Meditation On The Words Of Jesus in Matthew

---

Think of a cow chewing its cud. Bread is just too rich a symbol. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. I could practically rest my case here. But indulge me a bit longer… Scripture is so rich!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Email required Address never made public. Leave a comment Categories: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. He caused the light of His kind love and the rays of His holy truth to glow in His followers. Do not think that the new light within you is yours. It is a gift of your Lord.

Do not hide your divine gift fearing the opposition of men, for Christ has given you the constant privilege and hope to be lights in our pessimistic world. Do not be ashamed of being like a lit match for it can be seen from miles away, even in the darkest night. When Christians meet in fellowship sharing their faith they are like a city that is set on a hill shining as a group of glittering stars guiding straying vessels to the safety-port.

Christ is inviting you to be a light for those in darkness. He changes you into a witness of His virtues and enables you to proclaim His Name in your house, in your school and in your office. One young believer worked in a factory where people were ungodly. They tried to spoil him with their unclean words. Christ stands by me, protects me and dwells in me. He promised not to leave me, and where I am there He is also, therefore I will fear no evil.

A Meditation on “Bread” in Matthew’s Gospel | Casting Words to the Wind

The divine King of Kings orders you to pluck up courage and to radiate with the light shining in you. So do not hide yourself or keep yourself out of sight, but go on reassured as one sent by God to your neighbors and colleagues. Meet people and talk to them in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. What can people see in you all day long? Does Christ clearly shine in you? Christ is inviting you to live a pure life. Then people will honor God for His kindness and power in you and will believe by virtue of your conduct whether the Spirit of God dwells in you. As lights of the world, followers of Christ are shining — and they are being watched by all who know them.

Some observers admire them, commend them, rejoice in them and seek to imitate them. Others envy them, hate them, censure them and seek to destroy them.

THE SEVEN WORDS OF JESUS ON THE CROSS

All believers need therefore to walk circumspectly before men. They are examples of Gods gift to the world and should avoid all that is wrong, because they are constantly watched. Christ gave you a chance and the privilege to participate in glorifying His Father in heaven. In the Sermon on the Mount we read in this verse for the first time the great secret that the almighty God is our Father! The Holy is neither far from us nor fearful to us. You are allowed to be either a proof of the unity of the Holy Trinity or a reason for unbelief and reluctance of others.

THE FIRST WORD

According to your nature you are a sinner since childhood, but the Spirit changes you from a lost person in darkness into a son of light. Our light must shine — by good works. Our deeds can cause others to think well about Christ. We should do good works that benefit others, but not that we might be seen. We are told to pray in secret, and what lies between God and our souls, should be kept to ourselves. But whatever is open and obvious to the sight of men, we should seek to make conformable with our profession and praiseworthy Philippians 4: Yet, for what purpose should our light shine?

That those who see your good works may tend not to glorify you, but to glorify your Father , which is in heaven. The glory of God is the great aim we should keep in mind for all we do. We should not only endeavor to glorify God ourselves, but we are called to do all we can to bring others to glorify our Father in heaven.

Our good works could guide others to glorify God our Father. Let them see your kind behavior, that they may be convinced of the truth and excellence of the Christian religion and be provoked by a holy zeal to imitate your good works and glorify the holy God. Believers in some difficult countries are unable to express their faith openly before conservative fanatics, but their silent conduct is a living testimony to their Savior and Heavenly Father.

O Heavenly Father, You are the holy light. You have sent your beloved Son Jesus as a shining light into our world. We were in darkness, but the Spirit of Your Son furnished us with divine light. Please let Your light shine into our surroundings that many people will be freed from their sins and become pleasing lights too.

We glorify You for Your great salvation and seek Your guidance in the best use of the light that no one would become an unbeliever because of our acts, but recognize You in us. How can you be a light in the world? The Infallibility and Fulfillment of the Law of Moses. In the Law of Christ 5: I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. Do not preach nor teach the gospel with zeal unless you are certain that Christ had called you into this service, for He weighs not only your words, but your acts as well.

