The Seven Sayings of Jesus From The Cross
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh. When man sinned, all of creation was affected and to this day travails under the burden of estrangement from its Creator. No part of creation is more affected than mankind. The consequences of sin are judgment and death - eternal death, eternal separation from God. The burdens, cares disappointments, grief and sorrow that befall us in this broken world are often more than we can bear.
Just as all creation happened in seven days (including the day of God’s rest), so also is re-creation, or what we may call the redemption of creation, encompassed in the seven sayings of Jesus on the cross. The seven sayings of Jesus from the cross were much more than the desperate cries of a tortured man. Yes, Jesus was tortured and yes, he felt the pain as much or more as any man would. But amazingly, in spite of his pain, the words he spoke from the cross manifest the profoundest of truths and blessings. The old creation died with Jesus that day. His death, which satisfied the justice of God in every respect, made possible the dawning of a new day. The suffering of Christ was vicarious, that is, it was on our behalf which means our sin nature itself and the individual sins we have committed were all nailed to Calvary’s tree. Our sins were transferred to him and he paid the debts those sins incurred. Just as our sins were transferred to him, conversely, the way was opened for His life to be transferred to us. Resurrection still happens today every time a person puts his/her faith in Christ. Because of him we can experience a brand new life, one that is unimaginably better than we had before. It all happened because Jesus died. Listen to what he said while he was on the cross…
The First Saying: “Father, Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”Luke 23:34
Before creation the earth was formless and empty, in absolute darkness. (Genesis 1:2). The Spirit of God hovered over the water, water that covered the whole earth, and then God spoke the first creation words, “Let there be Light. (Genesis 1:3)
When Jesus came to this world in human form and called himself the Son of Man, he came to a race of people that had natural light in abundance. Man even discovered how to create his own light so he never has to be in the dark. I’m new to Hong Kong so I am still very much in awe at the magnificence of the City. One of the things that impress me most is the brilliance of the city’s lights at night time. It is hard to describe to someone who has never been here just how colourful and bright they are and how abundant they are. It is for good reason Hong Kong is called, “the City of Lights”.
When Jesus came, he came to a world that was filled with darkness, but darkness of another kind – spiritual darkness. Sin had extinguished the light of relationship and fellowship with God. The created was separated from the Creator. Mankind has manufactured spiritual darkness of a much greater kind and of much greater amount than the many natural light-generating devices he has invented. Isaiah, when he prophesied about the coming of a Messiah, said:
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the
Land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. Isaiah 9:2
Jesus said;
I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (John 8:12).
All of us who know Christ know what it was like to live in the darkness of sin. Our lives had no form, they were empty, just as the world was before creation. Just as in the beginning when God created natural light to dispel natural darkness, He created spiritual light in the person of His Son to destroy the darkness of sin. Just as the Holy Spirit hovered over a formless, empty and cold planet, so now He hovers over humanity calling us to Jesus, the light of the world. Peter said:
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Peter 2:9-10.
Darkened, despairing, empty men and women, with lost identities, whose lives were lightless and lifeless, are called into “wonderful light” – the most wonderful light of all - light that Jesus gives – light that He alone can give.
And where does it begin? With forgiveness! Come to the cross and hear those first words resound in your own soul. Not the words of a desperate man for Jesus was not that, but the words of a man who suffered willingly on our behalf, who could have called ten thousand angels to set Him free, but didn’t! These are not the words of a mere man but the words of the Creator Himself. “Let there be light”, is a timeless decree that has not lost, nor ever will lose, its potency. The all-powerful One, the omnipotent One, decrees what John described as “the true light that lights every man” (John 1:9) into being. This is eternal life, abundant life, life separated forever from the life of darkness, sin, death and judgment.
Re-creation, redemption, begins with forgiveness. The first words from the cross open the human heart to the light of the gospel and new life begins. It all begins with forgiveness. Let repentance flow from your heart, let the darkness go! Let the light pour in!
