Christians today celebrate Good Friday, and throughout the World this day is observed to commemorate the suffering of the crucifixion of Jesus the Christ. The Friday before Easter is a solemn day, observed by many Christians as a day of fasting, prayers and religious services, also in preparation for Easter, the day when the resurrection of the Messiah is celebrated to signify New Life.
The “seven Words” represent the seven basic topics Messiah left behind through his teachings: Forgiveness, Salvation, Family Relationships, Discouragement, Distress, Triumph, and Reunification with GOD.
The sayings of Jesus on the cross (sometimes also called the Last Seven Words from the Cross) are seven expressions biblically attributed to Jesus during his crucifixion. Traditionally, the short sayings have been called “words” similarly to the Hebrew tradition of the Commandments of GOD, and are collected from the four canonical Gospels (among which three appear only in the Gospel of Luke and three only in the Gospel of John).
A person’s very last words said before their death generally have a very special meaning, and these seven sayings can therefore be interpreted as a way for the pillars of Christ’s doctrine to remain carved in time.
Since the sixteenth century they have been widely used in Good Friday sermons, and entire books have been written on the theological analysis of them. The Seven Last Words of the Cross are an integral part of the liturgy in the Anglican, Catholic, Protestant, and other Christian traditions.
According to the Gospels, Jesus Christ made seven final statements in His final hours on the cross. These are known as the “Seven Last Words.”
- Forgiveness: ”FATHER, forgive them, for they know not what they do” – (Remember to forgive)
- Salvation: “Today you will be with me in heaven” – (Trusting in the Salvation of the Righteous)
- Family relationships: “Woman, here is your son! Here is your mother” – (Remembering the importance of family)
- Discouragement: My GOD, my GOD, why have you forsaken me? – (Everyone can fall into discouragement)
- Humility: “I am thirsty” – (Being humble and knowing how to ask for help is part of the life of great men and women)”
- Triumph: “It is finished” – (after afflictions the Justs always triumphs)
- Reunification with GOD: “FATHER, into your hands I commend my Spirit” – (The reward of the Righteous)
| Sayings of Jesus on the cross | Matthew | Mark | Luke | John | Psalms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FATHER, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. |
23, 34 | ||||
| Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise. |
23, 43 | ||||
| Woman, here is your son. Here is your mother. |
19, 26–27 | ||||
| Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? or Eloï, Eloï, lema sabachthani? |
27, 46 | 15, 34 | 22, 1 | ||
| I am thirsty. | 19, 28 | ||||
| It is finished. | 19, 30 | ||||
| FATHER, into your hands I commit my Spirit. |
23, 46 | 31, 5 |
Various Interpretations
“My GOD, my GOD, why have you forsaken me?”
“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani.”
Ἠλί, Ἠλί, λιμὰ σαβαχθανί
This is the only saying that appears in more than one Gospel and is a quote from Psalm 22, 1 (but that is also found similarly in Psalm 42, 9) and these “last words” have turned out to become very important for the whole Christian doctrine, and so deserve special investigation.
Interpreted by some as a momentary abandonment of the Son by the FATHER, and by others instead seen as a moment when Jesus in order to take upon Himself the sins of humanity, his GOD’s Divine Nature departed from the Son as the FATHER had pure eyes and “cannot look upon evil” (Habakkuk 1, 13). Other theologians understand the cry as that of one who was truly human and who felt abandoned, put to death by his enemies, and also for most of his followers, and thus may have felt abandoned by GOD as well.
Another interpretation is that Jesus recited these words from the Psalm (or perhaps even the whole Psalm) “to show that he was the very one to whom those words refer, so that the scribes and the Jewish people might examine and see the cause why he would not come down from the cross; that is, because this very Psalm showed that it was appointed that he should suffer these things.”
Theologian Frank Stagg points out what he calls “a mystery of the incarnation of Jesus”: “…the one who died on Golgotha (Calvary) is one with the FATHER, who GOD was in Christ, and who at the same time cried out to the FATHER.”
In Aramaic, the phrase was/is rendered, “אלי אלמה שבקתני”.
While the Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church claims that: “the nails in the wrists put pressure on the great median nerve, and the severely damaged nerve causes excruciating pain,” the Lamb of GOD experiences the abandonment of the soul by GOD, a deeply excruciating pain that “is the essence of eternal condemnation to Hell.”
An important thought
In John 10, 30 Jesus states, “I and my FATHER are one”, this verse, according to some Christians therefore claims that GOD and Jesus are the same thing. On the other hand we also read in John 20, 17 “Jesus said unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended unto my FATHER: but go unto my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my FATHER and your FATHER, unto my GOD and your GOD.”
Here Jesus stated that there was a distinction between him and GOD, in other words that he himself had GOD “inside,” but this does not necessarily imply that “materially” he was the CREATOR. And this brings us back to the shout that Christ loudly uttered on the cross calling on his GOD, and here we may find a contradiction, but only if we interpret John’s verse in Ch. 10 very literally. But is it possible to consider that Jesus by stating that “I and my FATHER are one” was simply referring to the Spirit and not to the body? In the explanation of the Messiah clearly he wanted to emphasize his “closeness” to GOD as His Prophet and Messenger, but never in the Holy Scriptures does Jesus claim to be the FATHER come down to Earth. On the contrary, the humility of Jesus clarifies any doubt in the dress of:
And behold, one came and said unto him: “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him: “Why callest thou me good? There is none good but One, that is GOD: But if thou wilt enter into Life, keep the Commandments”. He saith unto him, “Which?” Jesus said: “Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honour thy father and thy mother: and, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”.
(Matthew 19, 16-19 – ASH’s translation)
This translation was made on the basis of the original Greek of the Bible of the Septuagint, but some translations interpret it differently.
In any case, in all the New Testament Scriptures it is very clear that Jesus had a GOD who prayed and had an authority superior to his own, but this is often not reported because it is considered blasphemy by some. Here at ASH, however, it is believed that the only ungodly and heretical thing to do is not to respect the thoughts of others and not to inform oneself about one’s own tradition and culture through study, meditation and prayer.
Jesus’ teachings will remain indelible in the Centuries and this regardless of all human interpretations of His Divine Message. May GOD guide everyone towards the Truth, to eliminate discord between peoples, to guide us towards a future more respectful and tolerant towards our neighbors, even if they think differently from us.
References
- Wilson, Ralph F. “The Seven Last Words of Christ from the Cross”.<http://www.jesuswalk.com/7-last-words/>
- The Seven Last Words From The Cross by Fleming Rutledge 2004 ISBN 0-8028-2786-1
- Richard Young (Feb 25, 2005). Echoes from Calvary: meditations on Franz Joseph Haydn’s The seven last words of Christ, Volume 1. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0742543843