If you do not do what you talk and preach, you are a hypocrite and a deceiver. If you do not conduct yourself prudently, your testimony will be meaningless. Your acts are the measure of your words. Christ alone is the perfect teacher of the Law of Moses and of His own Gospel. He did not cancel any essential commandment of the Law but fulfilled them in explanation and teaching and lived them out in His perfect life. Christ protected the infallibility of the inspiration of the Old Testament by His clear declarations.

Who will then dare to claim that the scriptures of the Old Testament and the Prophets are corrupted after having been verified by the Son of God? Neither the least jot nor the smallest tittle of His divine inspiration has passed away or been changed. It is stupid to despise the Old Testament, its promises and commandments proclaimed to the patriarchs and chosen prophets, for God, from antiquity, spoke to men during their history and their particular situations.

The Word of God is neither a fantastic philosophy nor a common subject. The Holy One chose sinners and made a covenant with them, guided them by His Law and punished them in His anger. Those who attack and reject the Old Testament are poor indeed, for they reject the Word of God and consequently God Himself. Woe to the man, who is called by the Lord to preach the whole Word of God, but changes it a bit or denies its inspiration.

It would be better for that person to have a large millstone tied around his neck and be drowned. Everyone who changes, falsifies, or criticizes the Word of God wrongs not only himself but new believers as well. When Christ calls you to preach, announce His word with fear and wisdom that you might not be a reason for the hardening of yourself and others.

Christ invites us not only to the Old Testament, but also to Himself. In Him the Word of God became flesh. He was the Law moving among us, the incarnate love of His Father. So let us adhere not to lifeless letters but to the living Son of God. He has fulfilled the Law by His deeds on earth.

He is now perfecting it by His faithful intercession and will complete it in His second coming. Then, the necessity to Law ends, for the heavens and the earth will pass away; our Lord creates a new earth and a new heaven in which those born of the Holy Spirit will dwell in righteousness. With these words, Christ summarized the Mosaic Law and His own Law in one sentence, making Himself, the measure of our love.

Thus, He is our incarnate Law , for He lived out what he said. The Son of Man knows that no man can fulfill His law completely; therefore, He established through His atonement a comprehensive justification and granted His followers the power to fulfill His commandments. Accordingly, neither the Law of Moses nor any Christian Law can press on us any more since they have been fulfilled by Christ for us.

The Law of Moses was given to train us in repentance and to judge us spiritually, but Christ came to fulfill the law in our place. The Holy Spirit comes to us as law and also as the power to fulfill it at the same time. He pushes us to keep it through His remaining in us. The laws of men are full of imperfection, but God will stand by and maintain every jot and every tittle of His law. Some people claim that the books of the Old Testament had been corrupted. But in these verses we read the unique confirmation of the infallibility of the unchanged Torah, Psalms and Prophets by the Son of God.

Whatever critics may say is of no value compared to the authority of Jesus, who is truth in Himself. O Father, we thank You and glorify You, for Christ has fulfilled the law by His love and suffering; He is the incarnate law. Forgive us our many faults and sins. Teach us obedience and mercy in the power of Your Spirit, that we may follow Christ and live under the compulsion of His power according to the law of Spirit centered in our hearts. How can we keep the holy Law of God? Our Duties Towards Men. Forbidding Murder Aims at Reconciliation 5: And whoever says to his brother, Raca! Shall be in danger of the council.

But whoever says, you fool! Shall be in danger of hell fire. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Christ, by His authority, proved the Law of Moses. He put us in His shining light, uncovering the hidden intents of our hearts. He did not stress on legal interpretations of the constitution of the kingdom of God, and did not describe the principles of the creed of faith, but He made His divine love the true measure of our daily life.

Holy love is the fulfillment of the law and the fundamental piety of the kingdom of heaven. A killer deserves judgment and severe punishment in our world.

