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Good Tuesday morning my dear “Walking with Jesus” friends.
Does Easter Sunday seem distant already my friends? Time rushes by so fast, and even with “shelter in place” we can be so busy. I wonder what the Tuesday after that first Easter was like for the men and women who had seen the Risen Jesus, only 48 hours before?
We have no specific Biblical record of their activities this week after Easter, but we know they were together again one week later and we’ll join them in that remarkable encounter with Jesus, this coming weekend. (John 20) Today, I imagine John, who had ‘walked with Jesus’ all through the Passover weekend, was deep in reflection as he replayed the events of these past days over and over in his mind. He tells us in John 19:27 that he took responsibility for Mary, Jesus’ mother, after that weekend, so perhaps they were together this week. I’m sure they discussed the words Jesus had said from the cross, so today, let’s join them in that reflection.
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34), were the first words Jesus spoke from the cross. He may have spoken them as the soldiers were driving the nails into His hands and feet. His body was already badly beaten, shredded by the flogging of the soldiers, the crown of thorns pressed down on His head, and the heavy cross beam He had carried toward Golgotha. But the nails ripping through his hands and feet must have been excruciating. Yet rather than anger or retaliation, Jesus prays to His Father, interceding for the soldiers, asking for their forgiveness!
It’s what Jesus is doing right now in heaven, according to Romans 8:34. Each time you and I sin, He intercedes for us with God the Father, since His suffering and death paid the full sin penalty and is sufficient for all our sin! Perhaps Jesus opens His scarred hands and shows the Father as He intercedes! Oh my friends, let’s take a moment right now and thank Jesus that He is interceding for you and me! Oh Jesus I thank You that You are resurrected and from Your place at God’s right hand You are interceding for me!
Two other men were crucified that day with Jesus, both guilty criminals. One mocked Jesus, the other asked for Jesus’ mercy and said to Jesus: “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42) Evidently he had heard Jesus teach the crowds, perhaps he’d seen some of the miracles. Apparently he believed Jesus was who they celebrated on Palm Sunday, and what the crude sign nailed to the cross above Jesus’ head said: “The king of the Jews”.
Jesus’ response to the criminal gives us hope and assurance. “I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise.” Jesus holds the authority to give people assurance of heaven when they die, and Jesus promised this repentant criminal that he would be in heaven immediately after his death. This verse assures those who have trusted in Jesus for their salvation that there is no delay after death. “Absent from the body is present with the Lord.” (2 Cor. 5:8) Oh thank God today my dear friends, that our trust in Jesus Christ both assures us that His death is sufficient payment for our sin and that His resurrection defeat of death assures us we will live forever in heaven with Him.
For Mary, the moment in the crucifixion hours which may have touched her the most was when Jesus, looking down from the cross at His mother standing there, said to her “Dear woman, here is your son.” (John 19:26) Standing next to Mary was John, ‘the disciple Jesus loved’. Mary had other sons, James, Joseph, Judas and Simon, as Mark tells us in Mark 6:3. But none of them believed Jesus was the Son of God, and none were present at His crucifixion.
We know at least James and Judas believed in Jesus after His resurrection and actually wrote two books in our New Testament (James & Jude), so very likely they took care of their mother in her old age as good sons. But in this dark hour, Jesus was making sure she had a loving, caring friend to help her. It’s a beautiful picture of God’s loves and special care for widows and women alone.
We must remember it was excruciatingly painful for Jesus to pull Himself up on the cross enough to gasp a full breath even to speak, so each of these brief statements from the cross were made with outrageous effort and pain.
For John, it must have been very powerful to consider Jesus’ words to His mother urging her to see that He was caring about her even in His dying hours. But to realize that Jesus was asking His good friend John, to take care of His mother, must have been a deeply humbling moment. John records that after Jesus spoke to His mother, Jesus drew another painful breath, and looking directly at John said ‘Here is your mother’.
Look at them standing there at the foot of the cross, with tears streaming down their faces. John puts his arm around Mary and holds her next to him, as they both look deeply into the bloodied eyes of Jesus. I can see John nodding in agreement and commitment. Perhaps he even spoke, “Yes, Jesus, I’ll care for her and love her as my own mother.” I think John wanted all who read his account to know the privilege he had. “From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.” (John 19:27) My friends, can you imagine the conversations John and Mary, Jesus’ mother, had over these next months and years? What questions would you have asked her, if you had the privilege John had?
