Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Matthew 27:46 (also Mark 15:34)

The ninth hour has come.   After three hours on the cross, Jesus was nearing his time of death. Now, the hardest part of all overwhelms his soul.  The moment has come to offer his life so that we might live.  I have tried to relate to what Jesus was experiencing at that time.  My mind can not take it in.  The more I try to understand it the more I just stand in awe, believing!

Was this the moment when the sin of the world was laid on Jesus?  All sin!  I do believe so.

Jesus’ cry in the Hebrew tongue is so full of meaning that we can simply believe that his cry is superbly real.  For the first and only time in his life, Jesus feels the pangs of loneliness, of separation, of pain.   He hangs alone, the spotless lamb of God, bearing all the horrid sin of the entire world.  Covered with the load of sin, his Father had to divert his gaze and Jesus felt it to the depths of his soul.  Jesus who lived in his Father, is now, for a most dreadful hour, alone, absolutely alone.  What he is doing and experiencing no man knows!

All of us forgiven sinners, constantly in need of God’s grace, look back on that moment with awe beyond explanation.

Friend, we caused all that.  Jesus had no sin, but he became sin for us!  Try to figure that out!  That is grace beyond telling, love eternal.  Can it be that it is for me?

“Jesus said to his mother: ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple: ‘This is your mother.’”

John 19:26-27

Jesus’ Third Word on the Cross.

For many years I have been touched by the feelings Jesus had for his mother, Mary.   She was with him when, at the beginning of his public ministry, he turned water into wine in Cana in Galilee.  Again, mother and son are together, this time in the shadow of death.

There were three Mary’s there, and John.  In the throes of pain on the cross, Jesus considered, not himself, but his mother!  Joseph had long since died, it seems, so Mary had no male to look after her if Jesus is taken away.  The bond between Jesus and his mother were tight, very much so.

I find it humbling to realize that Jesus had on his shoulders the sins and needs of all people as he hung there on the cross of wood, yet he wanted to fulfill his filial responsibility, the care of his own mother.  So, in that sacred moment, Jesus gave John the responsibility to look after his mother. We dare not take filial responsibility for granted, it is a sacred trust.  As husband, father, grandfather and great, I feel encouraged by Jesus. The Lord who was destined, in a few short hours, to die for all mankind, felt the needs of his mother, and turned his attention to her.  It is both painful and sweet to witness that.  I must embrace that grace and live it.

As I look back on my own walk with the Lord I realize that he deliberately placed heavy burdens on my shoulders.  I learned, slowly, that HE placed the burden on my shoulder, and this assured me that he will be there to love through me!

I get carried away, at this time of year, because I want to recognize the appearance of Spring flowers that bless our garden, and us.  Here is a daffodil blossom this morning, the one most advanced.   By evening it may be open.   We’ll see.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

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 23:41-43

Jesus’ Second Word on the Cross

Now, hanging, nailed to the cross, with all the pain and pathos that goes with that, the two men crucified with him turned toward him – one hurled insults at Jesus who was not making any moves to defend himself much less help them.   The other dying man rebuked the man, We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.  Turning to Jesus, he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

This prompted Jesus to say, Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.  This is his second statement as he hung of the Roman Cross, being killed without any cause whatever.

I grasp these words of Jesus, “with me in paradise today.”  The horrid hill was the entrance to paradise, and the way is open today.

It was a sad day yesterday, giving our farewell to Rob Petersheim who died in his early 60’s of cancer after lengthy treatment. At the funeral at James Street Mennonite Church, Anna Ruth met her name sake, Anna Ruth Petersheim!  This beautiful picture, taken by Linford Good, is one of my favorites.  We have interacted with this family for many, many years, that is for sure.  What a blessing they have been to us and to many.  We will all miss Rob!

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.  When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.  Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”  And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.’’

Matthew 23:32-34

Jesus’ first words on the Cross. 

Jesus said very little in self-defense either before the Jewish leaders or the Romans during the early morning when they gathered to deal with him.  The Jewish leaders demanded his death!  The Romans went along with that and so treated Jesus as a common criminal but without a formal trial at all.  Two other men, both proven criminals, were convicted with Jesus and the three were led out of Jerusalem to be put to death, not by the Jews, who could not officially kill anyone, but by the Romans.

