Seven Last Words of Jesus. The Seven Last Words. Christ spoke seven times from the pulpit of the cross he was crucified on. Collectively known as The Seven Last Words, these brief but profound sayings offer et. In this personal and poetic work, Crosby reflects on Jesus' last words from the cross. How often, dear Jesus, I feared lest having Thee, I must have naught beside. I forget that if I had the flame, I would forget the spark; if I had the sun of Thy love, I could forget the candle of a human heart; if I had the perfect round of Thy happiness, I could forget the broken arc of earth.
Oh, Jesus, my story is the sad story of a refusal to return heart for heart, love for love. Give me, above all human gifts, the sweet gift of sympathy for Thee. From all eternity God willed to make man to the image of His eternal Son.
After having painted the heavens with blue and the earth with green, God then made a garden, beautiful, as only God knows how to make a garden beautiful, and in it placed man made to conform to the image of His Divine Son.
In some mysterious way the revolt of Lucifer echoed to earth, and the image of God in man was blurred and ruined. In order that the portrait might once more be true to the Original, God willed to send to earth His Divine Son according to whose image man was made, that the earth might see once more the manner of man God wanted us to be.
In the accomplishment of this task, only Divine Omnipotence could use the elements of defeat as the elements of victory. In the divine economy of Redemption, the same three things which cooperated in our fall shared in our Redemption. For the disobedient man, Adam, there was the obedient man, Christ; for the proud woman, Eve, there was the humble virgin, Mary; for the tree of the garden, there was the tree of the Cross. The Redemption was now complete. The work which His Father had given Him to do was accomplished.
We were bought and paid for. Now the battle is over. Yes, His work is finished, but is ours? It belongs to God to use that word, but not to us. The work of acquiring divine life for man is finished, but not the distribution.
He has finished the foundation; we must build upon it. He has finished the ark. He stands at vhe door and knocks, but the latch is on the inside, and only we can open it. He has enacted the consecration, but the communion depends upon us; and whether our work will ever be finished depends entirely on how we relive His life and become other Christs, for His Good Friday and His passion avail us nothing unless we relive it in our own lives.
Dear Jesus, redemption is Thy work; atonement is mine, for atonement means at-one-ment with Thy life. Thy truth and Thy love. Thy work on the Cross is finished, but my work is to take you down. Thou hast been hanging there long enough! Through Thy Apostle, Paul, Thou hast told us that those who are Thine crucify their flesh and its concupiscences. My work, then, is not finished until I take Thy place upon the Cross, for unless there is a Good Friday in my life, there will never be an Easter Sunday; unless there is a garment of a fool, there will never be the white robes of wisdom; unless there is the crown of thorns, there will never be the glorified body; unless there is the battle, there will never be the victory; unless there is the thirst, there will hever be the Heavenly Refreshment unless there is the Cross, there will never be the empty tomb.
Teach me, Jesus, to finish this task, for it is fitting that the sons of men should suffer and enter into their glory.
When Adam had been driven from the Garden of Paradise, and the penalty of labor imposed upon him, he went out in quest of the bread he was to earn by the sweat of his brow. In the course of that chase, he stumbled upon the limp form of his son, Abel, picked him up, carried him upon his shoulders, and laid him on the lap of Eve. They spoke to him, but Abel did not answer — he was never so silent before.
They lifted his hand, but it fell back limp — it had never acted that way before. They looked into his eyes, cold, glassy, mysteriously elusive — they were never so irresponsive before. They wondered, and as they wondered, their wonder grew. Centuries whirled around into space, and the new Abel, Christ, is put to death by His jealous brethren of the race of Cain. The life that came out from the boundless deep now prepares to go back home again.
The sixth was a farewell to earth; the seventh His entrance into Heaven. Then He began spending Himself and being spent; dispensing with an infinite prodigality the divine riches of power and wisdom and bestowing with an heavenly liberality the divine gifts of pardon and mercy. In this last hour His whole substance is wasted among sinners, for He is giving the last drop of His precious blood for the redemption of the world.
There is nothing to feed upon except the husks of human sneers and the vinegar and gall of bitter human ingratitude. All the while Mary is standing at the foot of the Cross. In a short time the new Abel, slain by His brethren, will be taken down from the gibbet of salvation and laid in the lap of the new Eve. It will be the death of Death! But when the tragic moment comes it may seem to the tear-dimmed eyes of Mary that Bethlehem has come back.
Those eyes at Whose fading even the sun and moon were darkened were to her the eyes that glanced up from a crib of straw. The helpless feet riveted with nails once more seem to her the baby feet at which were cast gold, frankincense and myrrh.
The lips now parched and crimsoned with blood seem the ruddy lips that once at Bethlehem nourished themselves on the eucharist of her body. The hands that can hold nothing but a wound, seem once more the baby hands that were not quite long enough to touch the huge heads of the cattle.
The embrace at the foot of the Cross seems the embrace at the side of the crib. In that sad hour of death which always makes one think of birth, Mary may feel that Bethlehem is returning again. No, Mary! Song Without Words In C. More Than Words Violin Piano. Give Me Words To Speak. Wonderful Words Of Life. Fado Without Words Vii. The Words Of Life Rhythm. Songs Without Words Op 19 No 1. Wise Words For Families. Fado Without Words Iii.
Easter is the fulfilled prophecy of the Messiah who would be persecuted, die for our sins, and rise on the third day. Isaiah Remembering the resurrection of Jesus is a way to renew daily hope that we have victory over sin. According to the New Testament, Easter is three days after the death of Jesus on the cross.
Learn more about the History and Meaning of Easter. He is also the editor of Christian Theologies of Scripture.
You can find him on Facebook , Twitter , and at JustinHolcomb. Share this. The Seven Last Words of Jesus from the Cross Explained Let's take time on this Good Friday to study the words of Jesus on the cross - to understand the depth of his sacrifice, his humanity, and his purpose. Justin Holcomb 9 Mar. The Last Words of Jesus One of the ways Christians have traditionally meditated on Good Friday is by reading and reflecting on the seven last words of Jesus from the cross.
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