"O Lord Jesus Christ, who out of thy silence upon the Cross didst bequeath to thy Church seven words: Grant that we may ponder them as the inexhaustible Gospel of thy love and of the world's redemption; and learn likewise both by speech and silence to glorify our Father in heaven; who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end."
One FATHER, FORGIVE THEM; FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO (Luke 23:34)
The first word from the Cross is a prayer and shows the Lord Jesus making beauty out of a thing of shame. He prayed for his murderers and this was a new way of dying. Death as such is not redemptive, but he made it redemptive both by the perfection of his character and by the way he accepted and transformed it.
The men who nailed Jesus to the Cross were doing their duty, carrying out a routine job. So the Lord Jesus gives them the benefit of the doubt, making generous allowance for excusable ignorance. We know that they were under orders and paid hands putting into effect the evil plans of other men's minds.
Jesus anticipated that in the future they would actually come to recognize his full identity and believe on him as the Lord and Saviour unto salvation. Then these words would ring in their ears and echo in their hearts and they would be able to forgive themselves for what they did. Jesus not only could foresee he also fore-acted. He prays for their forgiveness before they are repentant of their sin.
What was a prayer for the soldiers is also a pray for us. It is the petition of the great high priest as he offers the one complete sacrifice of himself as the Lamb of God for the sins of the world.
"Blessed Lord, who in thy forgiving love didst pray for those who nailed thee to the Cross, and hast taught us to forgive one another as thou hast forgiven us: Take from us all bitterness and resentment towards our fellows, and give us the spirit of mutual forgiveness and brotherly love; that so, in perfect charity, we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom; for thy name and mercy's sake. Amen."
Two TODAY THOU SHALT BE WITH ME IN PARADISE (Luke 23:43)
The second word of the Lord Jesus from the Cross is a promise in the form of a personal assurance.
The presence of the Third Man, the Lord Jesus, between the two criminals on Mount Calvary exposed the inner core of each of them. One was abusive. "Save thyself and us" he mockingly cried. The other found himself deeply touched by the Man in the center and he simply asks to be remembered, "Lord, remember me." [which request we may extend to mean, "Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses; for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to thy loving kindness remember thou me, for thy goodness' sake, O Lord", Psalm 25:6,7.]
And what a response he got. "Today" - not at some future distant point; "thou shalt be with me" - in the presence of the King in the kingdom of God the Father; and it will be "in Paradise", not in some shadowy realm of the dead but in God's pleasure garden, the new Eden, the foot-hills of heaven.
We recall and rejoice "That we might go at last to heaven, saved by his precious blood" is the possibility opened up to all by the Cross!
And we recognize this word as the charter for death-bed conversions! Any of us can ask for mercy as we approach death and know we shall be heard. But how better to ask for mercy in the midst of life.
"Blessed Saviour, who when hanging on thy Cross didst welcome the penitent sinner: We beseech thee, by that same compassion, to pardon the guilty, heal the wounded, recover the fallen, restore the wandering; that casting themselves upon thy mercy they may return with penitence to the embrace of thy love, and enter at last into the joy of thy presence; for thy love's sake. Amen."
Three WOMAN, BEHOLD THY SON! .BEHOLD, THY MOTHER! (John 19:26-27)
In his third word from the Cross, the Lord Jesus creates new family ties and new boundaries of responsibility.
In terms of human feeling, perhaps the two who felt the Crucifixion the deepest were Mary, the mother of Jesus, and John, the beloved disciple.
By his Cross Jesus has a transforming effect on human relations. In the kingdom of God they are lifted to a new level and caught up in a higher order. John found a new mother and Mary found a new son. Here at the foot of the Cross God's new family, the household and family of God the Father, is being created.
The Church proceeds from the sacrifice of the Son of God; and the union of the Beloved Disciple and the Mother of the Lord Jesus prefigures and foreshadows the charity/love of the Ecclesia [church] of God.
It has long been said that Mary becomes here the mother of the faithful (Revelation 12:5ff.) and that John represents the ideal Christian convert.
While the unity of the Church is symbolized by the seamless robe (John 19:23-4), the nature of the unity is declared in the new family relation of Mary and John.
"Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister and mother" (Mark 3:35).
"O Lord Jesus Christ, who by thy holy incarnation didst enter the human family, and on the cross didst commend thy mother to the care of the beloved
disciple: Purify our homes by thy abiding presence; sanctify all our human relations; and grant that united with one another in thee, we may together attain thy heavenly kingdom; for the honour of thy great name. Amen."
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