The Seven Last Words

My history with organized religion is relatively uninteresting; there are a few things in which I have faith, and many things I do not believe or understand. I'm evolving. And although I do not adhere rigorously to any particular text or ritual or church or philosophy, today -- Good Friday -- I do like to take a little bit of time to contemplate the larger meanings of Life and Death. Or Death and Life, as it were.

I went looking for historical information on the last words of Jesus, since I had contradictory information in my head:  was it "it is finished," or "into Your hands I commend my spirit," or some other statement I'd heard during Easter celebrations of years past?  As with all descriptions of historical events, much depends on your source. Interestingly, I found the recitation of the seven last 'words' (statements, really) of Jesus Christ collected into a single document for reflection.  I present them for you in the order in which they appear in the timeline of the crucifixion, as reflected in the various gospels:

“Father, forgive them , for they know not what they do.” Luke 23: 34

“Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.” Luke 23: 43

“Woman, behold thy son.... Behold thy mother.” John 19: 26-27

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matt 27:46

“I thirst.” John 19:28

“It is finished.” John 19:30

“Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit. ” Luke 23:46

I thought about parsing each of them individually. Perhaps that is a good theme for a series of posts; I shall need time to contemplate them in turn. I will say that of the seven, I find that the most difficult one is the fourth.  It rolls so many emotions into a single cry:  doubt, fear, loneliness, despair.  This pain of abandonment is an anguish within every human soul that each of us, at one point or another, experiences.

Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani?

It rends the heart.  

Yet at the end He understood that He was not forsaken, for He delivered His spirit into God's hands. 

And so, on this Good Friday, my prayer is this:  that at the end (whenever and however our individual ends arrive), we will each understand that -- despite our fallibilities and our doubts, our mistakes and our fears -- we have never been forsaken, and we will be taken up by tender and loving hands.

Amen.