The Last Words of Christ
April 13, 2025
“Jesus answered them: ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.’” -John 12:23
We now begin our Holy Week observance. How ever fruitful we may personally feel our Lent has been, now is the acceptable time to fully enter into the mystery of Jesus’ redeeming death and resurrection.
I have been blessed this Lent by contemplating The Seven Last Words of Christ. We quite rightly give huge weight to someone’s last words. The last thoughts and ideas expressed by our loved ones are very precious and give us deep insight into the meaning of their existence. The final words of Jesus recorded in the Bible and set musically by Théodore Dubois were given breath and life by our music ministry (and friends) this Lent, under the direction of Jim Renfer. This beautiful concert stirred the soul with the wondrous love of our Savior who suffered and died for us. We meditated on these words on March 21 during our Friday Lent devotions. I also read a short book of meditations of the Last Words of Christ by Stanley Hauerwas entitled Cross Shattered Christ.
I would like to share with you some of the fruit of my contemplation of The Seven Last Words of Christ, not as if I have some especially insightful thoughts but as an encouragement to you to contemplate these words in your own way this Holy Week.
“Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) This prayer from Jesus to his Father is an expression of his constant prayer at the Father’s right hand. (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25) Since “by embracing in his human heart the Father’s love for us,” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 609) a Father whose love is mercy as expressed in his parable of the Prodigal Son and the Forgiving Father (Luke 15:11-32), all forgiveness of sins and reconciliation is made possible through the blood of Jesus’ Cross. (Colossians 1:20)
“I assure you, this day you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43) One of the criminals crucified with Jesus pleaded, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom!” We all wish to be remembered. For a great majority of us, memory of our lives will flicker out with our grandchildren or great-grandchildren. Does this make our lives meaningless? Absolutely not. For those alive in Christ Jesus, life has changed not ended. “To be in paradise is to be with Jesus, to be pulled into God’s life by the love made visible on the cross. Our salvation is no more or no less than being made part of Christ’s body.” (Hauerwas, p. 44) When someone dies in Eastern Christianity, it is common to pray, “May her (or his) memory be eternal.” If we unite our life and death with Jesus’, we will receive the gift of his eternal life. (Romans 6:8)
“Woman, there is your son . . . There is your mother.” (John 19:26-27) John’s Gospel reports that Mary stood, strong and silent, beneath the Cross of Jesus. All the men had run away except the disciple “whom he loved.” Mary’s faith led her to say “Let it be” to the angel’s offer to become the Mother of the Redeemer. Her faith gave birth to Christ in this world. Her faith caused her to stand at the foot of the heart- and body-rending Cross. She is our model of faith, just as Abraham was to the Chosen People. (Catechism, no. 144) Jesus now gives Mary to the disciple whom he loves (isn’t that each of us?) as our Mother, our model of faith and our caregiver. Deathbed gifts are the most precious gifts.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) Again, Jesus prays. This time, he prays Psalm 22, which improbably corresponds to his suffering of body and spirit on the Cross. I have visited nursing homes and memory care units many times. When all other mental functions have receded, it is often only the prayers learned in childhood that remain. Have you ever suffered so much that it is hard to address God as a loving Father? Read the horrors of Psalm 22 but notice the trust and hope in the Lord in the final verses. The Lord has never “hidden his face” from the “poor man who cried out” to God. (Psalm 22:25) God will never abandon us in our tribulations.
“I thirst.” (John 19:28) Biblical scholar Scott Hahn in his book The Fourth Cup makes a compelling argument that this request and the sour wine raised to Jesus’ parched lips constitutes the last ritual cup of wine (The Cup of Covenant—“I shall take you as my people, and I will be your God.”) to be consumed at the Passover Seder. Jesus has now established the New Covenant, the expanded People of God on the Cross. Jesus’ thirst was not only for some liquid to quench his bodily desire. He thirsts for our love, completely giving ourselves to God and neighbor, as the response to his total gift of himself in love for our sake on the Cross.
“It is finished.” (John 19:30) What is finished? Jesus’ earthly life? Yes, in that he truly died on the Cross. No, in that he will be raised, never to die again. Jesus’ mission? Yes, in the sense that he will not preach or heal as he did in his public ministry. No, because his mission is continued in us, the Church. His suffering? Yes, in so far as his body is about to wear out. No, because Christ is still suffering in his Body, especially the poor suffering injustice. We live in the time of already/not yet. The Kingdom of God is among us, but God is still bringing about the final consummation of all creation in justice, harmony, and love—in our hearts and in our world. We can taste the first fruits of this consummation in our Holy Communion with Jesus. (Galatians 2:20)
“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” (Luke 23:46) Jesus’ final words are a prayer to his Father. Every night in the Liturgy of the Hours, the Church makes this prayer our own, and we respond, “You have redeemed us, Lord God of truth.” What is Jesus’ spirit? More accurately, who is Jesus’ Spirit? The Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life. Sin and death will not have the last word. “The spirit gives life . . . the words I spoke to you are spirit and life.” (John 6:63) That Word and that Spirit have been poured into us through Baptism and Confirmation. (Romans 5:5) Jesus’ public ministry in the flesh is drawing to a close, but his ministry and mission continue through us in the power of the Holy Spirit.
I will be praying that each of you will have a blessed, transformative, and fruitful Holy Week.