Seven Last Words (Of Love)

Photo by Dylan McLeod on Unsplash

It is April 10, 2020. A significant portion of the Philippines is on Enhanced Community Quarantine. History is happening as we speak and we are living through a pandemic due to COVID 19.  Social Distancing has been strictly implemented and gatherings such as church masses and services have been discouraged.

It is April 10, 2020, and it is a Good Friday. If there was no quarantine, we'd be attending the 7 Last Words Service in church. But today, just like all church masses and services all over the world, we watched and streamed online.

(See full service here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=213564669904444)

I took notes of the service and felt led by the Holy Spirit to upload on the blog because not everyone has the bandwidth to stream live online.

Below are my notes from my dad's teaching on the Seven Last Words...

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Seven Last Words of LOVE

First, we start with a reminder. Everything that has happened, from His birth to His death, was all because of love. The motive was always LOVE.

"For God so loved the world, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONE AND ONLY SON, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but will have eternal life." - John 3:16

Before He came down to earth, Jesus knew nothing except love, comfort, and joy. He lived in perfection, in peace, in union with the Father, with the angels in Heaven.

On earth, it was His first time to experience pain and cruelty. We need to establish that while Jesus desired nothing else but to fulfill the will of the Father,  it was not easy. He went through it as a human being, suffering like a human being, feeling pain like a human being.

"He who knew no sin, became sin for us."- 2 Corinthians 5:21 

FIRST WORD (OF LOVE)

"Father forgive them for they do not know what they do." - Luke 23:34

He is on the cross. Below Him the Roman Centurions mock Him. Laugh at Him. Tore His robes.  A mob chose to set free a criminal instead of Him. The words "Crucify Him, crucify Him" were probably ringing in His ears.

But the first words that come out of His mouth while He was on the cross, nails pierced through both His palms and feet, were of forgiveness. FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING.

Tell me if those were not words motivated by love?

SECOND WORD (OF LOVE)

"Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."- Luke 23:43

At the cross, when mercy was asked, He gave it. What does this tell us? If you are willing to repent, it is never too late.

He was crucified with criminals. They deserved it. He didn't. And when one of them asked for mercy, up there, in their shared suffering, He gave it.

THIRD WORD (OF LOVE)

"Woman, behold your son. And to the disciple, behold your mother."- John 19:26-27

Isn't it love that still compelled Him to think of His mother even when under extreme pain? After all, Mary played a significant role in the fulfillment of the Salvation Plan. And here she was, until the end. For more than 30 years, she was His mother. She nursed Him, fed Him, taught Him things. And here she was, seeing the near completion of The Plan happening before her very eyes.

FOURTH WORD (OF LOVE)

"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"- Mark 15:34

This line ALWAYS confused me and somehow no explanation was truly satisfying until the one shared in the streaming earlier.

For the first time, this wonderful unity, harmony, and connection that the Son had with the Father was BROKEN. From the beginning of time, He and the Father was one, but at that moment that union had to be cut.

Jesus had to go through this because if He did not, then we had to do that. And if we did this, if we were the ones supposed to do this - a separation from the Father, then there was no coming back.

Losing the connection and emotional bond with the Father was something that He was willing to go through for us. He endured that because of us.

What great love is this?


FIFTH WORD (OF LOVE)

"I thirst."- John 19:28

It is a thirst for the will of the Father to be done. A thirst for the love and salvation of His people.

It was a thirst so great that He looked beyond His suffering, the insults, the pain.

SIXTH WORD (OF LOVE)

"It is finished."- John 19:30

Jesus never leaves things incomplete. This reminds me of the verse that goes "He who began a good work in you will be faithful to COMPLETE it."

Jesus completed it. The reason why He was born on this earth has come.

"I have done what my Father has asked me to do. It is now time for me to die."

SEVENTH WORD (OF LOVE)

"Father into Your hands, I commit my spirit." - Luke 23:46

He who showed us love understood the Father's love.  Despite the "feeling of separation" from the Father, He knew that the love of the Father never disappears, never changes, never expires.

In this painful moment, when He felt that He was forsaken, abandoned and left outside, He knew that His Father's love was there. So with His dying breath, He committed His spirit to the Father. He still chose to put His faith and trust in Him, He knew that His Father will never let Him down.

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Scriptures say, "From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." - Matthew 12:34

It is very clear to me now that Christ's seven last words were all uttered in LOVE. Jesus' words were full of love, grace, and compassion. Words of mercy and forgiveness.

Dad proceeds to end his message by saying - "Trust The One who is willing to die for you."

In this season of uncertainty and unrest, may we find time to be quiet and alone with God. To remember His greatest act of love and sacrifice - if He went through that for us, why would we think that He would leave us now?

Trust The One who is willing to die for you. 

"For God did not send His Son to the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." John 3:17