Seven Things Jesus Said On The Cross

I am sharing here notes and reflections I wrote during the Good Friday service (this year) in my church. It is not complete as I was listening and crying a lot, but hopefully it is enough to enrich us, to reflect on, or to dig into to understand it more. People have asked for a copy of my notes every time I mentioned it. May you also be stimulated by it.

The seven things Jesus said on the cross. Also known as His last words before physical death.

1. 

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

- Luke 23:34 New International Version (NIV) -

• Instead of praying for himself, Jesus forgave and prayed for his enemies.
• Learn to look at anyone not beyond prayer.

2. 

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

- Luke 23:42-43 NIV - 

• Good Friday is Jesus dying on the cross for our salvation.
• Jesus was not alone, on cross with two other thieves.
• One of the thieves understood about life after the physical one (in heaven).
• Believing and putting faith in Jesus, the thief was given the promise of eternal life.

3. 

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

- John 19:25-27 NIV -

• It is believed that the disciple mentioned was Peter.
• Jesus was saying to Mary, "I am no longer your son". Peter from then took his (human) place.
• Jesus still provided to Mary - as she was physically losing her son, she was provided for with another. God is good.
• Mary was then to regard Him as her Saviour and her Lord.
• Mary lost an irreplaceable son but gained an incomparable Saviour!

4. 

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

- Matthew 27:45-54 NIV -

• Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1-2

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?    Why are you so far from saving me,    so far from my cries of anguish?My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,    by night, but I find no rest.

• Jesus quoted this:

• To fulfil the prophecy.
•  Because it was what he was experiencing when he took mankind's sins.

• ... I pictured Jesus crying out to God loudly in immeasurable pain and agony, when he finally experienced how it felt to be cut off and what it meant to be separated from the Father. It was too painful to imagine, for Jesus was always in the presence of the Father. It must have felt like DEATH as he paid for our sins.... I felt wretched death as I sat there and it was excruciatingly painful. Jesus carried it ALL for us in obedience.
• ... Someone (days later) mentioned to me Jesus possibly spoke Aramaic specifically so the Pharisees could understand him, but not the commoners, because it was an elite language....
• Possible, I also thought maybe it was because Jesus was talking as a man directly to God, so he spoke out in the tongue he used to communicate to the Father. Similar to how we speak to God privately with our most painful and vulnerable cries.... I lately did not have the words to convey well what's in my heart and/or mind in our conversations, so I spoke in private tongue only us/He could understand.

5. 

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”

- John 19:28 NIV -

• The last word of any dying man comes from the heart.
• How could a God who can create all things cry out, "I thirst!"?
• It showed Jesus became fully human while carrying our sins. While a man, Jesus felt extreme physical thirst to take on, carry and suffer for humanity's sins.
• Note before crucifixion Jesus declined (recorded in Matthew 27:34) the drink with vinegar offered by Roman soldiers to help dull the pain and lessen his physical suffering. There's also no record of him accepting the offer of same drink while he hung on the cross (see Luke 23:36).
• Jesus embodied more than the physical pain. He also shared mankind's agony and spiritual separation from God.
• ... I kept thinking of 'He gives me Living Water and I thirst no more'.... or John 4:14 where Jesus said, "...but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." It made me picture Jesus again cut off from God to carry our sins and it hurt!! I felt intense pain and intense gratefulness.
• ... I thought of Jesus thirsting for us (believers of God) mentally. He was alone, spiritually thirsty and in need of fellowship and of God's presence. In his continuous act of love he thirsted for us so that in our salvation we no longer have to thirst.
• ... I saw Jesus even in his last stage and in extreme agony, with a fully alert mind. Everything he did in obedience to God was already finished, yet he still fulfilled another prophecy. Tonight, I found out what that prophecy was (Psalm 69:21, NIV):

They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.

• What fascinated me is that this specific vinegar drink was there ready to fulfil this scripture. God works amazingly in all situation that sinful mankind unknowingly fulfilled the prophecy! God also uses those who opposes and/or are against him according to his perfect plan!
• I remember being shocked when one of the readers asked the question if God looked away in disgust when Jesus was being forsaken (because of our wicked sins). This confirmed to me that the Father was with Jesus the whole time. Jesus depended on God to provide him the drink. He chose the right time to drink - not to satisfy himself (his thirst), but instead to continue glorifying God.

6. 

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

- John 19:30 NIV -

• John was the only one who recorded this shout of victory.
• For Jesus to muster up his pains and said it in a loud voice means it was a celebration and a significant event.
• Jesus fulfilled the Law by completing it in sinless life.
• Jesus completed the prophecy all the way to his last breath.
• Jesus defeated Satan and crushed Satan's death. Satan has no authority over us!
• What begun in the mind of God has now come to pass. God's righteous demand has been fulfilled. Praise God.

7. 

Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

- Luke 23:46 NIV -

• Jesus is in total control of life and death. He laid down his own life to God.
• He said, as written in Psalm 31:5 (NIV):

Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.

• Jesus rests content because he has achieved. Forgiveness is now available.
• John 10 spoke of eternal life to those who listens to Jesus.
• The soldier who guarded Jesus, witnessed all that has happened, and saw how Jesus died exclaimed(!!), "Surely, this man was the son of God!" (Mark 15:39 and Matthew 27:54) - What is your response? - You pay or He paid?
• We believe not because we are dying but because we are moving from death to life.