WORDS FROM THE CROSS
It is finished!
Often the final words of a great saint are poignant and compelling. For example, one can scarcely not be moved by the words of Paul to his young protégé, For I am already on the point of being sacrificed; the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on the Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing (2 Timothy 4.6-8; cf. the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 30.11-20, or Joshua speaking to the twelve tribes in Joshua 23.6-16, or Paul speaking to the Ephesians in Acts 20.13-38). The words of Jesus to the disciples in the upper room have a similar ring to them (John 14-17). But the words from the cross are even more penetrating theologically and emotionally. They are summary statements of Jesus’ life and his great redemptive work.
The seven words from the cross are found in Luke 23 (3 words), John 19 (3 words), and Mark 15 (cp. Matt 27.46). The Synoptic Gospels approximate the crucifixion at midmorning (the third hour), while John notes the time at about midday (the sixth hour). One must be careful not to impose upon the first century the modern Western fixation with time. Indeed, such precision was not possible without a clock. However, John’s reasoning for fixing the death of Jesus near the noon hour may be theologically motivated as is evident from John 1.29, where he notes that Jesus was identified as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (cp. 1.36) and it was the custom to sacrifice the Passover lambs at noon.
While we consider the words of Jesus from the cross we may also want to remind ourselves of the testimony attached to the cross on the titulus (the sign above Jesus’ head). Written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek were the words: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews (Matthew 27.37; cp. John 19.20). Like the words of Caiaphas (John 11.50), they are an unwitting testimony to the person and work of Jesus the Messiah. While there is no absolute certainty as to the exact order of the utterances from the cross, I have listed them in their traditional order.
1. Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23.34).
People often act with great zeal, convinced that their actions are completely justified, no matter the results. Such was Paul’s conviction as he persecuted the early Christians. He testifies before Agrippa, I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem; I not only shut up many of the saints in prison, by authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them (Acts 26.9-10). When Jesus speaks these living words from a cross on which He was dying they are addressed broadly to the ignorant bystanders as well as the Roman guards and Jewish leaders. Of course, these are also the words of Stephen, the first Martyr of the Christian church (Acts 7.60).
Despite the precedent of Old Testament prayers for vengeance (e.g., 2 Chronicles 24:22; Ps 137:7–9; Jeremiah 15:15; 17:18; 18:23; 20:12), Jesus prays that God will forgive his persecutors. Those who were executed were supposed to say, “May my death atone for all my sins”; but Jesus confesses instead the sin of those who falsely convicted him, who under Old Testament law were liable for his penalty before God. (IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, Luke 23:33)
2. I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23.43).
That Jesus was the most important victim of the day is evidenced by His being centered between the two malefactors. It is possible that His cross was slightly elevated above the other two (Mark 15.30; John 3.14; 8.28; 12.32-34; [cf. Robert Stein, Jesus the Messiah, p. 247]). It was from this central position that the two criminals uttered their own accusations against Him (Mark 15.32). It is hard to imagine the extent of the abuse that Jesus endured. To the affliction he received from the Jews, we may add the abuse of these two strangers, who, though bound with Him in an earthly fellowship of death, railed against Him with their own dying breaths. Indeed, the words of Isaiah are graphically fulfilled in their insults: He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief… (53.3).
Yet, there are no other words from the cross that have given men more encouragement than these, I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. We do not know what precipitated the change of heart in one of the bandits, whether it was the demeanor of Christ, or his extraordinarily gracious words of forgiveness previously uttered. Whatever it was, it elicited from the criminal more than a mere acknowledgement of Jesus’ innocence, like that of Herod and Pilate; he acknowledged Jesus as the true King of the Jews when he said, Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus’ response to this declaration of faith has given hope to many through the ages: a confidence that salvation is by grace alone. No matter how heinous the crime, nor how late the hour, if one but turn to Christ and confess Him as Lord, he will be saved: if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved. … For, “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10.9-10, 13).