He did not resist arrest, nor did he try to prove them wrong in their accusations. Truly he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, not opening his mouth to defend himself.  And no one came forth to defend Jesus.  His disciples deserted him!  No man was ever more alone than Jesus.  The executioners led the three outside the city to a horrid place, called “The Skull.”  I shudder when I am reminded that is Jesus Christ, Co-Creator of the universe, Son of God Almighty.  Who can understand his pathos of soul?  No innocent man was ever treated like this.

When he was finally nailed to the cross his first words were not for himself but for those who were intent on killing him. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”  These were Roman soldiers who no doubt had no love for God at all.  They were just doing their nasty duty.  Jesus may have had in mind the Jewish leaders who insisted on his death.  Did they know that Jesus was the Promised Messiah?  Not a bit.  They saw Jesus as the enemy of God.  In any case, Jesus forgave his enemies, and He asked his Father in heaven to do so as well.

Is this same spirit in me?  Do I find satisfaction in condemning others?  Lord Jesus, give me the grace to bless, not condemn!

Our neighbor’s aconites greet the new year.  We feel the same!

As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross.

Matthew 27:32

Three of the Gospels record this event.  Cyrene was 900 miles away, in North Africa.  Simon was obviously a Jew.   He was probably there to participate in the Pentecost celebrations. That is about all we know.  He was not in the group of sorrowing women and John who loved Jesus who were leaving Jerusalem. He was coming into Jerusalem.  As far as we know, he had no relationship with Jesus.    When he awoke that morning he had no idea of the part he would play in the Crucifixion of Jesus.

I see in this story the story of us all who love Jesus.  We were going about our own business when for unknown reasons we were compelled to carry the Cross of Christ.  We had no idea what we were getting into.  As a sixteen-year-old lad, I also heard a voice, “Come, carry Jesus’ Cross.”  I am now 89, still amazed by it all.

How this affected Simon we are not told.  I would like to think that carrying the Cross like that changed his life.  As he got under the burden of the Cross, Jesus was at his side, beaten and weak.  For a while, Simon bore the Cross of Christ on his own shoulders!  It was not his Cross, but Jesus’.   That said, it became his Cross!

I like to think that Simon carried the Cross, with Jesus at his side, to the hill of crucifixion when the Romans took over and pursued their ugly task.  I can see Simon, standing there in a whirlwind of emotions.  Did he linger to see Jesus nailed to the Cross?  In my mind’s eye, I think he did.  He was linked with Jesus by the Cross they bore, together.

We are like Simon, amazed by it all, most amazed by the fact that we are involved!  We, like Simon, are linked with Jesus in his suffering.  The heavy cross that laid on Jesus laid on Simon that day.  So, shall it be forever!

This marvelous flower appeared in all its glory this morning, a spring crocus.  I imagined that the yellow outstretched arms are an invitation to all of us to praise God for life and all that means, especially spiritually.  Nature speaks of the wisdom of God.  May we hear his voice and rejoice like this happy crocus in our yard.

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said.  They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.  After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

Matthew 25:27 – 31

From Jewish hands to Roman hands, Jesus did not defend himself.  So, now before the highest Roman court, the Praetorium, the Romans stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said.

Image the scene, Jesus had no official standing among the Jewish nation.  He was just a troublemaker as far as they were concerned.  Jesus certainly did not come to overcome Rome.  Many he hoped he would at least try.  I suppose the ire of the Romans reached such a peak that they went way beyond reason – no trial, no sentence, no mercy!  They seemed to believe that Jesus wanted to rule the Jews.  They would have none of that.  So they dressed him and poured out their Roman fury on him, placed a crude thorn crown on his head, gave him a staff to hold, knelt before him mocking him, reminded all that they were torturing a person who dared to wish to be the king of the Jews.  The Jews at that time had no king.

They dressed Jesus something like a comic king and in jest bowed before him, mocking, “Hail, king of the Jews.”

When they had spent their rage on poor Jesus.  Having mocked him horribly, they redressed him in his usual dress.

On to the Cross!  It is difficult to even begin to imagine all that was happening.  We know that Jesus was winning for us our salvation at a cost to himself beyond telling.  Let us stand with him in that hour, as he stood and died for us.