Faith: A look at the Seven Last Words

Members of the Clovis Christian Ministerial Alliance celebrated Good Friday at First Christian Church by analyzing the seven sayings of Jesus on the cross, also known as the Seven Last Words.

Seven local pastors spoke for roughly five minutes each, reflecting on the importance of these sayings. The following are excerpts from their sermons.

The First Word — “Father forgive them, for they do no know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

Pastor Bill Case

Kingswood United Methodist Church

“I felt like since I’m the beginning, we should set the scene. Here’s Jesus hanging on a cross. He has been betrayed, he has been denied, he has been falsely accused, he’s been beaten, mocked, a crown of thrones put upon his head, a robe as a mock king put around his body ...”

“The first question I have with the first statement Jesus makes as he hangs there dying on the cross is who is them? Who is them? It’s easy to put them on somebody else ... Let us consider, was it the criminals that hung on either side? Surely they deserved God’s forgiveness, because they had done something wrong. What about the soldiers who mocked him, who beat him, who put the crown of thorns on him? ...What about the crowd who yelled out for his sacrifice, the mob that joined with everyone else and shouted “crucify him.”

“What about us? See we can say it’s for everybody else. We can assume his death and these words of forgiveness were caught in that moment of time with those people who were sitting there on that hill when he died, yet those words rang out for all of history, around all of the world to say ‘you are forgiven. Forgive them, all of us, for we do not know what we do.’”

The Second Word — “Today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

Pastor Wayne Boydstun

Parkland Baptist Church

“What I find interesting about this is Matthew tells us that just earlier, both of these men were hurling insults at Jesus and you have to ask a question, what is it that changed his mind? What is it that he saw or he heard that changed his mind about who Jesus was? The only thing I can come up with is when he heard Jesus say ‘Father forgive them,’ he knew there was something very different going on here.”

“When he and the other criminal were crying out in pain and cursing the Roman soldiers and screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs at every strike of the hammer, Jesus never said a word. He laid himself willingly on that cross, they weren’t there willingly. But something changes his mind in that moment, so much so that he looked at Jesus and said, ‘When you come in your kingdom, whatever that kingdom looks like, please remember me.’ Jesus turns to him and offers him hope.”

“Maybe we can relate to this man, maybe some of you that are here right now are antagonistic, you just don’t believe. You know what, that’s OK, but one day you will, and I’m praying for you that it’s today. Because just like this thief on the cross, we are not guaranteed tomorrow. What I find is I am mostly related to this guy by the name of Barabbas because just like Barabbas I deserved that cross, just like Barabbas I deserved to die for my sin, and just like Barabbas I was separated from God because of my sin, just like Barabbas Jesus took my place on that cross.”

The Third Word — “Jesus said to his mother, ‘Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple ‘Here is your mother.’” (John 19:26,2)

Pastor Heath Husted

Grady United Methodist Church

“Here’s a moment when (Jesus) stops and it’s a time to spend with his mom. What a special relationship we have with our mothers. It’s different from any other relationship on this Earth and Jesus had that as well. He took time because he knew that his mother was going to be grieving and there was no one else except for the one disciple who went to the cross.”

“There was an assignment at the cross. Have you ever thought of that? When you go to the cross and we lay our lives before Jesus on the cross and we ask for forgiveness and we are in a moment of repentance, we are looking for the forgiveness and grace of Jesus but are you looking for the next assignment he has for you? We do not look for that, because we’re selfish. We want the praise, we want the forgiveness, but we don’t want to go do, we just want to sit an sulk in our own sin because it feels good for us. But there’s work to be done, there’s a mission to be accomplished, there’s an assignment.”

“So when we come to the cross, we are forgiven and we’re full of grace, but you better be ready to go and do when you leave the cross, when you go beyond the cross. Because we know he will not forsake us, for Jesus will always be with us and the assignment that he gives us.”

