- Article: Crossword
Article: Crossword
The emblem of the cross has been universally accepted in current times to be the emblem of Christianity. However as Christians we understand that the cross signifies so much more than just the fact that we are 'Christians', but deeper than that it is a sign of suffering.
Jesus Himself taught that if we are going to be real disciples then we must accept that there are times when we too will have to take up our own type of a cross and still follow him.
1. The cross He spoke of concerning us was not a literal wooden cross like the ones we see in the many portraits of Christ on His journey to Golgotha, but rather often the crosses we individually carry are seasons of life that present us with cross like situations.
Every one of us will have certain situations at different seasons in life that present us with difficulties. However, how we respond in those situations helps us to gauge our own spiritual maturity. Several weeks ago many of us as Christians once again had reason to reflect on the story of Christ's passion during the season of Easter. In that Story, while Jesus was going through His literal cross experience, we see the greatest example of spiritual maturity displayed through some of the words that came from His lips while he suffered. The Word of God teaches us that the words we choose to use can either give life or death to a situation: in other words they can either make a situation better or worse.
2. Therefore it is vitally important that we are careful about the words we use and how we respond during our cross experiences, and make sure we are using the right 'cross words'.
Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing..." Luke 23:34 NIV
Can you imagine Jesus is hanging on the cross not only losing blood from the points where He was pierced, but also the trauma that the physical pain brought to His body putting immense stress on his blood flow, causing ruptures to His veins resulting in internal hemorrhaging. This would have meant that it was very likely He was also bleeding from His nose and quite possibly His ears. This was not the romanticized picture like many that are displayed in today's religious galleries, but rather it was a cruel and violent punishment. The Jewish leaders had pushed for this punishment simply because they saw Jesus as at worst a threat, and at best a pest, who could have jeopardized their religious rule.
3. After them was Pontius Pilate, who was the only one there who had the power to authorize the crucifixion. Though perhaps in his heart he knew Jesus was innocent, nonetheless he brought Jesus before the Jewish leaders and the people for them to choose whether or not He should be put to death.
4. Once that decision had been made there were the Roman soldiers who administered the nailing of a totally human body carrying the Glory of God to a cross.
5. Yet in spite of all of this abuse and torture while up on the cross going through His cross experience, His season of suffering, Jesus is a picture of spiritual maturity as He focuses on their forgiveness. How many of us as Christians today could honestly say that we have been able to carry that same attitude while people have caused us to go through a season of suffering. Maintaining the right attitude even while being in a difficult circumstance rather than being bitter by carrying unforgiveness, is a basic Christian requirement, but one many of us so often overlook.
Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
Luke 23:43 
When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother".
John 19:26-27
Horrendously suffering, and pursued by pain because of the position in which He was hanging, yet interestingly in the two statements noted above Jesus does not focus on Himself. Now most of us who are honest enough would have to confess to the fact that when we are going through our own different types of cross experiences we tend to become self centered because of what or who is affecting us. But Jesus' example here again teaches us another lesson in spiritual maturity. In spite of what at first appeared to be is own hopeless situation, He maintains the right attitude by first not retaliating to the insults hurled at him by one of the criminals being crucified next to Him. But instead, amazingly, he blesses the other criminal by offering him the hope of being in paradise with Jesus that same day. Spiritual maturity says that even though we are going through our own cross like experiences we can still minister a blessing and give hope to others.
Battered and bleeding, the sight of Jesus on the cross would have been too much for most of us in this 21st century western culture to bear, primarily because we do not readily know of any present day capital punishment as barbaric as Roman crucifixion. Yet in John chapter nineteen, once again we see Jesus not focusing on His own suffering, but instead He notices another saddening and moving picture, His mother Mary, who is often forgotten or 'safely' ignored by many Christians today when reading the story of Christ's passion from a Protestant platform. However, just like any mother she had to stand there at the foot of the cross and watch her own son literally bleed to death. Can you imagine how she cried, as the pain of what she saw penetrated her heart, the cacophony of emotions that ricochet through her soul, anger at the regime that had put her son in this position, panic as she may have considered how she could get her son out of this predicament? But then she may have remembered that He said He would have to suffer to fulfill his purpose.
