The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross

by Christopher Rengers

Few Christians can recall all Seven of Our Lord's Last Words on the Cross. Yet these Seven Words - brief sentences spoken by Him - give us Our Saviour's sacred parting instructions, messages intended not only for their few immediate hearers on the hill of Calvary, but spoken to all generations by way of Holy Scripture. Impr. 96 pgs, PB

Genres: Catholic

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Mary Rubega · Rating 5 out of 5]

For three hours as Jesus is dying on the cross, He speaks seven words/phrases. They summarize the entirety of the Christian message. The book beautifully details the messages for each phrase. Here are my very brief takeaways.

⦁ “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” No matter how "hurt" we are we should always forgive at seven times seventy. God's mercy is endless, ours should be too.
⦁ “Amen I say to thee this day you shalt be with me in paradise.” Throughout Jesus's passion and crucifixion bystanders were making fun of Him and tormenting him. There was no mercy. The "good thief" feels Jesus's sorrow and asks, "Lord remember me in your kingdom". He is the one who acknowledges Jesus as God. Anyone who is truly sorry for their sin even up to the last minute of death can be saved. Never give up on a friend or relative who has fallen. Pray, fast, talk with them even as they approach death.
⦁ “Woman behold thy son, behold they mother.” Mary suffered throughout Jesus's life: Giving birth in a stable, forced to flee to Egypt, the pain in her heart at the offering at the temple and the humiliating death of her Son. With these words Jesus is establishing Mary as our spiritual mother and us as her spiritual children. In each one of us Mary sees someone for whom Jesus died. Just as she stood by at the cross, she will never leave us and will help us if we are willing to accept our cross.
⦁ “My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me?” This demonstrates Jesus's pain, suffering and desolation. Although he is God, His human nature feels abandoned, as often we do. It has been shown that when we join our suffering, desolation or spiritual abandonment with His our burden is lessened and in the case of some saints even joyful.
⦁ “I thirst.” Because of the tremendous torture and loss of blood Jesus's physical body thirsts, but His spiritual message is that He thirsts for our souls and wants us to join Him in eternity. He underwent this torture and death so that we could. Our first priority in life is to save our soul, but we must also strive to save those of our family and all others. We should thirst for souls.
⦁ “It is finished.” The plan for the salvation of the human race is completed. All that is prophesied is fulfilled. Jesus knew God the Father’s plan for Him. What is God's will for me? We should continuously seek it and work to fulfill it.
⦁ “Into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Jesus places his trust entirely with God the Father. We too place our complete trust in God the Faterh and should continuously commit our spirit to Him each day.

[ShepherdsDelight · Rating 4 out of 5]

75/100 (= 4.0/6) ≈ 4 Stars

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In some ways very well done. In others, quite American (using baseball examples to shine light on Our Lord's words on the cross!!). A really nice Good Friday read, but not quite timeless.