A Meditation on “Bread” in Matthew’s Gospel

Christ tells us that rash anger is like murder popping up from the heart, which breaks the sixth commandment. Anger is a natural passion and can sometimes be lawful and laudable, but it is sinful, when we are angry without an essential cause. He is a murderer in the reckoning of God, who knows our heart, out of which murder comes Matthew Speaking in abusive language to our brother is tongue-murder.

When God examines your heart, what will He find in it? When such language is given with mildness and for a good end, to convince others of their vanity and folly, it is not sinful. But when it proceeds from anger and malice within, it is the smoke of that fire which is kindled from hell and falls under the character of murder. Bitter words are as arrows that would suddenly wound Psalm How many times did you dishonor a man calling him an animal?

Be sure that in such a case you deserve the flame of hell for every word like this. God is love, and he who does not love like Him contradicts His law. All the intents that are not based on His love will fall down for they are woven with selfishness. Everyone who does not love is a killer in his heart, who shall receive the wages of a killer. Do not think that these words are philosophy and fantasies; they are an explanation of the divine constitution from the pious judge Himself. Did you recognize that you are a killer in the eyes of the Lord, and a heart of a killer is beating within you?

We ought to train ourselves in Christian love and carefully preserve peace with our brethren. If at any time a breach happens, we should labor for a reconciliation, by confessing our fault, humbling ourselves to our brothers, begging their forgiveness and making restitution, or offering satisfaction for wrong done in word or deed, as appropriate.

We should repent quickly for two reasons: Until we have faithfully tried to reconcile, we are utterly stressing our communion with God in holy ordinances. We will not be acceptable to God, if we remain in anger, envy, malice and spite and behave without love. These sins are displeasing God, since nothing pleases Him which comes from a heart wherein hatred and enmity remain dominant.

Prayers made in anger are offered mostly in vain Isaiah 1: Do you love your enemy? If you say yes, prove it. Go to him and be reconciled to him. Do not say superficially, there is nothing wrong between us. Go to him, knock at his door and visit him. If you were wrong, even one percent in the matter with him, humble yourself and beg his forgiveness. How can you pray to God when you live in bitter enmity with someone? Judgment will be more severe on believers with hatred in their hearts than on sinners who have never repented. Hypocrisy before God is filthier than the offense.

Woe to you if you praise God and hate your brother! Ask God to forgive your pride and lead you actually to a complete reconciliation. God is love, and if you are filled with His love, He will make you a merciful, tolerant and humble child of His. If you do not respond to this purpose of God, you will fall prey to a hateful spirit — a killer since the beginning.

Did you let God melt your stony heart? Go at once and be reconciled to your adversary as long as you both live. O Holy Lord, who am I? Deep in my heart I am a rejecting, hateful killer. Please forgive my malice. Purify my heart and make it clean with the blood of Your only Son who loved us to death though we were His enemies. We pray that you will renew our hearts with the power of Your Holy Spirit that we may be filled with love and determination to be reconciled to our adversaries in wisdom and live with them in peace.

Who is a killer according to the Law of Christ? Forbidding Adultery Signifies Seeking Purity 5: Christ is the divine legislator in the New Covenant. He confirmed the essential meanings of the old law and explained and developed them with the holiness of His love. He did not abrogate the previous commandments but fulfilled them by teaching and by His conduct.

He has the right and the wisdom to be the interpreter of it. This law against any uncleanness fitly follows upon the former. That one laid a restraint upon sinful acts, this one upon sinful intentions, both which ought always to be under the government of reason and conscience, and if indulged, are equally pernicious.

Christ loves sinners and invites them to salvation. Therefore, we should not despise any kind of sinner but rather love them. People usually point to a woman who conceived in sin or gave birth to an illegitimate son, condemning her evil deed, not knowing that they are more evil than her, for whoever looks at another person with the eye of lust is considered an adulterer before God. Men are full of lust, impure motives and unclean desires. We are all corrupt in our intents and dreams. There is no one who does what is right Psalm So beware of hypocrisy and do not claim that you are better than the rejected and despised adulterer.

