Seven Sayings of the Cross

On Good Friday, we began the day with great expectation, thankful that Our Lord Jesus would never again have to submit himself to the cross, for what he did, he did once for all mankind. So we rejoiced at a fellowhip breakfast of church family and friends, and engaged in robust worship in song and prayer. Then we listened to the events of the crucifixion, from the point of view of the Lord, in the seven recorded things Jesus said on that day of his tribulation.

What does a person say on the day and in the process of his dying? What did the Son of God and the Son of Man have to say on the day of his greatest deed for mankind, his greatest offering?
I don't remember all seven but I remember these and if we celebrate Good Friday and His resurrection then we would do well to practice the way of our Lord.

Father forgive them for they know not what they do:
It was so important to Jesus to release his enemies from any condemnation. It was so important for him to forgive them. Do we consider forgiving as one of the most important things we practise? Is it one of our last words in a situation?

This day you will be with me in paradise: Again Jesus forgave the sinner who asked for forgiveness and allowed him the grace of eternal salvation. Because this gift is a grace, it cannot be earned. It is unmerited favour and there for sincere asking. This is so because there is none righteous to the standard of God, therefore it took Himself to make a way of grace. Thank God it is available to all.

Mother behold thy son, son behold thy mother: Jesus was concerned about relationships of caregiving. He was concerned for those who were grieving or suffering a form of loss. Do we care for others? Do we look for ways to make caring connections which bless and fulfill the human need of others?

I thirst: This was his most natural statement, the proof of his humanity as he hung on the cross, dehydrated. He suffered as man, yet he bore it like God. We are told he was tempted in everyway as a man yet without sin!

My God, why hast thou forsaken me? This statement is profound and Jesus connects with sinful humanity, separated from God, lonely and alone. It is here, the darkest hour of all that he feels the full weight of sin and carries the wounds, sicknesses, poverty and dying of mankind in an exchange which blesses us with the opposite. This separation must have been the cup from which he would rather not have drank, yet he gave up his human will for the will of God. He withstood separation from God. It is hard to comprehend this moment, how Love lost temporarily yet profoundly, it'sconnection to Love. No wonder it went dark. Was the earth itself at peril?

It is finished: Having arrived at the end of the process, the end of the pain, Jesus is at last able to surrender himself to God and enter into the completion, and the blessed rest of God. He enetrs it with all who will believe on him, repent of sin and receive salvation by faith, through grace. This work is finished and waits for us, the inheritors of Grace!

Into thy hands I commit my spirit: To think we have open for us the same exit (or the same entrance) as Christ when the end comes, if we have believed in him as our Lord. And God is able to receive our souls and preserve us in relationship with him. So we are ale to say in the face of death, "Where is thy sting?" This is our consolation by which we pass on, when our time is come, into His light. We enter into His presence!

Let us hold fast therefore to our confession, for it will be richly rewarded!

FAITH SPEAKS

Welcome to our blog Grace Waters. We intend to blog ideas and events of note which come up with reference to faith and our church, River of Life International Fellowship in Guelph, Ontario.

At River of Life we are in the middle of a faith series. Today's word of note has to do with our confession, with particular reference to our declaration: those charged words that come out of our mouth to influence our lives. We understand that the spirit of faith is two pronged: We Believe and We Speak. Today we focussed on what we speak, when we speak and to what we speak.

Ezekiel spoke to a mountain and to dead bones. Jesus spoke to the wind and the waves and also to a fig tree. Jesus also spoke to dead people, raising them to life. In our humanity we tend to speak what our circumstance dictates, yet we are called to a life of faith: "The just shall live by faith."

If we believe God and His promises then we must speak his promise in our lives, we must declare them and not the adverse circumstances we face from time to time. We are encouraged to be like God, who made us in His image, who calls those things that are not, as if they were. By faith we believe that the worlds were framed by the word of God and what exists came out of what did not exist, by His word.

May our confessions be full of the faith we profess. We speak because we believe!