Matthew describes the three hour thick darkness which fell on Jerusalem, as Jesus was in great agony on the cross. “From the sixth hour until the night hour darkness came over all the land. About the night hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice: ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani?’ which means, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:45-46) The darkness over the land was a reflection of the darkness of the soul which Jesus felt. He who had no sin had taken upon Himself all the sin guilt of the world, including your sin and mine. Can you imagine what that might have felt like for Jesus?
We know the ugliness, the shame, the guilt of sin. But there’s more. Jesus then received the outpouring of God’s justice wrath upon Him for the sin He was bearing. That we cannot imagine. It is beyond our comprehension. Part of that wrath is separation from God, a taste of what eternity in hell is like. That is why Jesus cried out from the cross as He did. Of course He knew WHY God’s wrath was coming upon Him… but the agony of it, the horrific reality of it, is beyond our comprehension. What a high price to pay, so you and I could be rescued from our sin! Oh Jesus, while we cannot imagine what You experienced for us, we thank You with our lives!
Crucifixion brought death in many horrific ways, among them was dehydration. John writes in John 19:28 “Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said ‘I am thirsty’…” While it was no doubt true that Jesus was terribly thirsty, I believe He was speaking of an even deeper, inner thirst. He had told the Samaritan woman at the well that He could give her ‘living water’. “Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14) He was of course speaking of our forgiven, born again, new life in Christ, and also the indwelling Holy Spirit.
In this deep darkness of agony, not only had God the Father poured out His wrath on His Son who bore the sins of the world, the Holy Spirit who had sustained Jesus and empowered Jesus in His miracles, was not empowering Him now on the cross. This was the Son of God alone bearing our sin. His thirst was both a physical thirst but also a deep spiritual dryness He had never felt before. But it was the price required to be paid, for humanity’s horrible sin rejection of God, if humanity was going to be redeemed!
Finally John writes that Jesus, with great agony, drew a breath and said “It is finished”. (John 19:30) He had fully accomplished the mission for which God Almighty, His Father, had sent Him to earth. He had taught God’s truth, He had performed the miracles which proved His identity, He had paid the full sin price with His agony. He was the sacrificial “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” as John the baptist had announced in John 1:29.
The Old Testament blood sacrifice system God had put in place, all pointed forward to this day! Jesus had completed it all. A new covenant in HIS blood was now available, not only to Jews, but to any and all peoples, in every generation. Hebrews 9:15 says “Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance – now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.” Oh Jesus we thank You for this New Covenant with God, made possible ONLY by your sacrifice! We thank You that it is complete, we cannot add anything to what You have accomplished. “For it is by grace you are saved through faith,not of ourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, let anyone should boast.” (Eph. 2:8,9)
Oh my friends, these three little words “It is finished” from Jesus are so very important. Salvation from sin condemnation is ONLY and COMPLETELY accomplished by Jesus Christ through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. Our involvement in our salvation is this:
1. We must believe Jesus is the Son of God, as God said! (Matt. 3:17)
2. We must confess (acknowledge) that we are sinful and cannot do anything to correct that problem (1 John 1:9)
3. We must trust in Jesus’ sacrificial death as the ONLY way to meet God’s requirement that we may be forgiven of our sin. (Acts 4:12)
4. We then have the privilege of receiving God’s forgiveness of our sin (Ephesians 1:7); God’s reconciliation of us into relationship with Him (Colossians 1:21,22); assurance of eternal life with God (John 3:16), and so much more.
Have you trusted Jesus Christ and ALL He accomplished on the cross, for your salvation my friends? This moment can be your moment, if you’ll fully trust Jesus!
Finally, Jesus said one last statement from the cross “Father, into Your hands, I commit My spirit’. And Luke records that “When Jesus had said this, He breathed His last.” (Luke 23:46)
John records that Jesus had said “I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me…and I lay down My life for the sheep..The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life – only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord…” (John 10:14-18). The beating didn’t kill Jesus. The nails and the cross didn’t kill Jesus. The agony of God’s wrath didn’t even kill Jesus. Jesus gave up His spirit into the hands of God, He released His hold on life and gave His life as a ransom for you and me, having paid the full price for our sin!
I imagine John the disciple who had watched all this happen to Jesus, and who had heard each word Jesus spoke from the cross, pondered each phrase many times, and discussed them with Mary, Jesus’ mother, who stood at the cross with him. These words are profound. They are life changing for any who will place their full trust in Jesus. They bring hope to the desperate and peace to those who have tried so hard to save themselves!
I have found a video song for you my friends. As I watch and listen, it seems to fit so well with what we’ve discussed today. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.
Oh crucified and resurrected Jesus, I praise YOU today. Please penetrate our hearts with these words and this song, to awaken Your hope in all of us!
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Click to read today’s chapter: Luke 23; John 20. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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