Did you recognize that every man is a real sinner in his nature? We are in need of a spiritual doctor to cure and renew our deceiving hearts. If you cut off your offending hand, your tongue will remain, in spite of that, polluted with slander and evil words. None of the apostles carried out this command of Christ, but they received a new heart, cleanness of the Holy Spirit and divine purity.

Our flesh is impure and our soul is evil from our youth. But the blood of Christ is able to cleanse our conscience of every deadly act, and His Holy Spirit builds in us the new desire that overcomes your flaming lusts. If you fall into sin, do not stay in its mud. Get up and resort to your Lord. He is aware of your longing for purity, and He supports you in achieving victory over self. Abide in Christ, for He is the only way to a pure life. He is the true Savior, and your faithful Helper who does not condemn you but continuously loves you.

He waits for you! O Holy Lord, we appear unclean before Your purity and holiness. Please forgive us every unclean thought, bad word and wrong action. Create in us a clean heart through the indwelling of Your Holy Spirit. Forgive us our sins that we will follow Your guidance. Help us to avoid circumstances that lead us into immorality and adultery. Sanctify us completely that You may not separate us from Yourself. How are we freed from the temptations that lead us to uncleanness and adultery?

Some of their Old Testament regulations suggested that a man should not divorce his wife by word of mouth when he is in rage. He should do it deliberately by a legal instrument in writing, attested by witnesses. If he would dissolve the matrimonial bond, he may do it solemnly. Thus some of their laws tried to prevent rash and hasty divorces. In earlier times, writing was not common among the Jews, and that made divorce something rare.

But in the process of time it became common, and this direction of how to do it, when there was just cause for it, was understood as permission of it for any cause. The secret in the matrimonial bond is not the unity of the flesh alone but the respect and appreciation shown to each other. The Holy Spirit will sanctify the relationship between both partners if they continue in the word of the Gospel and in love. If one of them commits adultery, this could be the result of a previous spiritual separation between both, that they lost mutual confidence, respect, service and caring.

But if they live in godliness, His love will bless their love and keep them in harmony and sympathy. If Jesus is not the Lord of any marriage covenant, the practice of adultery will penetrate faster than we can imagine. Christ will be the sponsor in marriage, if the partners faithfully abide in Him, for He teaches us forgiveness, tolerance, patience and endurance.

Christ, to Him be the glory, did not open the door of breaking the matrimonial relation as other religions did. They claim that such a divorce would be the best solution for both partners to avoid quarrels and violence. Those poor people ignore the power of divine love and the reconciliation in the cross of Christ. Every divorce except in case of adultery is considered as adultery. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.

The matrimonial unity is established not only by the flesh but also by the soul. The woman remains related to her first husband even if she were married to another man. Woe to the partner who does not forgive and divorces thoughtlessly. He would be the greatest sinner. The Holy Spirit is able to cure our subconscious diseases and to purify us. Without the Spirit of Christ, we are not able to practice sound marriage or lasting purification, because this Spirit honors the Creator and does not deny natural principles.

Please forgive us our egotistic lust and bad deeds and plant in us the purity of Your Holy Spirit that we may be humble and forgive others as You have forgiven us. And help us to forgive the adulterer instead of condemning him. Who is an adulterer according to the Law of Christ? Forbidding Oaths Signifies Telling the Truth 5: For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. The world overflows from lying, deception and exaggeration. Every man flatters the other.

Students cheat in their exams. The germs of deception and cheating penetrate into the areas of commerce, politics and different aspects of social life. The greatest deception is that people swear by God for their devious lying, due to the sense of weakness in their statements. Hasty swearing often indicates hidden lying. Some people pretend that they are clever and that their ideas are undoubtedly right, but God alone knows every secret. He is the Omniscient One and aware of our intents and of the real reasons for our actions.

