Monday, February 05, 2007

The Seven Last Words

I've recently had the opportunity to think a bit more about what are referred to as the seven last words of Christ. As you may know, the seven last words are actually seven statements, and they are the last things that Christ said before dying. Below are those statements with some thoughts about what they mean.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34)

Forgiveness is one of the cornerstones of our faith. It is also one of the hardest parts of our faith to truly integrate into our lives. Christ had just been beaten and humiliated, scourged and whipped. He was then forced to carry the instrument of his death, the cross on which he was to be crucified, through crowds of people. Some in the crowds tortured him with their hateful words while some, like Simon and Veronica, stepped from the crowd to help him. He was then forces to climb with his cross to the top of this hill – a trash dump – where criminals were crucified and tortured. Jesus was then tortured and crucified. And in that moment – imagine the feelings you would have towards your tormentors – in that moment Jesus asked God to forgive them.

He asks us to forgive as well. It seems a part of the human condition to be bad at this. But he asks us to find the spirit and grace in us, the presence of God in us, to forgive others. If Christ can model this while hanging from a cross, stunned with pain, so should we be able to do the same.


My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46)

Christ was a person as much as he was God. He had doubts and fears like us. Here, Christ feels abandoned and alone. He questions God and, perhaps implicitly, his faith in God. We have doubts and raise questions about our faith all the time as we are confronted with the challenge of living our faith. Let Christ’s feelings of loneliness and abandonment be a reminder that we are never alone, even when we feel abandoned, and a reminder to continue to believe in the love of our Father even when, or especially when, we feel abandoned.

He said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" (John 19:26-27)

We do not know when Christ will return. But until that time, we are responsible for each other. We are called to act with love and respect to each other. We are called to a true community. As the disciple was called to behold Mary as his Mother, and Mary was called to see his disciple as her son, so we are all called to be family and to honor that family.


I thirst! (John 19:28)

God thirsts for us to search for Him and to find Him in the same way that we should thirst for Him. If you have ever been truly thirsty, there is an urgency to your efforts to quench that thirst. It is a matter of life or death. In the same way it is for our faith. It is easy to forget that God is present in our world and in our lives. But even more because of the extent to which He has been marginalized, we are called to look for him and to follow him as we would look for water and drink the water to quench our physical thirst.

Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise. (Luke 23:43)

A criminal who died next to Christ called out, hoping that God would Christ would remember him. We spend so much time in our lives trying to be memorable – so that a teacher or coach or girlfriend or boyfriend or parent or friend or sibling – will acknowledge us in some way. The only thing that matters, though, is that we are remembered by Christ for the life that we live. Being remembered by Christ is the ultimate gift or promise, the gift of salvation.

It is finished! (John 19:30)

We might say these words – it is finished – in a moment of despair when we have given up all hope. But we might also say these words as a celebration or a triumph – at the end of a test, after a successful game, at the end of some long personal trial. When Christ said these words, it was not in defeat, but in victory. He wasn’t announcing failure but was celebrating the victory of the cross. He had a purpose and fulfilled it. His death on the Cross won us salvation. It is our challenge to view our crosses, our challenges, as calls to rise above them, to emerge better for what we learn about ourselves in doing so.

Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. (Luke 23:46)

The final words of Christ ultimately convey the relief of returning to His father, but also the trust that Christ has in his Father, allowing Christ to place his life completely in God’s hands. We are called also to trust God in this way and to live our lives for Him. And when we die, we return to Him, our spirit going back to the source of our life.