THE SEVEN WORDS OF JESUS ON THE CROSS
As recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Holy Bible, Jesus Christ was mocked, scorned, and tortured in the praetorium; carried his cross up the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem to Calvary, nailed to the Cross, hung between two common criminals, and suffered an indescribable end.
One may meditate on the Passion of Christ by reflecting on his Seven Words on the Cross
or by a devotion known as the Way of the Cross.
When religious pilgrimages to the Holy Land ended with military occupation of Jerusalem in the Middle Ages, a popular devotion known as the Way of the Cross arose during Lent retracing the Passion, Crucifixion, and Death of Jesus. The fourteen stations of the Cross are (1) Pilate condemns Jesus to death; (2) Jesus takes up his Cross; (3) He falls the first time; (4) Jesus meets his sorrowful mother Mary; (5) Simon helps carry the cross; (6) Veronica cleans his face; (7) He falls the second time; (8) Jesus consoles the women of Jerusalem; (9) He falls the third time; (10) Jesus is stripped of his garments; (11) Jesus is nailed to the cross; (12) Jesus Christ dies on the cross; (13) He is taken down from the cross; (14) Christ is laid in the tomb.
Here are his Seven Words, the last seven expressions of Jesus Christ on the Cross recorded in Scripture.
THE FIRST WORD "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." Gospel of Luke 23:34
Does he react angrily? No, he asks his Father to forgive them, because they are ignorant! At the height of his physical suffering, his Divine love prevails and He asks His Father to forgive his enemies.
Right up to his final hours on earth, Jesus preaches forgiveness. He teaches forgiveness in the Lord's prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us" (Matthew 6:12). When asked by Peter, how many times should we forgive someone, Jesus answers seventy times seven (Matthew 18:21-22). At the Last Supper, Jesus explains his crucifixion to his Apostles when he tells them to drink of the cup: "Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:27-28). He forgives the paralytic at Capernaum (Mark 2:5), and the adulteress caught in the act and about to be stoned (John 8:1-11). And even following his Resurrection, his first act is to commission his disciples to forgive, the Scriptual foundation for the Sacrament of Confession: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if the retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20:22-23).
THE SECOND WORD "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." Gospel of Luke 23:43
The second word again is about forgiveness, this time directed to a sinner. Just as the first word, this Biblical expression again is found only in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus shows his Divinity by opening heaven for a repentant sinner - such generosity to a man that only asked to be remembered!
THE THIRD WORD
"Jesus said to his mother: "Woman, this is your son".
Then he said to the disciple: "This is your mother."Gospel of John 19:26-27
But again Jesus rises above the occasion, and his concerns are for the ones that love him. The good son that He is, Jesus is concerned about taking care of his mother. In fact, this passage offers proof that Jesus was the only child of Mary, because if he did have brothers or sisters, they would have provided for her. But Jesus looks to John to care for her.
St. Joseph is noticeably absent. The historic paintings, such as Tondo-doni by Michelangelo and The Holy Family by Raphael, suggest Joseph was a considerably older man. St. Joseph had probably died by the time of the crucifixion, or else he would have been the one to take care of Mary. Early Christian traditions and the second-century apocryphal Protoevangelium of James hold that Joseph was a widower, and his children by his former wife were the "brothers and sisters of Jesus."
Another striking phrase indicating Jesus was an only child is Mark 6:3, referring to Jesus: "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" Now if James, Joses and Judas and Simon were also natural sons of Mary, Jesus would not have been called the "son of Mary."
THE FOURTH WORD "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34
One is struck by the anguished tone of this expression compared to the first three words of Jesus. This cry is from the painful heart of the human Jesus who must feel deserted by His Father and the Holy Spirit, not to mention his earthly companions the Apostles. As if to emphasize his loneliness, Mark even has his loved ones "looking from afar," not close to him as in the Gospel of John. Jesus feels separated from his Father. He is now all alone, and he must face death by himself.
But is not this exactly what happens to all of us when we die? We too will be all alone at the time of death! Jesus completely lives the human experience as we do, and by doing so, frees us from the clutches of sin.
There can not be a more dreadful moment in the history of man as this moment. Jesus who came to save us is crucified, and He realizes the horror of what is happening and what He now is enduring. He is about to be engulfed in the raging sea of sin. Evil triumphs, as Jesus admits: "But this is your hour" (Luke 22:53). But it is only for a moment. The burden of all the sins of humanity for a moment overwhelm the humanity of our Jesus.
But does this not have to happen? Does this not have to occur if Jesus is to save us? It is in defeat of his humanity that the Divine plan of His Father and Himself will be completed! It is by His death that we are redeemed. "For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as ransom for all" (l Timothy 2:5-6).
THE FIFTH WORD "I thirst" Gospel of John 19:28
"He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness.
By his wounds you have been healed" (l Peter 2:24).
THE SIXTH WORD When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished";
and he bowed his head and handed over the spirit.Gospel of John 19:30
What was the darkest day of mankind became the brightest day for mankind.
Jesus remains in control to the end, and it is He who handed over his Spirit. One should not miss the double entendre here, for this may also be interpreted as His death brought forth the Holy Spirit. This becomes more evident in John 19:34: "But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water." The imagery of water recalls the Holy Spirit as "living water." This fulfills the prophecy in Zechariah 12:10: "They will look upon him whom they have pierced." The piercing of Jesus' side prefigures the sacraments of Eucharist (blood) and Baptism (water), and as well the beginning of the Church.
THE SEVENTH WORD Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit":Gospel of Luke 23:46
The innocent Lamb had been slain for our sins, so that we might be forgiven. "They are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith" (Romans 3:24-25).
Jesus fulfills His mission, and as He says so clearly in John's Gospel, He can now return: "I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father" (John 16:28).
Jesus practiced what He preached: "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).
Mary
The Bible
2 Sheen, Fulton J. The Seven Last Words - The Message from the Cross. Garden City Books, Garden City, New York, 1952.
3 Pope John Paul II. The Redeemer of Man - the encyclical Redemptor Hominis, Pauline Books and Media, Boston, March 4, 1979.
4 Ignace De La Potterie. The Hour of Jesus - The Passion and the Resurrection of Jesus. Alba House, Staten Island, New York, 1989.
5 St. Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica, Third Part, On the Passion of Christ. Translation by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province, 1920. Reprinted by Christian Classics of Allen, Texas, 1981.
6 St. Alphonsus Liguori. The Way of the Holy Cross. Mother of Our Savior Publishing, Pekin, Indiana, 2007.
7 O'Collins Gerald. Interpreting Jesus. Geoffrey Chapman, London, 1983.
8 Houselander, Caryll. The Way of the Cross. Liguori Publications, Liguori, Missouri, 2002.
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