THE SEVEN LAST WORDS FROM THE CROSS

Homily for Good Friday

Decades ago it was common on Good Friday to preach seven sermons based on Jesus= seven last words from the cross. I preached those sermons myself, over half a century ago. The AThree Hours= Agony,@ as it was often called, started at noon and ended at three, traditionally the hour of Jesus= death, with the church bell tolling 33 times, once for each year of Jesus= earthly life. Interspersed between each sermon or meditation was a hymn and a prayer, allowing worshipers who could not remain for the full three hours opportunities to come and go. 

Let me speak now, very briefly, about each of these seven last words.

1. AFather, forgive them, for they know not what they do.@

The fundamental law of our holy faith is forgiveness.  We are sinners B which means that we fall short of what God wants for us, and what, deep in our hearts, each of us wants for ourselves. Because we are sinners, we cannot stand before God, to receive his blessing in this life, and heaven in the next, on the basis of our good conduct record. We can receive those things only because of God=s forgiveness. This gift B and it is a gift, not a reward B is given, like all God=s gifts, under one strict condition: that what we freely receive, we freely share with others.

2. AToday you shall be with me in paradise@ B Jesus= word to one of the thieves crucified next to him.

Jesus is the Son and representative of a God who accepts even the smallest sign of repentance. AParadise@ here is not equivalent to full communion with God in heaven, the vision of God face to face. It is preparation for that communion and vision B what we call purgatory. Purgatory is not for the forgiveness of sin=s guilt; it is for the forgiveness of sins consequences. Forgiven sins still have consequences.  An example: the student who loafs and parties all semester and repents before the final exam is forgiven, immediately and totally. But the consequences of her sin remain: a failing grade on the exam, and bad study habits.These consequences must be repaired over time B which is why the theologians call them sin=s Atemporal punishment.@ Jesus= second word tells the penitent thief that his salvation is assured.

Even in the midst of his agony, Jesus remains concerned for others.  We see this in his third word:

3. AWoman, behold your son; son, behold your mother.@

The second half of this word is addressed to Athe disciple whom Jesus loved,@ as he is always called in the Fourth Gospel B deliberately left anonymous, many commentators believe, so that he can stand for all those whom Jesus loves, ourselves included. It is because of this third word from the cross that Catholics call Mary Aour blessed Mother.@ We do not pray to Mary B or to any of the saints B in the way we pray to God. We ask Mary and the other saints to pray for us.   If it is right to ask our earthly friends to pray for us, how much more fitting to ask the prayers of our heavenly friends.

4. AMy God, my God, why have you forsaken me.@  

Jesus= cry of desolation shows the depth of his suffering. When you suffer, physically or mentally, and think that no one can possibly understand what you are going through, you are wrong. There is One who always understands, and who is with you in every suffering. His name is Jesus Christ.

This word speaks of Jesus= mental suffering. He also suffered physically, as we see in the next word:

5. AI thirst.@

That thirst did not end on Calvary. Jesus continues to thirst for our love. Mother Teresa understood this, and ordered that this fifth word from the cross be inscribed above the crucifix in every chapel of her Missionaries of Charity, the world over. Tell Jesus in this hour, in your own words, or without words, that you want to quench his thirst with your love. You will receive from him more than you can ever give.

As his ordeal approaches its climax, Jesus speaks his sixth word:

6. AIt is finished.@

It is a cry not of defeat, but of victory. Jesus has accomplished the work he was sent into the world to do. Now he can go home, to the Father whom he has never really left. And it is to this loving Father that Jesus addresses his final word from the cross:

7. AFather, into your hands I commend my spirit.@

One day each of us will go home to our heavenly Father. How beautiful if we can do so with Jesus= words on our lips: AInto your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.@ Pray those words as you lie down to sleep each night. They will keep you close to the One who is waiting for you, and for me, at the end of life=s road; who has gone ahead to prepare a place for us in our Father=s house, where there will be no more pain, no more weariness, no more loneliness, no more frustration, no more injustice; where (as we read twice over the last book of the Bible) AGod will wipe away all tears from our eyes;@ where we shall experience ecstasy, for we shall see God face to face.