The Second Saying: “Today, you will be with me in paradise” Luke 23:43
To whom does God offer forgiveness? Is it to the best amongst us? Is it to those who have met some preconditions? We get a small glimpse of love that is measureless and an ever so miniscule peek at God’s infinite reservoir of forgiveness, when we hear those second words from the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise”. We marvel at a man who, with disregard for His own immense pain, His own undeserved suffering, reaching out to a guilty man who deserved to die. A sinner, the severity of whose crimes we do not know but was judged by the Romans to be the worst, deserving of death on a cross, heard those sin forgiving, life imparting words that Jesus spoke. “Father, forgive them…!” Dare he believe those words could be for him? He took a first fledging step of faith that we all must take if we are to know the blessing and power of forgiveness. He asked Jesus to not forget him in his death but to remember him. That’s all he asked. He didn’t ask to go to heaven, just to be remembered in a manner different than everyone else would remember him. With no real understanding of the gospel, he simply asked to be remembered. A simple request? Maybe! But heaven heard it differently. Light was released! Darkness was dispelled! Forgiveness and the remission of sins were transacted. The righteousness of the man on the middle cross was credited to the account of the thief. The shout from the cross was heard from one end of heaven to the other. “Make way for another saint! Make way! Make way! No longer a sinner whose fate was sealed by a Roman Court, but, one who was forgiven…”Today, you will be with me in paradise!”
The Third Saying: “Dear woman, here is you son” John 19:26
We think sometimes, that it would be better to die than to live. Life’s burdens can be overwhelming, the trials so great there is no one, it seems, to whom we can turn for help. Who can imagine the anguish of a mother watching the death of her son on a Roman cross. Seeing him writhe in pain, seeing the blood course from his wounds, how did she even remain conscious? There are times in life when, if we had the choice, it would seem better to be the thief than the mother of Jesus. The pain of death would pass, the pain of bereavement would live on.
Jesus was “wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). The prophet used the word “surely” when he added, “…He bore our grief and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4). Surely, He bore our grief; surely, He carried our sorrows. “Surely” is an adverb, which speaks of the greatest comfort, of the greatest sustaining power in the universe. More than our sins and diseases, our grief and sorrows were transferred to Christ, and borne by Him, on His cross.
Martyrs have garnered the fortitude necessary to die for their faith and for their Lord by drawing on this power. Men and women throughout the ages have endured the most unspeakable atrocities through strength drawn from this well. People of faith have learned they could do all things through Christ’s strength and that his strength overrides the power of grief and sorrow. The highest heights have been attained, the greatest accomplishments made, in spite of the greatest obstacles, through the power of Christ’s cross.
When Jesus spoke to His mother and then to John, John was compelled to take up the interests of a son for his mother and care for the mother of Jesus in the days to come. .
Does Jesus still care about the grief and sorrows we bear, or that borne by a world living under the weight of sin? The words of Paul are poignant, strong and compelling: “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2). In the same manner that Jesus transferred the responsibility to care for his grief stricken mother to John, he assigns responsibility to the church to help others. We become our Lord’s agents of care and love to both the church and the world.
The Fourth Saying: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me” Matthew 27:46
“Forsaken”, is a word that conjures up the worst of human experiences. We are reminded of tales of husbands leaving their wives, wives leaving their husbands, of children who cannot understand the absence of a parent for any reason, even death. It speaks of divorce, loneliness, rejection, and all of the hurts and pains of abandonment. Shame, deepens its hold on the human heart when, as so often is the case, the person rejected blames him/herself for the sins of another.
Our transgressions, iniquities and sin were borne by Jesus on the cross. Our sicknesses and death were borne by Him also. In addition, he bore our grief and carried our sorrow. What more could he possibly do for us? It is a fair question to ask when one considers all He has done. Yet, amazingly, there is more – he took our shame. All the hurts of rejection, abuse, mistreatment by others, and all the transgressions we commit that make us unlike-able, he bore on the cross. All our “forsaken” experiences were placed on Jesus, and, for our sakes, he endured what was for Him the greatest of all tortures, his Father forsook him.
