Check out this powerful discussion on the last words of Jesus from the cross! In this study, Clint Loveall and Michael Gewecke dive deep into the profound significance of these words and their impact on our understanding of Jesus’ sacrifice. They explore themes of forgiveness, salvation, relationship, abandonment, and triumph.
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00:00:00:10 – 00:00:26:08
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody. Thanks for joining us. As we close out Holy Week and as we continue to move toward Easter with a look at various parts of the gospel today, we will be in all four of the gospels will kind of be jumping around, though we’ll spend a bulk of our time in Luke and in John as we look at what are sometimes called the seven words or last words of Jesus, really the seven last sayings.
00:00:26:13 – 00:01:03:25
Clint Loveall
But words has a nicer ring to it. And there are throughout our four Gospels seven things that Jesus is recorded as having said from the cross. And the there is an interesting I don’t know, it’s an interesting collection of sayings. Some of them are deeply profound. Some of them are practical. Each gospel writer kind of gives their own perspective on these words and what was said and how that fits into the general tenor of their story, their narration of that event.
00:01:03:30 – 00:01:23:07
Clint Loveall
And there are multiple ways to go through these. Some people have ordered them in what they think would have been the chronological order they happened. I think that’s very hard to do. It’s speculation. So I think a simpler way in the way that we will do this afternoon is just to go through them in order as they appear in the Bible.
00:01:23:07 – 00:01:52:18
Clint Loveall
And so the first word is from Matthew, it’s also from Mark. Both Matthew and Mark, do you print this? And so though it’s listed twice, it counts as one word and it is found in Matthew 27 and Mark 15. And it says about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying lower yellow sybok than Finney, which means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
00:01:52:22 – 00:02:19:37
Clint Loveall
Now, what is interesting about this is its importance to Matthew. This is the opening line of Psalm 22. And if you if you know some 22 or read some 22 and Jesus hearers would have likely known this Psalm, certainly Matthew knows the entirety of the psalm. It does begin with the sake of forsaking this and forlorn ness. But it ends on a moment of triumph.
00:02:19:37 – 00:02:54:56
Clint Loveall
Now, it to be a little careful of that, because obviously Matthew does want to express, as does Mark, that Jesus is feeling this. These are the true feelings, but it is, I think, important to both of them that it points beyond that as well. So no surprise, I think that for Matthew especially probably gets this from Mark. He is it appeals to him, Michael, that we have an Old Testament passage purposed for expressing Jesus experience in the moment of crucifixion.
00:02:55:01 – 00:03:21:32
Michael Gewecke
So Jesus as the suffering servant in this moment, in this time. And I think one of the things that we remember when we turn to Matthew’s account and Mark’s account is we see the extent to which Jesus has gone for the sake of those that he came to save. The reality is the story that we see told in the Old Testament, which leads up to that psalm that you reference, it begins all the way in Genesis.
00:03:21:32 – 00:03:48:41
Michael Gewecke
It begins with that idea of sinfulness, the idea of Adam and Eve wanting to claim for themself a privilege that was not theirs to have. And so here Jesus is obedient all the way to forsaken this, all the way to the end. He He sees and experiences in this moment the fate that all humanity had before him come to and that is deserving of every soul, both before and after.
00:03:48:41 – 00:04:11:02
Michael Gewecke
And so the reality when he experiences this forsaken this, you know, theologians will take this, they’ll look at this and say, you know, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And and they’ll talk about how can we believe that Jesus was forsaken if he’s one of the Trinity, if he’s father, son, spirit? How could God in that sense be forsaken by God?
00:04:11:02 – 00:04:30:29
Michael Gewecke
And yes, there’s a depth of mystery to that. But, Clint, the point I want to make in saying that is when when the gospel writers give us the account of Jesus’s life and then ultimately his death, they want it to be clear that Jesus was a real human who suffered real pain and in this moment used the word forsaken.
