You want to know the meaning of those seven phrases uttered by Christ on the cross. Aren’t they clear?
The first
one: ‘Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing’. (Luke 23: 34).
With these words, Christ showed His mercy to His executioners, whose malice
didn’t abate even when He was suffering on the cross. Besides this, the words
He cried aloud from the top of the rock of Golgotha represent a proven but
never well-understood truth: that those who do evil never know what they’re
doing. By killing the Righteous One, in reality they’re killing themselves and,
at the same time, are actually glorifying Him. As they’re trampling all over
God’s law, they don’t see the millstone which is descending invisibly and will
crush them. As they’re mocking God, they don’t see that their faces have become
transformed into the snouts of wild beasts. Imbued as they are with evil, they
never know what they’re doing.
The
second phrase - ‘Truly, I say to you, today you’ll be with me in paradise’ (Luke
23: 43) – was addressed to the robber who repented on the cross. A very
consoling phrase for sinners who, even at the last moment, repent. God’s mercy
is indescribably great. The Lord was fulfilling His mission even on the Cross.
To His last breath, the Lord was saving those who indicated even the slightest
desire to be saved.
The third
phrase was: ‘Woman, behold your son’ (John 19: 26). Christ was speaking to His
Holy Mother, who was standing at the foot of the cross, also being crucified in
her heart. To Saint John the Apostle He said: ‘Behold, your mother’. This
demonstrates the concern which everyone owes to their parents. You see, He Who
gave people the commandment ‘Honour your father and mother’ (Ex. 20: 12), was
fulfilling it in His very last moments.
The fourth phrase was: ‘God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Matthew 27: 46). These
words show both the strength of human nature and the Lord’s foreknowledge. As a
man, He was suffering, but underneath human pain there’s a mystery. You see,
only these words would be able to dispel the heresy which was later to shake
the Church and which stated that the divine nature suffered on the cross. But
the eternal Son of God became incarnate as a man so that He could be a human
person in body and soul, so that, when the time came, He’d be able to suffer
for people and to die on their behalf. Because, if the divine nature of Christ
had suffered on the cross, this would mean that His divine nature would have
died. And that’s something we shouldn’t even contemplate. Ponder as deeply as
you can on these great and terrible words: ‘God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?’.
The fifth
phrase: ‘I’m thirsty’ (John 19: 28). His blood was flowing. This is why He was
thirsty. The sun was beginning to set and struck Him full in the face, so,
together with all the other torments, He was burning up. Naturally, He was
thirsty. But, Lord, were you really thirsty for water, or for love? Were you
thirsty as a human being or as God, or both? The Roman centurion gave you a
sponge soaked in vinegar. A drop of mercy such as you hadn’t experienced from
other people for the whole of the three hours on the cross. To some extent,
this Roman soldier relieved the sin of Pilate- the sin of the Roman empire-
towards Christ, even if it was with vinegar. This is why, Lord, you would
eradicate the Roman empire, but would found another.
The sixth
phrase is ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit’ (Luke 23: 46). He said
this to show that He came from the Father, not of His own volition, as the Jews
accused Him. But these words were also said so that they’d be heard by the Buddhists,
the Pythagorans, the apocryphers and all those other philosophers who babble on
about the transmigration of the souls of dead people into other people,
animals, plants, stars or metallic elements. Get rid of all these fantasies and
see where the soul of the dead Righteous One is headed: ‘Father, into your
hands I commend my spirit’.
The
seventh phrase is ‘It is finished’ (John 19: 30). This doesn’t mean that life is
ended. No! It means that His mission, which was concentrated on the salvation
of the human race, had ended. The divine task of our sole, true Messiah had
been completed and was sealed with His blood and earthly death. The torments
were over, but life was just beginning. The tragedy was finished, but not the
drama. Next to come was the majestic achievement: victory over death;
resurrection; glory.
By St.
Nicholas Velimirovich
Source: http://pemptousia.com/2017/10/the-seven-times-christ-spoke-on-the-cross/
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