Our knowledge is not perfect but limited, and our judgments are not always sound. We have to admit that sometimes we do not know the truth. A proud person or a fanatic swears since he dreams that he is sure of himself; but a believer does not trust in himself but in his Savior, the Lord. The Holy Spirit teaches us to always tell the truth humbly and without exaggeration; and guides us to glorify and honor God. Here we find the initial difference between the liar and ourselves.

Jesus has freed us from serving persons of distinction and guides us to serve everyone in truth. Love without truth is lying. Similarly, truth without love can be like killing. Christ, alone, is able to save us from every lie and exaggeration. We should learn to honor Him with straight testimonies, that our tongue might become true and our conscience holy, for we are not the children of the father of lies, but of the Father of truth. We should not speak more then necessary, and when we have to speak, it should be short and clear and in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

O Heavenly Father, our tongues often tell lies. Please burn every exaggeration, every twisting and every lie out of them. Teach us humbleness that we may become true in Your Holy Spirit. Illuminate us that we may know the truth. Guide us to the truth and fill us in Your name, for You are the truth, that we may become true in our intents and thoughts and walk in truth, rightness and justice. Let the Spirit of Truth reign in our thoughts and words. How can we become true in speech, actions and behavior? Meekness Overcomes Revenge 5: But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.

This old legislation was a fixed principal to the judges of the Jewish nation until today. They had to inflict punishment in cases of maiming, for frighten everyone who planed to do mischief on the one hand, and for a restraint to such as have suffered mischief done to them on the other.

They should not insist on a greater punishment than is proper. It is intimated Numbers Christ, the essence of truth, has declared Himself as love, for He is the incarnate truth. Jews and Muslims cannot prevent anybody from taking revenge, for their laws command them to do so.

If they forgive freely, they have sinned. However, the New Testament considers any kind of revenge a sin , since Christ has carried the guilt and even suffered the punishment for every sinner. Therefore he was entitled to reveal the new law of love which supports us with the right to forgive and the power of meekness to give up our assumed rights willingly. The blood of Jesus has silenced the demands of the Old Testament law: No forgiveness without bloodshed! Jesus has freed us from this demand of this Mosaic Law.

The Holy Spirit forbids us from carrying out our supposed rights and personal aims with violence. He does not allow us to attain our desires using devious ways. God is love and He does not accept disobedience. His Spirit fights against the principles of vengeance. He is the divine stream of patience and toleration. Therefore, we wait for the providence of God and yield to His right guidance.

The meek one is the stronger if he submits himself to God, but the avenger is the weaker, for he allows hatred to rule his heart. He who renders evil for evil to anyone is as wicked as his adversary is, but he who meets iniquity with love is victorious over his selfishness. Wars and quarrels do not build any society. They destroy and poison it, but love, confidence, meekness, condescension and patience open to us the gate of hope. Christ makes clear to us that our exaggerated sensibility should be crushed, if we desire to enter the kingdom of heaven.

So, give up your rights and do not defend yourself too much. Commit yourselves unto the Lord, and He will take the responsibility for you. The Holy Spirit will overcome your boiling agitating soul. If anyone slaps you, the proper thought would be: I deserve to be slapped for the numerous sins that I have committed. Blessed be God our Father that my meek Savior bore more than my painful slaps on the cross for me. O Heavenly Father, You are the truth full of love. For your righteousness You should punish every sin and sinner; but You loved us and put all our sins upon Your beloved Son that He might suffer instead of us.

You delivered us from our punishment and forgave us our sins. Your Son paid and died for everyone. So we can also forgive our enemies since Christ took away their sins and their punishment as well. Please help us to forgive without exception that we may not harbor feelings of hatred against those who do evil to us.