3. When Jesus saw his mother standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear Woman here is your son,” and to the disciple, "Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. (John 19.27)
Of all the sayings on the cross this one is the most theologically troublesome. If you are interested in working though some of the issues, I recommend D.A. Carson’s The Gospel According to John pp. 616-18 (cf. Stein, Jesus the Messiah, p. 250). I am constrained to believe that the simple meaning of the text renders the best interpretation. Namely, Jesus is speaking lovingly and caringly to His mother who, at the foot of the cross, is watching her son die an excruciating death. She is at the cross as a disciple as much as a mother. Mary, who earlier in the gospel had received a gentle rebuke from Jesus (John 2.4), now receives a tender consolation from her Lord and son. It is not possible categorically to answer the question as to why Jesus did not entrust Mary’s care to her own children (John 7.1-5).
4. Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? – which means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me (Matthew 27.46)?
Matthew and Mark, who both record this saying, place it immediately after the note, Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. There is little question that the “Evangelists saw this darkness as deeply symbolic. Darkness is often associated with divine judgment in the Bible (Joel 2:2, 10; 3:15; Amos 8:9; Zephaniah 1:15), and the Gospel writers wanted their readers to know that judgment was coming upon the nation” (Stein, Jesus the Messiah, p. 250). Jesus quotes from Psalm 22.1 in Aramaic, in which the word eloi (My God) might sound similar to the Greek Elias (Elijah), thus prompting some to say he is calling for Elijah. But such a direction sidelines us from the pathos of the words that express more clearly than any others what it cost Jesus to bring glory the Father and to give eternal life to all whom the Father had given to Him (John 17.1-5). Adolf Schlatter expresses the stress of the moment as well as any when he writes,
A tension with God-forsakenness would only result from the promise, “today you will be with me in Paradise,” if consciousness of guilt were revealed by it. Then, of course, the promise would be invalid which opened Paradise for others; the power of reconciliation would be invalid which was certain that his will was sufficient to institute the guilty one in the Father’s grace. Jesus, however, did not rebel against God in his prayer, and he did not throw away the confidence that God had led him to the cross and that he was obedient to the Father in dying. This, of course, was, according to his cry of lament, the most difficult and most devastating part of his suffering: that God surrendered him to death. Therefore he also had the assurance that he would grant the request as soon as it was directed toward him. (Adolph Schlatter, The History of the Christ, p. 373)
5. I am thirsty (John 19.28).
There are in these three words a portrait of Jesus’ humanity. But there is more. Jesus is very conscious, even as He approaches dead that He is fulfilling His Father’s sovereign purposes for redemption. So there is in these three words a glimpse of Jesus’ divinity. The physical torment of a scourging and crucifixion would parch the lips of anyone so that their tongue would stick to the roof of their mouth (Psalm 22.15). But John would have the reader understand that even in these final moments before His death, Jesus knows the Scripture’s requirement. Twice before John made reference to Psalm 69 (2.17; 15.25), it is no coincidence that he does so again.
Indeed, it has been suggested that the link to Psalm 69:21 may be even tighter, if we grant that Jesus knew he was fulfilling this Scripture, presumably he knew that by verbally confessing his thirst he would precipitate the soldiers’ effort to give him some wine vinegar. In that case, the fulfillment clause could be rendered. ‘Jesus, knowing that all things had been accomplished, in order to fulfill [the] Scripture [which says “They … gave me vinegar for my thirst”] said “I thirst”’. Either way, John wants to make his readers understand that every part of Jesus’ passion was not only in the Father’s plan of redemption but a consequence of the Son’s direct obedience to it. And either way, the hermeneutical assumption is that David and his experiences constitute a prophetic model, a ‘type’, of ‘great David’s greater son’. (Carson, pp. 619-620)
6. It is finished (John 19.30).
Jesus has not rebelled against suffering, to the contrary, He wants it, bears it, and completes it. “The poetic element in the image of the cross is unparalleled, since it portrays the one who suffered wholeheartedly. This would have been impossible, unless the disciples had been entirely reconciled with Jesus’ cross, and this in turn was only possible if they saw in it God’s grace and Christ’s love” (Schlatter, p. 374). The work had been completed. Jesus is the victor (1 Corinthians 15.55-57; cp. 1 John 5.3-5)! There is nothing to be added to grace; grace alone is sufficient for man’s salvation (Hebrews 9.14-15, 28-28).
7. Father into your hands I commit my spirit (Luke 23.46).
Jesus knows the words of the psalmist, For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help (Psalm 22.24). These final words are words of committal. They are not the words of defeat; to the contrary, they are the words of victory! I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself (John 5.25-26).
