Seven Last Words of Jesus

Rev. Dean Snyder

The early church spent centuries trying to figure out who Jesus was.

There were those who said Jesus was the perfect person, the ideal human being. Jesus was the person that God intended us to be when God created humanity. He was the new Adam.

Others said Jesus was God who had taken on flesh and lived among us ... the word become flesh, God in the form of a servant. God appearing in a human shape.

The church debated this with various theories and arguments for 400 years.

Then an ecumenical council of Christian leaders that met for 26 days, Oct. 8 to Nov. 1, in the year 451 in the city of Chalcedon, a city today known as Istanbul, resolved the question.

After many debates and subcommittee meetings and accusations of heresy and on floor demonstrations, the Council of Chalcedon finally voted 357 to 13 that the being of Christ was of two natures, one human and one divine. They voted that Christ was of two natures, one human, one divine; "united with neither confusion nor division." Jesus was truly human and truly divine. Fully human and fully God.

And so Christianity has said ever since. Jesus: fully human and fully divine with neither confusion nor division.

Christianity has consistently taught that we see this most vividly on the cross. We see Jesus Christ’s humanity and divinity most starkly on the cross.

The four gospels tell the story of Jesus’ crucifixion each one somewhat differently. Three of the four gospels report statements that Jesus made from the cross. We call them the seven last words. Traditionally they have been used as a shorthand summary of Jesus’ experience on the cross.

The seven last words of Jesus—

From the Gospel of Luke: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.

Again from Luke: Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

From the Gospel of John: Woman, behold your son. Behold your mother.

From the Gospel of Matthew: My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

From John: I am thirsty.

From John: It is... finished.

From Luke: Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

Sometimes they have been summarized as Forgiveness, Salvation, Relationship, Abandonment, Distress, Reunion and Triumph.

In these seven words from the cross we see Jesus as truly and fully human, truly and fully God.

When you listen to the words, it is sometimes tempting to think of some words as representing Jesus’ humanity and other words as representing his divinity.

Like, say, he is being human when he says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He is being human when he says, “I thirst.” He is being human when he turns to his mother and his disciple John and says: “Woman, behold your son. Behold your mother.” He is being human when he says: “It is finished.”

On the other hand he is being divine when he says ‘Forgive them for they know not what they do.” When he says: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” When he says: “Father into your hands I commit my spirit.”

Some of what Jesus says from the cross seems so human, other things seem divine.

But no, the Council of Chalcedon says, Jesus is not sometimes human and other times divine.

No. Jesus is fully and truly human and fully and truly God with neither confusion nor division. Each of the words from the cross show us both fulfilled humanity and the heart of God.

Let me tell you what I make of Chalcedon.

Jesus was fully human like you and me. He experienced the same emotions that we experience. He thought with the same kind of mind that we think with. He felt the same kind of pain we feel. He knew the same kind of joy that we experience. He loved life the way we love life. He thought about death the same way we tend to think of it with a queasy feeling in our stomachs. Jesus was fully human.

But in Jesus’ humanity God became fully transparent … God’s heart, God’s intentions, God’s longings, God’s attitude toward us, God’s passions …. God’s secret identity became fully transparent in Jesus so that when we look at Jesus we can see into the heart of God.

Fully human. Fully divine.

So when we look at the seven last words we see not some words that represent Jesus’ humanity and some words that represent Jesus’ divinity. In each and every word we see both Jesus’ humanity and the heart of God.

It is not just Jesus the human being who experiences abandonment on the cross, it is God who experiences abandonment when we crucify, dehumanize, oppress, humiliate, torture, and execute another. It is not just Jesus the human being who experiences hopelessness and despair as a result of us letting people starve to death, die homeless in the streets, die strapped in an electric chair, die from the bullets of assault weapons we refuse to regulate. God’s heart also experiences abandonment and despair.

It is not just the human Jesus who thirsts. The heart of God thirsts for justice and inclusion. It is not just Jesus the human being who cares about Mother Mary. God cares about mothers whose children have died too young. It is not just Jesus who says it is finished. It is done. God proclaims a promised victory as well.

And it is not just God who forgives. When we are fully human like Jesus we will forgive too.

It is not just God who saves. When we are fully human like Jesus we will save one another too.

It is not just God who trusts. When we are fully human we trust too.

These seven words from the cross show us what it means to be fully human. They also show us the heart of God.

Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.

Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

Woman, behold your son. Behold your mother.

My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

I am thirsty.

It is... finished.

Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

In Jesus on the cross we see humanity as we might be. We see the heart of God as it is. With neither confusion nor division.