There are four special gifts that were conferred on the church during
Jesus crucifixion. These are recognized by the taunts of the
devil made to Jesus. The one we are most familiar with is, of
course, salvation. The taunt, “he saved others but he cannot save
himself.” indicates that the cross is the means of salvation for the
church. It calls to mind that by the shed blood of Jesus we are
saved. It is a gift of grace which we cannot earn or merit.
Jesus suffering and death is our gateway to eternal life in heaven and
by faith we receive it. If the taunt indicates a gift, then there
were three other taunts at Jesus crucifixion. Another taunt occurs when they put a veil over Jesus face and say to him, “Prophesy, who hit you?” This taunt indicates that through the beating of Jesus face the church can receive the gifts of the Spirit which are a consequence of the Spirit’s deliberation. Jesus allows the blows which as Isaiah tells us marred his face were endured to bestow the anointing and charismata for the equipping of the saints. The third taunt occurred when they put a crown of thorns on his head and a robe on his body and taunted him saying, “Hail King of the Jews.” This taunt suffered by Jesus bestowed upon the church kingship and authority. Through the cross we can pray and command healing. We can pray and command prosperity. We can pray and command deliverance. When we live the Christ life we see in the epistles that the church will receive crowns, the crown of life, the crown of glory, and the crown of righteousness. These crowns are a consequence of Jesus crown of thorns. The final taunt occurs when the soldiers say to Jesus, “Let us see if Elijah will come and save him?” This taunt ushers in the gift of evangelism that it is through the foolishness of preaching that people come into a relationship with God through Christ. God had given to the church the mandate to preach, teach, heal, and deliver and Jesus paid the price for the gift when he received vinegar and gave up the ghost. We receive all the blessings of God through the suffering of Christ and the exposition of his death as catalogued by the gospels shows us some of the blessings God gave through Christ’s suffering. Let us pray. Father, we praise and worship your holy name. We thank you for sending your Son to be a bloody sacrifice for our redemption, our power, our authority, and our purpose. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Only through him can we come to you Father. Thank you Jesus for all you have done for us. Amen |