The Fourth Word — “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying ‘eli, eli lama sabachtani?’ that is, ‘my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

Pastor Darrell Underwood

Servant’s Heart Chapel

“In Florida earlier last year I wrote about a 5-year-old girl and twin sister who were told by their parents they were all going to go in the family car and go some place fun. But instead of taking the children some place fun, their parents drove them to a children’s home and left this 5-year-old girl, taking her twin sister with them. She never saw them again. Can you imagine what that girl felt as her parents drove away without her. What a horrible thing it is to be abandoned ... To be abandoned by someone you care about must be one of the most painful experiences ever and Jesus experienced it.”

“Jesus has always trusted his father to take care of him despite of the difficulties he faced and because he didn’t give up, he claimed victory. And because Christ claimed victory, we have hope. You know I met that little girl last year, the one that was abandoned by her parents, she wasn’t abandoned by Jesus. Since that terrible day she has grown up into a beautiful, a happy and healthy girl who has given her heart to Christ and that’s because of what Jesus did. I don’t know what you’re going through right now, perhaps you’ve been abandoned and you don’t think you can trust anyone, but I’m here to tell you there’s someone you can trust, that someone’s Jesus Christ.”

The Fifth Word — “I am thirsty.” (John 19:28)

Pastor Dean Williamson

Clovis New Life Assembly of God

“Since hunger is one of the basic and strongest human drives, this was certainly a difficult test for our Lord Jesus. However, in order to relate to our human struggles and overcome temptation the same way we must, Jesus had to rely on the same power that’s available to any spirit-filled Christian. For this reason, he had to me made like them, fully human in every way. Jesus felt pain, he felt thirst, he felt hunger, he felt tiredness just like you and I feel today.”

“I was reminded of a story of an old hymn actually that says “tell of the cross where they nailed him, writhing in anguish and pain.” He felt the pain, he felt every blow as the nails were driven into his hands, he felt the thorn that was pushed upon his head. We celebrate this Easter, He lives. So that scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said ‘I am thirsty.’”

The Sixth Word — “It is finished.” (John 19:30)

Pastor Delmus Gillis

Bethlehem Baptist Church

“The word it is a pronoun that is used to represent something that is understood, something that has been previously mentioned or something that is in the immediate vicinity. It always points to something else and to fully understand what Jesus meant when he said, ‘it is finished,” we must define and identify what the it is.”

“It was his purpose, it was his ministry, it was his mission. He left no stone unturned, he left no prophecy unfulfilled, whatever the Father told him to do, that’s exactly what he did. From the time he was a child he went about his fathers business, the healings and the teachings, the miracles and the mercy ... It was finished, it was completed, it was accomplished despite the ridicule, despite the pain, despite the betrayal, despite the denial, through the tears and through the disappointment, the persecution, through it all, it was still finished. And we have the audacity to want to quit just because people talk about and just because people say things about us we want to give up, but Jesus said in spite of it all ... it’s still finished.”

“The question is tonight what is your it? What’s God called you to do? Who has God told you to serve? What is your purpose, what is your mission, what is your ministry? At the end of your life will you be able to say like Jesus said “it is finished” or will you lay there with “it would have been, could have been, should have been?”

The Seventh Word — “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit,” (Luke 23:46)

Pastor Robert Grimes

First Church of God in Christ

“We find ourselves trusting everybody but God. We trust our jobs, we trust our finances, we trust our bank accounts, we trust our mamma, our daddy, but when it comes down to it, do we really trust God? God tells you to go to the left, you go to the right. God tells you to sit up, you sit down. Do you really trust God?”

“Jesus said ‘forgive them,’ ‘today you’ll be with me,’ ‘mother your son, son your mom,’ ‘why have you forsaken me?’ He said ‘I’m thirsty,’ then he said, ‘I’m finished.’ All of these sayings were good, but it would mean nothing until he gave up to God.

“Get out of your flesh and tap into the spirit world and when you feel like all hope is gone, look at the Father and say, ‘Father I trust you with my life.’”

— Compiled by staff writer Jamie Cushman