Seven sayings

• Lent,
• Holy Week, and
• Good Friday

Antonio Busca (1625-1684), Crucifixion (detail). Painting in the ceiling of the Pietà chapel, in the left hand transept of Saint Mark church in Milan (Italy). Picture by Giovanni Dall'Orto, April 14 2007. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons "Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Italy" Licence (larger image)

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34). Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43). Woman, behold your son: behold your mother (John 19:26). Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani?[1] ("My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?", Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34). I thirst (John 19:28). It is finished (John 19:30). Father, into your hands I commit my spirit (Luke 23:46).

• According to Mark and Matthew: Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani
• According to Luke
  • Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (in response to a mocking crowd)
  • Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise (in response to one of the two thieves crucified next to him)
  • Father, into your hands I commit my spirit (last words)
• According to John
  • Woman, behold your son: behold your mother (directed at Mary, the mother of Jesus, either as a self reference, or as a reference to the beloved disciple and an instruction to the disciple himself)
  • I thirst (just before a wetted sponge, mentioned by all the Canonical Gospels, is offered)
  • It is finished (last words)

Father forgive them, for they know not what they do

Then Jesus said, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do". This first saying of Jesus upon the cross was Jesus' prayer for forgiveness for those who were crucifying him: the Roman soldiers, and apparently for all others who were involved in his crucifixion. In this prayer, Jesus places no limit on his forgiveness. Thus it can be reasonably assumed that in this prayer he may have been asking for forgiveness not only for the Roman soldiers or Pharisees, but also for the temple authorities and even for Judas. Considering the likelihood that none of those who were involved in implementing Jesus' crucifixion would have fully known what they were really doing, it would seem probable that Jesus' prayer for forgiveness would have extended to each person involved.

In Matthew 5:44, Jesus exhorts his followers to love their enemies and to pray for those who persecute them. This verse appears to reflect Jesus' teaching of unqualified love and forgiveness for all, including those who might seem to oppose or even attack us.

Many early manuscripts omit Luke 23:34.

Today you will be with me in paradise

And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise". Jesus is crucified between two thieves. In Luke's Gospel, one of them supports Jesus' innocence and asks him to remember him when he comes into his kingdom. Jesus replies to him using his set formula for important sayings: "Truly, I say to you.." (ἀμήν λέγω σοί, amēn legō soi). Then follows the only use of the word "paradise" in the Gospels (παραδείσω, paradeisō, from the Persian pairidaeza). As this is the word used in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) for the garden of Eden, Jesus may have meant a return of humanity to the presence of God. However, it is traditionally meant to refer to the abode of the blessed dead. Perhaps, it can be read that the thief's own confession of guilt opens the way to forgiveness of sin.

Behold your son: behold your mother

Jesus saw his own mother, and the disciple standing near whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son". Then he said to the disciple, "Behold your mother". And from that hour, he took his mother into his family.

Jesus entrusts Mary, his mother, into the care of a disciple. Traditionally, this is thought to be John the Evangelist, but he is only referred to as the beloved disciple. The Catholic Church interprets this phrase beyond just the disciple, saying that Jesus was giving his mother to all of the church, and consequently all of the church to her. The Catholic Church also uses this saying as a proof that Mary did not have any other children, because if she did have other sons who could have taken care of her, Jesus would not have needed to give her over to his beloved disciple — indeed, had Mary had other sons, such a transfer would have been incredibly insulting to them in the context of 1st-century Jewish culture. Protestants and evangelicals reject both interpretations, usually saying that Jesus found it necessary to take this step only because Mary's other children were not yet believers in him as the Messiah.

Another view on this saying is that Jesus, on the verge of giving up his life, and having had given up everything else in his life, was now giving up his only last "possession," which was his mother. Thus, he would be dying in absolute poverty, without even the benefit of a mother.

Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani

Matthew 27:46

Mark 15:34

Of the seven sayings of Jesus from the cross, this one stands out. It is the only saying recorded in Matthew and Mark, and is the only one that appears in two, parallel accounts. Intriguingly, this saying is given in Aramaic with a translation (originally in Greek) after it (see also: Aramaic of Jesus). This phrase also appears on the opening line of Psalm 22

¹My God, my God, why have you forsaken me
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?

The Aramaic phrase could be either:

• אלי אלי למא שבקתני [ēlî ēlî lamâ švaqtanî]; or
• אלהי אלהי למא שבקתני [ēlâhî ēlâhî lamâ švaqtanî]

Many Christians believe that the quotation presents the psalm as a prophecy of Christ's suffering, of his message, and, as a whole, of his exaltation. Some theologians claim the Father seems to have deserted the Son but saves Him ultimately and with Him those who seek Him in all the nations. Thus, some Christians argue that by uttering this single question Jesus was in a way announcing the whole gospel at the moment of its decisive event (cf. Luke 4:21). This "gulf of separation" that occurs between God the Father and God the Son, in the death of the Son, has been described by the theologian Jürgen Moltmann as 'death in God'.

A. T. Robertson noted that the "so-called Gospel of Peter 1.5 preserves this saying in a Docetic (Cerinthian) form: 'My power, my power, thou hast forsaken me!'" However, this could still be a mistaken or alternate rendering from a semitic source, as אל ['ēl] in Aramaic and Hebrew can both translate as "god" or "power."

A limited number of people such as Rocco A. Errico and the late George M. Lamsa have asserted the rendering "My God, my God, for this [purpose] I was spared!" or "..for such a purpose have you kept me!" which has become popular in many niche circles, but the vast majority of Aramaic scholars view such a rendering as spurious and pseudoscientific.

I thirst

He said, "I thirst". This saying perhaps represents the total humanity of Jesus, and the thirst for God of those who are put far from him. As he is given sour wine to drink, soaked in a sponge on a hyssop stem, this may be a reference to Psalm 69:22, where sour wine is offered. It may allude to Jesus' statement about drinking the cup that the Father gives him (John 18:11). Arnold Murray speculated that the "sour wine" likely referred to a type of fermented tea called "komboucha", which at certain stages of fermentation tastes like sour wine, or vinegar.

It is finished

Jesus said, "It is finished". Jesus announces that his work, atonement, is completed. Sometimes the meaning 'the debt is written off' is read into this verse. Although this is often seen as a theological statement (that the debt of humanity to God is cancelled, that Jesus had finished his mission, and so on), the Greek (τετέλεσται) is best translated by a simple English word: "completed", or "finished", without added nuance.

Into your hands I commit my spirit

And speaking in a loud voice, Jesus said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit". This saying is based on Psalm 31:5. Because of this, it is unlikely that 'my spirit' refers to a disembodied soul, but simply to one's self: I put myself in your hands now.

Musical settings

• Sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz (SWV 478, 1645) by Heinrich Schütz

• The Seven Last Words of Christ (1787) by Joseph Haydn

• The Seven Last Words of Our Savior, an oratorio (1838) by Saverio Mercadante

• The Seven Last Words of Christ (on the Cross) (1859), by César Franck

• Les sept paroles du Christ (1867) by Théodore Dubois

• Sieben Worte for cello, bayan, and strings (1982) by Sofia Gubaidulina

• Seven Last Words from the Cross cantata for choir and strings, (1993) by James MacMillan

• Die sieben letzten Worte Jesu am Kreuz, for Organ (1996), by Ruth Zechlin

  (see also: Christian Music)

Notes