6. Yet this still would not have been enough to console her as she digested the reality of the vision of her suffering son. Jesus, still not concerned with Himself, looks at her while she is standing with John and offers her His cross words of consolation by directing her to John and saying, "Here is your son", and then to John, "Here is your mother". John knew exactly what Jesus was saying, because the scripture tells us that John took her in to his own house and looked after her from that day.
Watching how Jesus was still able to help others while He suffered is spiritual maturity. He blessed the criminal on the cross with the promise of paradise and blessed his own mother with words of care and consolation; we too must - ask Ourselves, 'Can I still be a blessing to others by 'helping' even though I may be 'hurting'?"
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"- which means, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Mark 15:34
His body now broken and bruised, we can imagine, as He reaches within Himself to grasp at some of the last remaining breaths and then to shout out in desperation to ask, "My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken Me?"
For the first time on the cross we hear Jesus in His humanity concerned about His own situation. But it was not the pain that ravaged His body, neither was it the blood loss and haemorrhaging that caused Him to cry out. You see we must remember that from His birth in Bethlehem to His baptism between the banks of the Jordan River and every day after that, He had been constantly experiencing the Glory of God. Even at His arrest in the garden though he had been bleeding, He was still experiencing the glory of God.
But now, hanging on the cross, we cannot forget that right there He actually became sin, as He took on all of my sins and all of your sins and became our sacrifice once and for all, obliterating the power of sin.
7. However, as He became sin He could sense that the Glory of the Father, that He had always experienced, was now turning away from the sight of Him becoming sin. Therefore He cried out because of the sorrow He felt, as that Glory could no longer smile on what had now become sin. And so He now becomes more concerned with the glory of the Father's consistent 'presence' than His physical suffering that was now 'present
What lesson can we learn from this? The lesson is that like Jesus in His humanity on the cross we are never to be more concerned by our 'present' circumstances than we are concerned with the pursuit of the consistent 'presence' of our God. ...so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." John 19:28
After all He had endured of course this statement concerning dehydration was the least we could expect from his humanity. However, it is ironic that this is the same person whose very first miracle was turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana.
8. This was also the same person who had told the woman at the well that He could offer her water that would mean she would never thirst again.
9. So it is without question that if He was thirsty He had the power to supply His need without making it public. Nevertheless from His statement we learn of His own humility that in spite of all He had said and done in His ministry He was still humble enough to reveal that in His present situation he had a need.
Often today people try to hide the fact that they need help, maybe it's from an attitude of pride, afraid to admit that they are not self sufficient. Humility releases you to admit that you are not an island. In fact being a part of the body of Christ means that we are all co-dependant on help from each other.
"...Jesus said, "It is finished"...John 19:30
Inside of this cross word I believe we can learn a lesson on the issue of our own 'perspective' while going through our own cross experiences. Jesus said 'It' is finished, He did not say 'I' am finished. In other words He always viewed His situation and circumstances differently from Himself. He understood that His mission and purpose meant that He was going to have to go through this season of suffering. His statement, 'it is finished', meant that He knew that mission and that purpose was now completed. However, He also knew that three days later He would come back again declaring that He had all authority in heaven and earth.
10. So there was no way that 'He' was finished! As a believer and a child of the King you and I must remember that 'you' are not your 'situation', but rather the situation you are going through, though it maybe difficult, can catapult you into a greater destiny.
Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit." Luke 23:46
These last words that Jesus uttered before He gave up the ghost were not just words for that moment but perhaps these are the appropriate words with which to describe His entire life, and we too need to be able to adopt these words. We need to be willing to put our lives 'into the Father's hands'; through every situation our aim is to live a life of submission to the Father's will. Even in the Garden Jesus, in His humanity, had already prayed to the Father saying, "Not My will, but Your will be done".
11. Once again this is a lesson in spiritual maturity understanding that the safest place for our lives to be is in the Father's hands, until that day when He receives our spirit.
These cross words of Jesus are there for all of us as believers to consider carefully and learn from, so that we too, through our own seasons of suffering or trial will be able to use the right 'cross words'.
1. Matthew 16:24 NIV
2. Proverbs 18:21 NIV
3. Matthew 26:59-67 NIV
4. Matthew 27:1-26 NIV
5. Matthew 27:27-31NIV
6. Matthew 16:21 NIV
7. Romans 6:9-10 NIV
8. John 2:1-11 NIV
9. John 4:5-13 NIV
10. Matthew 28:18 NIV
11. Luke 22:41-42 NIV