How did Christ deliver us from the law of revenge and punishment? Christ also delivers us from materialism, for he lived among us — poor, meek and content. Today He changes us into His own image. This divine purpose was realized in the experience of a carpenter who was coming back to his house after meeting with his Christian brothers. He saw two thieves carrying logs out of his plant. The carpenter overcame himself. He helped them and added some other articles. He finally accompanied them to the car, which made them think he was also a thief willing to participate in their crime, but they soon blushed when he told them he was the owner of the plant.

He met their theft with meekness and love. One of them was so ashamed of himself that he repented and committed himself to Christ confessing his sins. Do not forget that Christ is willing to free your heart from your rights and possessions to loving sacrifice and silent service. The sum of this is that Christians must not be litigious. Small injuries must be overlooked. If the injury requires us to seek reparation, it must be for a good end and without thought of revenge. We must not invite injuries, yet we must meet them cheerfully in the way of duty and make the best of them.

The Holy Spirit leads us to give wisely and generously from our food and money so that we may not become greedy. Our Heavenly Father did not demand from us almsgiving, fasting and praying as a provision for our salvation, since He is the unlimited lover and the giver, free of charge. He blesses us and saves us together with all who accept his generous kindness. His purpose is that we, as well, become an overflowing stream of His grace, lend to the needy without interest, refuse the love of money in us and glorify His name in the life of sacrifice.

Let us be ready to lend, which is sometimes as great a piece of charity as giving, as it not only relieves the present emergency, but also obliges the borrower to providence, activity and honesty. Therefore, do not turn him away, he that would borrow from you something to live on, or something to trade on. Do not shun those that you know have such a request to make to you, nor contrive excuses to shake them off.

Be easy of access to him that would borrow: Please forgive us our disobedience and excessive sensitiveness and put to death our selfishness and hard hearts that we may become strong to sacrifice and humility, bear the sinners and draw their hearts to repentance by love, that they may also behave as children of Your Holy Spirit. Who are the self-released? Hatred of Enemies is Replaced with Love 5: Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

Do not even the tax collectors do so? The Old Testament did not mention any teaching that one must hate their enemy. However, the Pharisees and the scribes concluded from Leviticus Therefore, your faith in Christ is proved through your love for your enemy, not toleration of him. Love for the enemy is much higher than a mere human virtue. Without Christ, it is impossible for a normal man to practice. If somebody wants to love his enemy, he has to cast away his selfishness, think of the beloved and look after him actually. How rather if your Lord asked you to love your enemy? Had the spiritual fellowship between Christ and the believer not been firm, no one could ever carry out this commandment.

So thanks to our Savior, because His Spirit leads us to overcome our hate and helps us to love everybody. As long as you are angry with someone or some group of people, the Spirit of God can hardly overcome your wicked motives. This is the first step in realizing love for your enemy. Once there was a man who did wrong to a colleague and his family, which troubled their lives, but the Spirit of God urged the colleague to pray for the offender, so he asked his Lord to keep on blessing his adversary more than his own family.

Our Father in heaven wants to bless you by your adversary through the joyous prayers of your heart. If he is in distress, help him in a way that he does not notice your help so that he might not be embarrassed by you. Spend as much as you can to save him and his house, in body, soul and spirit, even if he does not accept you but carries on rejecting you, for God treats us, as humans, this way in spite of our disobedience. As much as men rejected the love and the sacrifice of Jesus mockingly, they might not accept your love and might not trust you, but meet your attempts to help them with insults.

They would raise a complaint against you to the authorities accusing you of deception and wickedness, because there is a strange spirit working in them. But you have become a child of the peace of God and you understand some of the motives in others. Ask your Heavenly Father to free them from their malice and shower them with love as God did you. He is the Almighty who can overcome and crush also the stony heart of your enemy. He has called us to guide us into the fullness of mercy.

His call to perfection leads us to brokenness so that we may confess our failures, especially in loving our enemy. But our Father in heaven gives us a deposit of His own perfection and forgives our sins completely through the blood of His Son. This purification is perfect since there is no purity greater than the forgiveness of the crucified. Finally, for your free justification, God pours His own Spirit with His complete love into the heart of the believer. Christ is not a theoretical philosopher who speaks of inapplicable ideals, but He is perfect in Himself.

