I will never forget a course I had on the Atonement in seminary under James Tull. He made undeniably clear to me the New Testament emphasis on the cross and its centrality for the Christian faith. In a book, The Atoning Gospel, which Tull later wrote, he stresses the fact that no one can look at the cross with discerning eyes and believe that God makes light of sin. The cross reveals with poignant, stark, all-revealing illumination and unforgettable power what God thinks and feels of our sins.[4] Can anyone fully discern Jesus’ knowledge of his own impending death on a cross? Surely he did not have an advanced card describing exactly how the events of what came to be called the “Passion Week” would unfold. Whatever one says about the divinity of Jesus has to be understood in the light of his genuine humanity.
The words of our Lord on the cross have become very memorable. These words of Jesus have been designated as the seven last words. They are, of course, more than individual words. They are really sentences or fragments of sentences. One of these seven words is found in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. Three of them are found in the Gospel of Luke, and three are recorded in John. No one gospel contains all of them. But, to me, that is a way of authenticating the gospels. Each writer drew on what he remembered or considered most important in those moments or what he had heard from others who shared their experiences.
“The cross is the surest, truest and deepest window on the very heart and character of the living and loving God,” N. T. Wright declares. “The more we learn about the cross in all its historical and theological dimensions, the more we discover about the One in whose image we are made and hence about our own vocation to be the cross-bearing people.”[5] The last words of Jesus on the cross reveal something about the significance of that cross event but also about how Jesus faced the event and its deeper meaning. These last seven words of Jesus on the cross give us insight into Jesus’ inner thoughts in these moments of dying, a deeper understanding of his suffering, and they provide us with a sense of the relevancy of our Lord’s suffering to address our own needs. These words reveal his personal agony, his concern for others, his forgiving spirit, his physical suffering, his ultimate trust and faithfulness in the One he had proclaimed. Even in his moments of forsakenness he still resisted the temptation to turn away ultimately from God’s will or deny the One who led him to this shameful death as he identifies with sinners. A study of the last words of Jesus on the cross can open for us, in a small way, a perspective on how Jesus met his death, but this emphasis may also instill a renewed vision of the deeper meaning and significance of the cross event – the central motif of the Christian faith. I want to express a special word of appreciation to Linda McNally for her careful proofreading of my original manuscript.
[1] John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 20.
[2] Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God (New York: Harper & Row, 1974), 3.
[3] Fred B. Craddock, The Collected Sermons of Fred B. Craddock (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011), 240.
[4] James E. Tull, The Atoning Gospel (Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 1982), 59-60.
[5] N.T.Wright, The Challenge of Jesus (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 94-95.
CHAPTER 1
A Prayer of Forgiveness
LUKE 23:26-34
Quietness had settled over the room. The family moved closer to the bed of the dying father. They could tell that he was trying to say something, and one of the sons in the family leaned over his father. He put his ear to his father’s mouth and listened. He heard his father say with his last breath: “I love you.” Then his father was gone.
Many persons have tried to capture the last words of famous, distinguished individuals or loved ones. Persons in their last few moments before they died, if they have had enough consciousness to express themselves, have sometimes spoken of seeing light, a tunnel, the presence of a loved one who had died earlier, or angels. Some have acknowledged fear or a sense of peace. Yes, we have often wanted to know what the last words were which a person said before he or she died. In the Bible, there is a record of only a few individuals whose last words are recorded before they died. These four individuals are Jacob, Moses, Stephen, the first Christian martyr, and Jesus. Our attention here focuses on the last words of Jesus.
The Journey to the Crucifixion
Picture in your mind the background setting that led to Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus had just finished praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He walked out of the garden and was immediately arrested by the soldiers of the high priest. He went through several mock trials before Pilate, Herod, and the high priest. He suffered the awful scourging where his flesh was literally ripped from his naked back by the whip which contained pieces of bone or iron. In his weakened condition following this scourging, Jesus was forced to bear his cross to the Place of the Skull.
While he was en route to the place of crucifixion, the crowd of people taunted him along the way and he fell under the weight of the crossbeam. A stranger, Simon of Cyrene, was forced to bear his cross to the place of execution. Mark notes that Simon’s sons are Rufus and Alexander (Mark 15:21). These two men must have been known to the readers and likely had become outstanding Christians. Simon, who had met Jesus by chance on the way to his crucifixion obviously had had his life changed by that encounter. His sons were likely converted later and became such distinguished members of the early church that, when Mark writes about this experience and mentions their names, he thinks that his readers will recognize their names immediately.
Jesus finally arrived at the Place of the Skull, which stood outside the city walls. He was laid down on the crossbeam and crucified. While hanging on the cross for six hours, from nine in the morning until three o’clock in the afternoon, Jesus uttered what has come to be known as the seven last words. Let us look at each one of these words, sentences or word fragments, and see if we cannot gain some deeper insight into the cost of the suffering that Jesus endured and how you and I are affected by these words and this event. His first words, “Father, forgive them,” was directed to his enemies – those who were crucifying him or who caused this event.[1]
Jesus’ First Word Is a Prayer
First, what was Jesus doing? What is this first word? Notice that Jesus’ first word from the cross was a prayer. He prayed: “Father, forgive them.” In his moment of suffering he prayed.
A Life of Prayer
Prayer was a natural and instinctive thing for Jesus. His whole life had been saturated in prayer. He would arise early in the morning and pray. He prayed sometimes at noon, before meals, before he selected his disciples. Sometimes all