Preview of the Seven Last Words

Image from the movie "The Passion of the Christ"
via google.com

The Seven Last Words of the Lord Jesus Christ refer actually to the seven last sentences, not just words, that He uttered before He died upon the cross. These Words cannot be found in just one of the Gospels but were collected and harmonized from all of the four Gospels. Their succession is therefore ranked in accordance with their probable progression from the time the cross was raised until His last minutes upon it and not in accordance with what is actually recorded in any of the Gospels. Actually, in its English rendering, the last sentence which contains the real final words of the Lord are eight in number. 

Of these Seven, the first, second and the last [sixth in some listings] can be found in the Gospel written by St Luke, while the third, fifth and sixth [seventh in some listings] have been recorded by St John. The fourth word appears in both Gospels according to Sts Matthew and Mark, the only one to appear in at least two of the four Gospels. 

The Seven are traditionally considered to be words of Forgiveness, Salvation, Relationship, Abandonment, Distress, Triumph and Reunion.

These Seven are the following:

"Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing."

Luke 23:34

While still upon the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to His Father and asks the Father to forgive those who have done such terrible thing to Him. He did not ask the Father for vengeance. He did not even returned the insults by saying, "Just wait until I've risen again, ascended to heaven and then return to judge the living and the dead and you'll see what stupidity you have committed!" Instead He asks the Father for forgiveness. Through this we can truly understand that the Lord Jesus was not a mere man who just wanted to start a human revolution or some trouble in Israel. As the centurion realized, He was truly the Son of God. He knew He was doing and actually just did the Father's will and so He didn't have to keep a grudge for He know fully well the entire plan of the Father. And since His persecutors didn't know this divine plan, He asks the Father's forgiveness in their behalf. 

"I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in Paradise."

Luke 23:43

The Lord acknowledges the repentance of a sinner, the thief traditionally identified as Desmas, who was crucified together with Him and another one, traditionally identified as Hestas. While Hestas joined the crowd in insulting Him, Desmas asks the Lord that He remember him when He goes to His kingdom. The Lord then promises him being brought to Paradise, the only time that word was mentioned in the Gospels. Here we see the importance of repentance, even when done at the point of death already, as long as it is a sincere one. For most of us though, we do not have to wait for the moment of death before returning to God for it might be too late.

"Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother."

John 19: 26-27

The Lord Jesus did not forget about His loved ones. He entrusted His mother to the only Apostle who did not leave Him in His passion and death, John the son of Thunder, and in turn, John, also called the Beloved Apostle, was entrusted by Him to His mother. In the same manner, the Lord did not leave us orphans when He returned to the Father. He has entrusted us to the Holy Mother Church, and He also entrusts the Church to us.

"Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani?" 

in English, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34; [see Psalm 22:1]

God and sin cannot be harmonized. Jesus who was the Second Person of the Holy Trinity has to become sin in order for sin to be crucified upon the cross for the redemption of mankind. As sin, He felt the anguish of being separated from God, and He cried out loud to express such agony. Though in reality God does not forsake us, when we are under the power of sin, we feel the burden of being separated from God. Many people fail to understand this and try to seek for mundane healing but they could not find one for it is only God who can save us from such state.

"I thirst."

John 19:28 [see also Matthew 27:34; Mark 15:23; Psalm 69:21]

The Lord Jesus Christ longed not for mere water. He thirsted for love. He have been telling us that God loves us so much and in return, God wants us to love Him back. It is not because God is selfish but that because no one or nothing else could ever fill that space in the human heart which God so wisely designed so that we'd be led back to Him. Unfortunately, we look for other things to fill that empty space and most of the time still fail to understand even when we still feel empty in the end.

"It is finished."

John 19:30 [see John 10:18]

Everything comes to an end, even the sufferings of the Lord. That's the wonder  of it all. Sufferings on earth do not last long. One may die beacsue of it but still not everything is lost for there is the resurrection. The Lord accomplishes His mission. He has already completed His task. He has done the Father's will. We, too, as members of the Church are being sent to complete a mission: to go to the ends of the earth to make disciples and friends of the Lord. Until we fulfill this we cannot say, "It is finished!"

"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."

Luke 23:46 [see also Psalm 31:5]

After everything has been completed, the Son entrusts His spirit to the Father. But then again, He does not commit His spirit to the Father alone, for after the resurrection and the ascension, He sends the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. He also committed His spirit to the Church! And that commission included the authority of the Church, especially of the pillars as the Apostle Paul identifies them, the also known as the Twelve, the Apostles. As the Father at that point had the power over the Lord's spirit; the Church afterwards possessed the power in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.