Being the “wordsmith”
some people describe me to be, I find doing crosswords an enjoyable pastime. I
have smartphone apps that challenge my word skills, and occasionally I work
crossword puzzles in the newspaper. But this time of year, a different kind of “crosswords”
comes to mind.
As Good
Friday and Easter approach, our church presented a series of messages titled,
“Crosswords,” exploring words of Jesus Christ linked to His crucifixion. In
reviewing the biblical accounts, two “cross words” caught my attention in
particular, ones that can be truly life-changing, if only we can grasp their
magnitude both for now and for eternity.
The words
are: Forgive
and finished.
Despite the
excruciating pain and trauma of the cross, Jesus managed to utter several things
as He endured His tortuous – and totally undeserved – execution. But in those
two words He largely summed up His purpose in willingly enduring the cross.
As He hung
from it, surrounded by a mainly angry, blood-thirsty mob spewing venomous insults
and epithets, Jesus would have been fully justified in spitting at them, or returning
their verbal abuse. Despite incomprehensible pain – coupled with great sorrow
in being rejected by so many – He felt compassion instead, and called for grace.
“Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for
they do not know what they are doing’” (Luke 23:34).
Simple
words, “forgive them,” carrying volumes of meaning. Who among us has never
yearned for forgiveness for wrongs committed? Sometimes we find it futile
even to forgive ourselves. Also, who hasn’t struggled to forgive others for
pain they’ve inflicted on us, intentional or not? Yet in saying, “forgive them,”
even on the cross Jesus was interceding, asking God the Father to extend mercy,
to offer what His enemies – including us today – did not deserve. Forgiveness,
once and for all.
With those
two words, Jesus was not only assuring each one of us that we can experience
forgiveness from the God of all creation, but also was telling us that it’s
incumbent upon us all that we, too, forgive. Pastor and author John MacArthur
has made the observation, “Never are you more like God than when you forgive.”
Many are quick to observe, “God is love,” asserting we should act in kind. But
we’re not as fast to recognize the equal truth that God is forgiving – as we
should be.
But Jesus
was not quite done, even in His dying moments. Upon taking a sip of wine
vinegar lifted to his lips on the stalk of a plant, Jesus’ last words were, “’It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his
head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30).
The word “finished”
was not referring to the conclusion of His earthly life, but the culmination of
His mission, His purpose for being God incarnate – “God with us,” as Matthew
1:23 expresses it. Some saw Jesus as a great teacher, or a prophet. Today some
regard Him as a model, an eminent example of right living. But Jesus walked
among us for much more than that.
He came to
become the Savior of mankind, the propitiation for sins, the atoning sacrifice.
John 3:16-17 informs us, “For God so
loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but to save
the world through him.” He was the promised Messiah who had been
prophesied thousands of years before.
In coming
to Earth, Jesus arrived to address an unsolvable, irreconcilable problem
confronting humankind: Sin. We don’t often hear people talking about sin these
days, even preachers, except in giddy conversation. But to God, there’s no
humor in sin; not in the least. Sin was so serious, He took upon Himself its
punishment, satisfying His justice and absorbing His wrath, while offering a singular way for men, women
and children to experience an everlasting, living relationship with Him.
All that
needed to be done was done, except for us to receive the free gift He offered.
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