THE SEVEN LAST WORDS OF JESUS

1. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do”
 Jesus was fulfilling the prophecy that He would sacrifice Himself for the sins of
humanity including us and the generation yet unborn in order to be forgiven by the
Father. We may be sinners because of different temptations and wrong decisions which
also makes us enemies of the Father but He never turned cold-hearted and Jesus even
given up His life in behalf of us therefore we must do anything less than strive to “love
our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those
who spitefully use us and persecute us.

2. “You will be with Me in Paradise”

 Beside Jesus, there are two criminals who are hanged guilty and deserving of death.
Both have criticized and mocked him but later, when the other blasphemed Jesus again,
the other remarkably made a change of heart and more extraordinary, he expressed that
Jesus will rule over God’s coming kingdom. As the crowd started to insult, mock and
spit on Him, Jesus never replied. But when this remorseful criminal humbly sought
mercy, He instantly responded with compassion and assurance. This is God’s mind,
God’s love. God stands ready to respond to the repentant.

3. “Woman, behold your son!” 

 Mary had seen more than her share of sorrow in her life with Jesus. She stood by the
cross of Jesus and witnessed how painful seeing her grown Son hated by people and
forsaken by friends. While much of the story of His last hours highlights His relationship
with His Heavenly Father, He never forgot to express the honor He felt for His human
mother. Even how intense Jesus is suffering, yet He still is thinking of the needs of the
mother who had loved Him and making sure she’d be cared for by John. It is a great
thing to keep in mind that while our spiritual relationship with God is our most
important commitment in life, we must never ignore the responsibilities we carry in our
physical relationships. Loving other people even who or what they are and what they
may become.

4. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

 Being forsaken is a horrific experience. Jesus uttered these words but surely His Father
had not forsaken Him! Later statements show Jesus knew His Father didn’t, but did
momentarily leave Him helpless. Why? Jesus was taking on Himself all the sins of
humanity and God would not intervene to ease anything associated with the penalty of
sin. Sin causes suffering, and Christ bore its full weight, including the emotional trauma
of comprehending how sin distances us from God. It was only “a cry of distress, not of
distrust.” He anguished over being temporarily forsaken but He knew God would
answer.

5. “I thirst!”

 Jesus was given vinegar instead of water to quench His thirst. But this only demonstrates
His physical suffering and He therefore understands our hurting too. But thirsting in
 spiritual matter is more important. Especially for those thirsty for righteousness will be
filled with everlasting life. Remember, “He walked in our shoes, so walk in His”.

6. “It is finished!”

 Jesus had finished much. That day He saw at least 25 messianic prophecies fulfilled,
witnessing to the inspiration of God’s Word and that same day, the work committed to
Him by the Father since He was young was finished. He was only minutes away from
concluding His ultimate work in the flesh. Offering Himself as our greatest sacrifice, His
beaten body and shed blood paying for our sins. 

7. “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit”

 Jesus who freely gave Himself into the hands of His executioners was now committing
Himself into the hands of His Father. In life He had always submitted to His Father’s
will, and now in death it would be no different. The forsaken feeling He’d experienced
shortly before no longer remained. He knew God would answer His expectation, so,
gasping His last breath, Jesus uttered His last words, the words of complete faith.

FOURTEEN STATIONS OF THE CROSS

1. Jesus is condemned to death

 Jesus stands in the most human of places. He has already experienced extreme solidarity
with so many on this earth, by being beaten and tortured. Now He is wrongfully
condemned to punishment by death. His commitment to entering our lives completely
begins its final steps. He has said “yes” to God and placed his life in God’s hands.

2. Jesus carries His cross

 Jesus is made to carry the cross on which He will die. It represents the weight of all our
crosses. What He must have felt as He first took it upon His shoulders. With each step
He enters more deeply into our human experience. He walks in the path of human
misery and suffering, and experiences its crushing weight.

3. Jesus falls the first time

 The weight is unbearable. Jesus falls under it. He lays on the ground and knows the
experience of weakness beneath unfair burdens. He feels the powerlessness of
wondering if He will ever be able to continue. He is pulled up and made to continue.

4. Jesus meets his mother

 Jesus’ path takes Him to a powerful source of His strength to continue. All His life, His
mother had taught Him the meaning of the words, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord.”
Now they look into each other’s eyes. How heart-breaking to see Her beloved Son in too
much suffering and how painful for a Son to see His mother in tears. Now, Her grace-
 filled smile blesses His mission and stirs His heart to its depth. Love and trust in God
bind them together.

5. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry his cross

 Jesus even experiences our struggle to receive help. He is made to experience the
poverty of not being able to carry His burden alone. He enters into the experience of all
who must depend upon others to survive. He is deprived of the satisfaction of carrying
this burden on His own.

6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

 Jesus’ journey is at times ruthless. He has entered into the terrible experiences of
rejection and injustice. He has been whipped and beaten. His face shows the signs of His
solidarity with all who have ever suffered injustice and vile, abusive treatment. He
encounters a compassionate, loving disciple who wipes the vulgar spit and mocking
blood from His face. On her veil, she discovers the image of His face. It is His gift to her
and for us to behold forever.

7. Jesus falls the second time

 Even with help, Jesus stumbles and falls to the ground. In deep exhaustion He stares at
the earth beneath Him. “Remember, you are dust and to dust you will return.” He has
seen death before. Now He can feel the profound weakness of disability and disease and
aging itself, there on His knees, under the weight of His cross.

8. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem

 The women of Jerusalem, and their children, come out to comfort and thank Him. They
had seen His compassion and welcomed His words of healing and freedom. He had
broken all kinds of social and religious conventions to connect with them. Now they are
here to support Him. He feels their grief. He suffers, knowing He can’t remain to help
them more in this life. He knows the mystery of facing the separation of death.

9. Jesus falls a third time

 This last fall is devastating. Jesus can barely proceed to the end. Summoning all this
remaining strength supported by His inner trust in God, Jesus collapses under the weight
of the cross. His executioners look at him as a broken man, pathetic yet paying a price
He deserves. They help him up so He can make it up the hill of crucifixion.

10. Jesus’ clothes are taken away

 Part of the indignity is to be crucified naked. Jesus is completely stripped of any pride.
The wounds on His back are torn open again. He experiences the ultimate vulnerability
of the defenseless. No shield or security protects Him. As they stare at Him, His eyes
turn to heaven.

11. Jesus is nailed to the cross

12. Jesus dies on the cross

 Between two criminals, a mocking title above His head, with only Mary, John and Mary
Magdalene to support Him, Jesus surrenders His last breath: “Into Your hands I
commend My spirit.”

13. The body of Jesus is taken down from the cross

 What tender mourning! Jesus’ lifeless body lies in His mother’s arms. He has truly died.
A profound sacrifice has been completed.

14. Jesus is laid in the tomb

 They take the body of Jesus to its resting place. The huge stone over the tomb is the final
sign of the permanence of death. In this final act of surrender, who would have imagined
this tomb would soon be empty or that Jesus would show Himself alive to His disciples,
or that they would recognize Him in the breaking of bread? Oh, that our hearts might
burn within us, as we realize how He had to suffer and die so as to enter into His glory,
for us. This final journey of His life has shown the meaning of His gift of himself for
humanity. This tomb represents every tomb that stood before with fear, in defeat,
struggling to believe it could ever be empty.