was in on the cross…it was all about us…all about the love he had for us…for God so loved the world…that he gave his only son…that whoever would believe in him would not perish, but have eternal life…we just have to believe…he’s done all the hard work…it was finished on the cross…those blood stained pieces of old wood…the symbol of God’s unending, eternal love for us…what a good Friday that was…
