Scripture records seven last statements, or the “Seven Last Words” of Jesus on that first Good Friday. It’s a good spiritual exercise to reflect on them on this Good Friday.
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
Jesus’ forgiveness of others was radical and to a degree never seen before. While hanging on the Cross and enduring the cruelty of others, Jesus spoke words of forgiveness. He forgave them in the midst of His persecution.
What’s more is that He even acknowledged that those crucifying Him were not fully responsible. They clearly didn’t know what they were doing. This humble acknowledgment of Jesus shows the depth of His tender mercy. It reveals He died not in anger or resentment, but in willing sacrifice.
It’s very hard to pray for someone who has hurt us, asking God to forgive them as well. But we have to follow Jesus’ example and leave judgment to God and offer mercy and forgiveness.
“I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)
What a consolation it must have been for the good thief to hear these words. He must have been experiencing a certain despair in life at that moment as he, along side of Jesus, was dying on a cross. What a gift it was to be there next to the Savior of the World, sharing in the sufferings of Christ in such a real way. And this man was privileged to be among the first to receive this gift of salvation won by Jesus on the Cross.
Jesus offers us the same assurance. He offers salvation to us beginning today. And He offers it to us in the midst of our own suffering and sin.
“Woman, behold your son.” (John 19:26-27)
What a gift! Here, dying on the Cross, Jesus entrusted His own mother to John. And in so doing, He entrusted her to each one of us. Our unity with Jesus makes us a member of His family and, thus, sons and daughters of His own mother. Our Blessed Mother accepts this responsibility with great joy. She embraces us and holds us close. She intercedes for us, if we only ask!
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:46)
Jesus wasn’t abandoned but He allowed Himself to feel and experience this complete loss of the Father in His human nature. He felt the deep experience of despair. He allowed Himself to know and experience the effects of sin. So He knows what we go through when we despair. He knows what it feels like. And He’s there with us in those temptations enabling us to press on through any despair toward total faith and trust in the Father.
“I thirst.” (John 19:28)
What a meaningful statement. He thirsted physically at that moment for water to quench His dehydration. But more than that, He thirsted spiritually for the salvation of all of our souls. Jesus’ spirit still longs for this gift of salvation. He longs to call us His children. It’s a deep and burning thirst for our love. We satiate Jesus’ thirst by returning that love.
“It is finished.” (John 19:30)
Jesus affirmed that His mission of the redemption of the whole world was accomplished. “It” refers to His perfect sacrifice of love offered for all of us. His death is the perfect sacrifice which takes away the sins of all. What a gift! And what a sacrifice Jesus endured for us!
As Catholics, we’re used to seeing this sacrifice on the Cross. We ponder this sacrifice every time we look at the crucifix. But it’s important to note that our over-familiarity with the Cross can tempt us to lose sight of the sacrifice. It’s easy for us to miss what Jesus actually did for us. He accomplished the act that saves us, and He is now offering it to us. He desires to say that His sacrifice has “finished” its work in our soul.
“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” (Luke 23:46)
These are the words we need to pray more than any. These are the words of complete surrender to God. Prayer is ultimately about one thing. It’s about surrender. It’s about trust.
Surrender means God is in control. It means that we let go of our own will and choose only God’s. And it means that God pledges to accept our surrender and guide us into the perfect plan He has in mind for us.
Understanding Jesus’ sacrificial love will enable us to love as He did. It will enable us to love those who have hurt us and those who persecute us. His love is total. It is generous beyond description.
The world and all those who live in it are enduring a tremendous cross right now. The COVID-19 virus spread globally, infected over a million and killed tens of thousands so far with no end yet in sight. It can certainly seem like everything we depended on has died. A lot of people are losing hope, if they haven’t lost it already.
We can find hope by recognizing that, as Paul says, we do not have a God who is unable to sympathize or understand our weaknesses and our suffering, but one who has also endured it. Our God, in Jesus, knows pain, betrayal, abandonment, torture, injustice, despair, and death. (Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9)
We can find hope knowing that when we are ‘nailed to the cross’, we’re not nailed there alone. We have someone with us, as close as our own breath, suffering with us, crying with us, and never leaving us.
We can find hope knowing that if we walk hand-in-hand with Jesus, then no matter the pain, no matter how deep the tomb, no matter how black the night, somehow, some way, God will bring resurrection on the other side. We can’t see it right now. It’s like looking at the black sky at midnight and trusting that dawn will come, the sun will rise, the sky will be blue, and a new day will arrive. There is absolutely no evidence of that at midnight. It’s only through experience of its reliability that allows us peace and trust.
Our experience of God is of the paschal mystery – life, death, and resurrection. We were never promised an easy life. We were never promised no pain, no sorrow, no uncertainty, no suffering, and no death. In fact, we were promised quite the opposite. God does not just take the cup away (Luke 22:42). Yet we were also promised faithfulness, and resurrection in this life and the next (Luke 23:43). We were promised the same reliability as the sunrise – a powerful, strengthening, life-giving presence that will never leave us in the dark but will lead us through the dark to new light (John 11: 25-26).
So as our global family faces our own version of Good Friday with this virus and all the destruction, decimation, and death it brings, we can trust that somehow, some way, our faithful God of life will find ways to bring resurrection out of it, both for individual people and for our world as a whole. It’s hard to see it when nailed up in excruciating pain, but the promise remains. And hope lives.
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