He gives you in the indwelling of His Holy Spirit in your heart the evidence of perfection shown in your love for the enemy. The essence of love requires partnership, therefore God revealed Himself as the Father of Jesus. Likewise believers should love one another in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Do you meet with believers in the patience and amazing love of Jesus? How does the perfect love of God appear in your life? But we are often disobedient and stubborn sinners, and Your love raises us from the mud of our sins to Your level through our purification by the blood of Jesus, that we may be righteous and pure in perfection.

Your Holy Spirit is the divine power and the sign of Your perfection in us, the failures. Please enable us to really love our enemies and adversaries, that Your joy in us may be fulfilled. How can we be perfect, as our Father in heaven is perfect? These principles were written in the old Scriptures thousands of years ago and there was no need to bring them back or repeat them once again. Christ came to fulfill the Law of Moses. Both Gospels related that it was in the ninth hour, after 3 hours of darkness, that Jesus cried out this fourth word. The ninth hour was three o'clock in Judea.

After the fourth Word, Mark related with a horrible sense of finality, "And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last" Mark One is struck by the anguished tone of this expression in contrast to the first three words of Jesus. He feels separated from his Father. This cry is from the painful heart of the human Jesus who must feel deserted by His Father and the Holy Spirit, not to mention his earthly companions the disciples, who "all left him and fled" Matthew As if to emphasize his loneliness, Mark But is not this exactly what happens to all of us when we die?

We too are all alone at the time of death! Jesus completely lives the human experience as we do, and by doing so, frees us from the clutches of sin. His fourth Word is the opening line of Psalm 22, and thus his cry from the Cross recalls the cry of Israel, and of all innocent persons who suffer.

THE SECOND WORD

Psalm 22 of David makes a striking prophecy of the crucifixion of the Messiah at a time when crucifixion was not known to exist: There can not be a more dreadful moment in the history of man as this moment. Jesus who came to save us is crucified, and He realizes the horror of what is happening and what He now is enduring.

He is about to be engulfed in the raging sea of sin. Evil triumphs, as Jesus admits: But it is only for a moment. The burden of all the sins of humanity for a moment overwhelm the humanity of our Savior. But does this not have to happen? Does this not have to occur if Jesus is to save us? It is in defeat of his humanity that the Divine plan of His Father will be completed. It is by His death that we are redeemed. There is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as ransom for all" I Timothy 2: By his wounds you have been healed.

The fifth word of Jesus is His only human expression of His physical suffering.

Jesus is now in shock. The wounds inflicted upon him in the scourging, the crowning with thorns, losing blood on the three-hour walk through the city of Jerusalem on the Via Dolorosa to Golgotha, and the nailing upon the cross are now taking their toll. The Gospel of John first refers to thirst when Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life" John 4: This passage implies there is more than just physical thirst.

Jesus also thirsts in a spiritual sense. He thirsts for love. He thirsts for the love of his Father, who has left him unaided during this dreadful hour when He must fulfill his mission all alone. And he thirsts for the love and salvation of his people, the human race. Jesus practiced what he preached:. Greater love has no man than this, That he lay down his life for his friends. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished;" and he bowed his head and handed over the spirit.

The soldiers offered wine on a sprig of hyssop to the Lord. Hyssop is a small plant that was used to sprinkle the blood of the Passover Lamb on the doorposts of the Hebrews Exodus John's Gospel related that it was the Day of Preparation, the day before the actual Sabbath Passover, that Jesus was sentenced to death John continues in

• Travel France: Planning a Trip to France, Tips about the Best Things to Do in France And The Best Of Tourist Destinations In France
• The Making of Wigan
• Kellies Diary #2
• Max and Maxima: Stories of Maturity
• M.S. Natural Treatments