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Sermons from Calvary

CHENNAI: Jesus delivered seven short sermons from the cross on Calvary which distil the essence of the longer discourse to be found in the Gospel according to St. Matthew. Jesus’s first words from the cross were about those who scoffed at Him as he hung helplessly and painfully in the heat of the sun. “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.” In other words forgiveness is the hallmark of a Christian.

The second statement was directed at the Repentant Sinner hanging on another cross beside him. “Verily I say unto thee, Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise.” A Christian will never exclude a sinner from the possibility of being integrated into the society of God if he or she truly repents. The third sentence was in the context of the society in which Jesus lived a bold statement. Jesus provided for the future of His mother by asking His beloved disciple John to take care of her. “Woman behold thy son.” He showed that the Christian’s core concern should be the welfare of others as illustrated in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The fourth sermon from the Cross was a human cry of despair when Jesus empathised with the feelings of the downtrodden and the oppressed: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Even Jesus was not exempt from this and it is the badge of a Christian to obediently accept suffering as a sign of God’s recognition of him or her. It is but a test. The final victory is ours.

The fifth utterance is a two-word sermon on the physical suffering that a follower of Christ must be prepared to suffer: “I thirst.” We must remember at this point that Jesus underwent the Crucifixion as a part of the redemptive plan of God.

The sixth utterance is a complement to the fourth and fifth sermons: God has accomplished His task of “at-one-ment” (atonement) with Man through the end of the sufferings of Jesus. The seventh and final utterance is a sermon on implicit obedience and surrender to the will of God: “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” The Seven Words on the Cross are a condensation of the Sermon on the Mount.

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