經文: 「我的上帝!我的上帝!為甚麼離棄我?| 我渴了。| 成了!」— [聖經·馬太福音 27章46b節,約翰福音 19章28b節、30節錄]
耶穌在十字架所說的話,不僅流露上帝對人類的愛,祂所做的犧牲,更帶出無比的效果:得勝各樣的仇敵,並將我們從罪惡綑綁中釋放出來。而且耶穌所擁有的心志與性情,也要成為信徒學習的榜樣,內化成為我們基督徒的心志與性情。
「我的上帝!我的上帝!為什麼離棄我?」那覆蓋在耶穌身上的黑暗是何等的大,連一絲光線都透不過,甚至祂無法喊出:「我的父啊!」,耶穌一向與天父合而為一,每天同心同行緊密地連結在一起,但現在耶穌背負著世人所有的罪孽在身上,以致天父只好掩面不看祂,不得不暫時離棄祂,造成耶穌無比的痛苦與折磨,所以祂在客西馬尼園汗如血滴般流下,流淚懇切禱告主:「倘若可行,求祢叫這杯離開我。」但祂最後還是順服上帝說:「然而不要照我的意思,只要照祢的意思。」(馬太福音 26章39b節),這是耶穌愛上帝、愛世人最高度至極的表現-順服天父,為世人捨命。我們信服上帝的人,也當效法耶穌的榜樣,向上帝說:「阿爸天父,願祢的旨意成就!」
「我渴了。」(約翰福音 19章28b節),天父上帝對世人罪惡的震怒,整個發洩在耶穌身上,耶穌的肉體在這個痛苦黑暗的時刻,飽受烈火的煎熬與摧殘,為著將自己獻上作為挽回祭,耶穌甘心樂意地忍受肉體的折磨,但還是不得不喊出:「我渴了」。
接著祂又說:「成了!」(約翰福音 19章30節錄),為了完成天父所交付給祂的使命,耶穌甘心樂意地把自己獻為贖罪祭,忍受心靈與肉體的折磨與痛苦,不求任何的回報,事後還說:「成了」;這就是耶穌的心。我們這些信靠耶穌的人,也當以耶穌的心為心,隨時準備好願為耶穌擺上:「遵行差我來者的旨意,作成祂的工。」(約翰福音 4章34b節錄)。
我們每一天對耶穌在十字架所做的工,越來越認識瞭解,也就會越來越有信心,如此我們的心也越來越歸向祂,並且甘心樂意將自己獻上當做活祭,來事奉上帝、服事人,藉此來回報祂對我們的愛。
—《 神 的 心 意 》
[每日靈修 6月16日]
作者:慕安德烈
編輯:榮華興
『 The Sacrifice of The Cross 』
Scripture: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”—”I thirst.”—”It is finished.” — [Matthew 27:46b, John 19:28b,30]
The three first words on the cross reveal love In its outflow to men. The next three reveal love in the tremendous sacrifice that it brought, to deliver us from our sins and give the victory over every foe. They will still reveal the very mind that was in Christ, and that is to be in us as the disposition of our whole life.
“My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” How deep must have been the darkness that overshadowed Him, when not one ray of light could pierce, and He could not say, “My Father”! It was this awful desertion, breaking in upon that life of childlike fellowship with the Father in which He had always walked, that caused Him the agony and the bloody sweat in Gethsemane. “O My Father, let this cup pass from me.” — but it might not be, and He bowed His head in submission: “Thy will be done.” It was His love to God and love to man, yielding Himself to the very uttermost. It is as we learn to believe and to worship that love, that we too shall learn to say: “Abba, Father, Thy will be done.”
“I thirst.” The body now gives expression to the terrible experience of what it passed through when the fire of God’s wrath against sin came upon Christ in the hour of His desertion. He had spoken of Dives crying: “I am tormented in this flame.” Christ utters His complaint of what He had suffered. Physicians tell us that, in crucifixion the whole body is in agony with a terrible fever and pain. Our Lord endured it all and cried: “I thirst”; soul and body was the sacrifice He brought the Father.
And then comes the great word: “It is finished.” All that there was to suffer and endure had been brought a willing sacrifice; He had finished the work the Father gave Him to do. His love held nothing back. He gave Himself an offering and a sacrifice. Such was the mind of Christ, and such must be the disposition of everyone who owes Himself and his life to that sacrifice. The mind that was in Christ must be in us ready to say: “I am come to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work.” And every day that our confidence grows fuller in Christ’s finished work, must see our heart more entirely yielding itself like Him, a whole burnt offering in the service of God and His love.
— God’s Best Secrets by Andrew Murray
「 16 June 」