Jesus’ cries from the cross offer lasting hope to all who look to him. They were, and still are, famous last words!Death, not space, is the final frontier. It takes no prisoners. There is no reprieve for good behaviour. Money can’t buy a way out. Its shadow looms over all humanity. Shrouded in mystery, the thought of it leaves most of us overwhelmed with fear. If the short-sighted solution is not to think about it, is there anyone who has faced death, lived to tell the tale and can show us the way through?For centuries the words of one man have given lasting hope to all those facing the ultimate challenge that death poses. His name is Jesus. The Bible says that God sent him to set free all those who were overwhelmed by their fear of death. He claimed that anyone who put their trust in him, and in what he said, would never die. Over the centuries, since he made that promise, millions of people have taken him at his word.Were they right to do so? Can we? Especially as, bizarrely, not long after Jesus made that statement he himself died, crucified on a Roman cross! My conviction is yes.In the six hours it took for him to die, Jesus didn’t say much. Yet what he did say was profound. His seven ‘cries from the cross’ provide answers to humanity’s deep need for forgiveness, security and belonging. They fill the human heart with confidence, that when we close our eyes on this life God will take us home. To prove that he meant what he said, Jesus rose from the dead.
