EL SHADDAI DWXI-PPFI
Good Friday, April 2, 2010, AMVEL City
Bro. Mike Z. Velarde - Servant Leader - El Shaddai DWXI-PPFI (A Catholic Charismatic Community)
Gospel Reading For The Healing Message: Luke 23:26-49
The soldiers led Jesus away, and as they were going, they met a man from Cyrene named Simon who was coming into the city from the country. They seized him, put the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.
A large crowd of people followed him; among them were some women who were weeping and wailing for him. Jesus turned to them and said, "Women of Jerusalem! Don't cry for me, but for yourselves and your children. For the days are coming when people will say, 'How lucky are the women who never had children, who never bore babies, who never nursed them!' That will be the time when people will say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills, 'Hide us!' For if such things as these are done when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?"
Two other men, both of them criminals, were also led out to be put to death with Jesus. When they came to the place called "The Skull," they crucified Jesus there, and the two criminals, one on his right and the other on his left. Jesus said, "Forgive them, Father! They don't know what they are doing."
They divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice. The people stood there watching while the Jewish leaders made fun of him: "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah whom God has chosen!"
The soldiers also made fun of him: they came up to him and offered him cheap wine, and said, "Save yourself if you are the king of the Jews!"
Above him were written these words: "This is the King of the Jews."
One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!"
The other one, however, rebuked him, saying, "Don't you fear God? You received the same sentence he did. Ours, however, is only right, because we are getting what we deserve for what we did; but he has done no wrong." And he said to Jesus, "Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!" Jesus said to him, "I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me."
It was about twelve o'clock when the sun stopped shining and darkness covered the whole country until three o'clock; and the curtain hanging in the Temple was torn in two. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Father! In your hands I place my spirit!" He said this and died.
The army officer saw what had happened, and he praise God, saying, "Certainly he was a good man!"
When the people who had gathered there to watch the spectacle saw what happened, they all went back home, beating their breasts in sorrow. All those who knew Jesus personally, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance to watch.
The Healing Message: Why did Jesus spoke the seven last words?
The Seven Good Messages on the Cross
For the message about Christ's death on the cross is nonsense to those who are being lost; but for us who are being saved it is God's power.- 1 Corinthians 1:18
1) First message on the cross: Forgiveness.
Jesus said, "Forgive them, Father! They don't know what they are doing." - Luke 23:34
- Jesus spoke these words not because those people he was referring to doesn't really know what they are doing. Those people knew that what they are doing to Jesus is bad. They know the Law. They are experts on the scriptures so they know what is good and what is bad. What they really do not know are their respective roles in fulfilling what is written in the scriptures. They did not know that they are doing what they are doing to Jesus because it has been written. They are to fulfill what is written and that they do not know.
Why did Jesus spoke these words first? - It's because this is what we need first and foremost. Forgiveness. To know how to forgive.
2) Second message on the cross: If you ask for forgiveness, God will forgive you.
One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!"
The other one, however, rebuked him, saying, "Don't you fear God? You received the same sentence he did. Ours, however, is only right, because we are getting what we deserve for what we did; but he has done no wrong." And he said to Jesus, "Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!" Jesus said to him, "I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me."-Luke 23:39-43
- It will do a person no good if he challenges God. Be humble and ask for mercy and God will grant it to you.
3) Third message on the cross: Love and respect your parents.
Standing close to Jesus' cross were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there; so he said to his mother, "He is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "She is your mother." From that time the disciple took her to live in his home.-John 19:25-27
"Respect your father and mother" is the first commandment that has a promise added: "so that all may go well with you, and you may live a long time in the land."-Ephesians 6:2-3
- This is the reason why we Catholics love Mary so much. We are accused by others as having too much devotion for the Mother of Jesus. We cannot even compare to the love that Jesus has for his mother. He made sure that someone will take care of her when he leaves. He left Mary to his church through John the beloved. When we Catholics pray to Mary, she does not hear our prayers but because of our love and respect for her, Jesus hears and answers our prayers.
4) Fourth message on the cross: Obedience.
Jesus knew that by now everything had been completed; and in order to make the scripture come true, he said, "I am thirsty." A bowl was there, full of cheap wine; so a sponge was soaked in the wine, put on a stalk of hyssop, and lifted up to his lips.-John 19:28-29
- There is no other reason why Jesus said "I am thirsty" but to fulfill what is written. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets. I have not come to do away with them, but to make their teachings come true."
5) Fifth message on the cross: God will never abandon us.
At noon the whole country was covered with darkness, which lasted for three hours. At three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud shout, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why did you abandon me?"-Mark 15:33-34
-At the cross, Jesus represented two entities: The first one is himself as God without sin and the other one as the sinful people, us. Christ felt what the sinful felt. When we sin, we are pulled away from God's loving embrace and we feel as if God had abandoned us. God does not abandon us but it is us who abandons God when we sin.
6) Sixth message on the cross: Be a finisher.
Jesus drank the wine and said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.-John 19:30
-It is a message for us. We have to finish what we started. Just like Jesus who never gave up. He was sent to fulfill a prophecy and fulfill it he did. If you stay focused on God always, God will be with you all the time.
Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God's throne.-Hebrews 12:2
7) Seventh message on the cross: Life came from God, so to God it should be returned.
It was about twelve o'clock when the sun stopped shining and darkness covered the whole country until three o'clock; and the curtain hanging in the Temple was torn in two. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Father! In your hands I place my spirit!" He said this and died. The army officer saw what had happened, and he praised God, saying, "Certainly he was a good man!"-Luke 23:44-47
May you have a happy and prosperous life!
TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
Listen to Radio Station DWXI-1314 KHZ on AM Band, for more of God's word.
For pray-over and counselling:
Tel. No. (632) 8939341 (Philippines); (213) 3858667 (Los Angeles, CA, USA)
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