Is there hope in Christ for the sinner, the sick, the grief stricken, the sorrowful? Yes! Absolutely yes! Is there help for the forsaken, the kind that heals the deepest pain of rejection, abandonment with all its shame? The answer from the cross resounds in every broken hearted person who has ever turned to him - Yes…Yes…Yes…
The Fifth Saying: “I am thirsty” John 19:28
How did Jesus suffer? Was it as the Son of God, insulated from human weakness and feeling. No, He suffered as the Son of Man, subject to the feelings of pain anyone of us are subject to. He who is and who gives, “the water of life”, emptied himself of this and every resource, when he died on our behalf. He was truly man. He truly died.
The Sixth Saying: “It is finished” John 19:30
Jesus wasn’t finished, although it looked like he was. His work was finished! The sacrifice that enabled the restoration of man to God was completed - eternally, nothing was left undone, nothing else was necessary. Complete satisfaction was made for the debt incurred by the whole human race. The word “forgiven” literally means, “remitted”, a term often used regarding the payment of an account. Full satisfaction for the debt incurred by man and his sin against God’s holy nature, was paid in full by Jesus on the cross.
On the sixth day of creation when God created man, he looked at what He had done and saw that it was very good. (Genesis 1:31). Creation, in all its beauty and wonder was complete. Similarly, the sixth saying of Jesus on the cross marked the completion of re-creation, and it was very, very good. How good was it? Ask any forgiven sinner he’ll tell you! Ask the person healed from cancer by the grace of our Lord, she’ll tell you! Ask the drug addict, the prostitute, the adulterer, the gambler, the thief, the murderer, ask anyone whose life has been changed by Jesus Christ, they’ll all tell you – the finished work of the cross is good, very, very good!
The Seventh Saying: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” Luke 23:46
The Book of Genesis records how God rested when He finished all the work He had been doing. (Genesis 2:2). On the cross Jesus, with the last words he uttered, Jesus spoke of coming home to his Father. Gone were the words, “Why have you forsaken me?” Gone was the greatest anguish of his soul. The Father’s loving, approving eyes could once again look upon the Son He loved. The sins that turned him away were left nailed to the cross - but Jesus wasn’t. He came off the cross to live again. His very good work, now completed, earned Him the right to be restored to His Father’s out-stretched hands. There could be no greater rest than this.
Jesus bore our transgressions, iniquities, sin, grief, sorrow, sickness, refection and shame and now, to top it all off, when we thought there was nothing more to add, he bore our tiredness and weariness as well. In Hebrews chapter 4 we learn that Jesus is our rest, our Sabbath. No longer is the Sabbath one day a week. In the new covenant “Today” is the Sabbath. Every day we find our rest in Him. We rest from the weariness of struggling to pay and atone for our sins. We find relief from all of life’s burdens, the sixth saying assures this.
We all know how we long for rest when we are weary, and how good it is when it finally comes. Our longing for rest is proportional to our weariness. Nothing but rest can take away tiredness and weariness. No one but Jesus can give us rest from the struggle of sin and from the trials and burdens of this life. “Come unto me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”, (Matthew 11:28), is his promise to us. The seventh saying of Jesus from the cross assures us that he will fulfill this promise. .
Everything you or I need, everything the whole world needs, was provided by Jesus Christ on the cross. On a number of occasions in the Bible, the number “seven” signifies the completion of something. Maybe that is why it is considered to be a lucky number. The seven sayings of Jesus from the cross were anything but luck. They reflect the deliberate and planned acts of God – acts of the greatest mercy – acts of the greatest grace!
Amen.
Sermon preached by Bruce Morrison,
April 13, 2003
Emmanuel English Church,
Hong Kong
