The First Saying of JESUS on the Cross : Understanding its implication for US

We bless God for making us to celebrate our Passover Celebration after we missed last year’s one due to Covid-19. It true that last year we celebrated the Passover online and in the comfort of our home but there is something that comes with being together. There is power in being in God’s house, so says Ancient King and Worshipper, David ‘I was glad when they said to me ‘Lets us go into the house of the Lord’” Psalm 122:1 and that was the case with us when the president announced that we will be allowed to have services. Albeit we have been allowed to meet but we still need to take heed of Covil-19 protocols.

Apostle Sello Rakometsi
(Gospel of the Kingdom Int'l)

God was kind enough to give me an opportunity to preach or teach on the first saying of Jesus. I was asked to share by Apostle Sello Rakometsi of the Gospel of the Kingdom Church Int’l and I gladly accepted. I was a bit scared, but I did it. That does not sound good, God helped me to do it, now this sounds good.

 Let us cut the long story short of how I got the chance to preach and how did my sharing go and get straight into it, please read the following scripture with me, I mean the very first ‘Saying of Jesus on the cross’:

“And Jesus prayed, Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do. And they divided His garments and distributed them by casting lots for them. [Ps. 22:18]” Luke 23:34

 

NOTEWORTHY POINTS ABOUT THE FIRST SAYING:

Jesus’ first utterance in the cross set the tone for His earthly mission. Our King, Lord and Saviour is saying “my ministry has been and shall continue to operate by grace. Hence, we are living in the dispensation of grace.

We know that Jesus is 100% Men & 100%. In this saying He makes realise that it takes God to do God what can do. In this case, Jesus wanted to deliver forgiveness and could not do it by Himself. Jesus asks for the strength from the Father through prayer.

One of the most amazing truths about our walk with Jesus is that He is always there to guide us. He was through what we are going through. He walks the talk. It is in the Gospel according to Matthew where He is saying ‘Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you’ Matthew 5:44. At the cross He kept His Word.

God is spirit and so we are. He did not respond to what was happening emotionally instead he responded spiritually. He LOVED them while they HATED Him. He BLESSES those who CURSED Him. He did GOOD while they were EVIL and HATED Him. He PRAYED for the people who PERSECUTED Him. This then says to us if Jesus did it, so we can. By the way we are made in His image, after His likeness (See Gen 1:26). We can do it.

Jesus stood by the WORD in spite and despite off and we are also encouraged to do so. The Ancient King and Great Philosopher says “If the spirit of the ruler rises against you, Do not leave your place:…” Eccl 10:4a. He never left His place. Not matter how trying and testing life may be, never leave you place. No matter how hard things may be and look like, never leave you place. God never says things for the sake of just saying them, when we do what He says victory is guaranteed. Daniel is one Bible character who exemplified that not leaving your place has great results. He never left his place in terms of prayer and God stood by Him and revealed Himself in the Lion’s Den (Daniel 6) and at the fiery of furnace when he was with his friends (see Daniel 3: 8 - 25).

Our elevation is just one step ahead of our situation. An ancient Advocate and Great Apostle said “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21 Jesus’ response at the cross was action out of goodness.

The Word further reads “…And they divided His garments and distributed them by casting lots for them. [Ps. 22:18]” There are people who love what God has but not God Himself. They love the BLESSING without loving the one who BLESSES. May God help us to love Him just because He is God as we seek His Kingdom all we need will be added, but these things must not be the reason we go to church. This is the most interesting fact; nothing comes to God as a surprise as you can see the quoted verse from the book of Psalms 22:18. What happened at cross what prophesied long in Psalms 22:18 before it happened, before even world was founded. We serve a great God, who does great things.

The key word for the 1^st Saying is the word FORGIVE. This is the theme of the first saying. To get a deeper meaning of it, let us explore it as an acronym:

FULL UNDERSTANDING – Jesus had a full understanding of what was happening, at stake and what his death meant. This made it easy for Him to pray that they be forgiven. This knowledge affected his reaction at the cross, they acted out limitation of knowledge He says “they do not know what they do” and what He knows made Him to forgive them.

OMNIPRESENT – Jesus has an amazing character of being able to look at the past, the present and the future at the same time. This then made Him to make a way for us to be saved before we even committed the sins. This is clear as we read “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 NKJV

RENEWAL – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV. This verse tells us the great work God is able to deliver when we give our lives to him. We get renewed – new beginnings!

GIVER – Giving is an attribute that must never be hard for the Kingdom of God Citizens / Believers because it is the essence of God’s Kingdom. Love makes one give, giving is even more powerful when you consider the value of what or who is given. Jesus gave His life for us, we know that He loves us (see John 3:16).

IMMORTAL – At the cross there were a lot exchanges that transpired but I love the one that guarantees us eternal life. Where we made not to fear death and understand that “whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (see Romans 14:8). “Truly I say to you, If a man keeps my word he will never see death.” John 8: 51

VICTOR – One of the shortest verse on the Bible / Kingdom of God Citizens Constitution reads “It is finished” John 19:30. At the cross Jesus attained victory, He was not a victim as some believe. He ended many things amongst them being death, sickness, sin…

 

EVERLASTING GOD – Our God is consistent. He ensures we never get to live a day without His mercies and this is true as we read “Through the Lord ’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23 NKJV

In a nutshell,

Walking with God makes it easy to forgive people because we see beyond what the naked eyes can see.

 You might say Jesus could forgive when He was persecuted because HE is God – but you must understand that you are made in His image, and His likeness. This means you are capacitated to do what Christ did.  Think about Stephan the Deacon we read about from the Acts of the Apostle who said “Lord, do not charge with this sin” Act 7:60 while he was being killed. This goes to prove that we do not forgive people by choice and if we look these two incidents we see that they were critical. They involved death yet someone of us fail to forgive others for minor things.

For all who wronged you, forgive them, they had no revelation.

Forgiveness is one of the core factors in the walk faith.

Christ’s main mission is save people made possible through forgiveness

As we celebrate the death and the resurrection of Jesus. May God gives the grace to fully understand the essence of the work at the cross. May we be complete. For some of us the huddle or the hold will be the on the very first saying and we will miss what God promises.

May God’s Grace and Light Shine on you, Today and Forever.

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Brother M.P Thabana