00:04:30:29 – 00:04:58:49
Michael Gewecke
This the idea of being separated from God, of being cut off, of being not pursued from that place of death, that ultimately Jesus succumbed to the reality of the pain of sin and death that has been owed by all humans. And Jesus himself experiences it. I think if you know Matthew and his interest in proving the prophecies of the Old Testament, you would know why Psalm is such a perfect quotation to begin that understanding.
00:04:58:49 – 00:05:31:57
Michael Gewecke
And if you know, Mark, you know that this is a dark, dark night that Jesus is experiencing the darkest part of the human experience, and that is in this phrasing for sacredness. So I think this is a very uncomfortable last word. I think if we’re going to be honest, if we really lean into what it might mean that Jesus is crying out to God, crying out for that sense of being claimed and known and cared for, protected, and he’s not going to find it, that that’s a gripping and emotional response.
00:05:31:57 – 00:05:35:52
Michael Gewecke
I think within ourselves because it’s such a human action.
00:05:36:03 – 00:06:09:21
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I think it’s a very profound way to start because for both Mark and Matthew, Jesus, it may be particularly for Matthew, Jesus quoting the psalm here, Jesus reaching for words and landing on a a psalm of deliverance for his people, that Jesus borrows the words of his ancestors to locate his experience, and that it begins with this deep moment of forsaking this.
00:06:09:21 – 00:06:40:19
Clint Loveall
These are the opening words of the Psalm Why have you forsaken me? And though the song does end on a higher note, it is that journey of feeling lost, of suffering, of being ridiculed, of being persecuted, of being oppressed, and and even, you know, made fun of or belittled. And that Jesus takes on that experience framed by these words, I think is is really important to Matthew.
00:06:40:19 – 00:07:02:29
Clint Loveall
And if you understand Matthew’s Jewish context, I think this is a profound, profound statement and a profound thing that Jesus does from the cross that moves us to Luke and if you’ve been with us through the study, we’ll go through this fairly quickly because we’ve just recently covered them. And so you could find them in a previous video from just a week or two ago.
00:07:02:29 – 00:07:21:43
Clint Loveall
But Father, forgive them, they do not know what they’re doing. That’s early in the Luke story as they begin to put Jesus on the cross. This is one of the signature statements. I think if you were to ask people about things Jesus said on the cross, Michael, this is probably one they come up with. Father forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.
00:07:21:43 – 00:07:44:02
Clint Loveall
A a declaration of forgiveness, a plea for forgiveness on behalf of the ones who are doing that to him. The second one is, I tell you the truth, today you’ll be with me in paradise. What you said to one of the thieves who who professes some level of faith in Jesus. Remember me when you come into your kingdom, the other thief was tormenting Jesus, ridiculing him.
00:07:44:16 – 00:08:16:45
Clint Loveall
This man still stuck up for Jesus. Jesus tells him today you’ll be with me in paradise. A proclamation of victory. A very interesting thing if you if you’re interested in a deeper discussion of that. That is a text that we handled recently. And then father into your hands, I commit my spirit. Luke’s signature line at the end of the crucifixion, that that Jesus gives his spirit over to God, that God can be trusted with the Spirit, that things are done, that things are finalized.
00:08:16:45 – 00:08:37:12
Clint Loveall
And so these three three words from Luke fit very well into Luke’s perspective. The picture that Luke paints of Jesus. I don’t know if you have anything to add there, Michael, but I mean, these these are these are rich words. And as we said multiple times in our study, Luke is a great writer, so he does really well with these words.
00:08:37:12 – 00:08:58:30
Michael Gewecke
I would only just add if I put up here, you can see the top two lines in the bottom line here. No notice the movement that’s happening in these different sayings in Luke forgiveness. And then there’s this idea of you will be with me, you will be saved, you will see the other side. And then this idea at the very end into your hands.
00:08:58:30 – 00:09:24:19
Michael Gewecke
I commend my spirit. There’s also a trusting in this all of that’s happening. Jesus is looking outward to forgive the sins of those doing the crucifixion. He’s offering salvation to the thief who is hanging next to him right there on the cross. And then simultaneously, he’s actively giving his spirit to God in an act of trust. And in some ways, Clint, I do think that some people struggle with the dichotomy between what we’ve just covered.
00:09:24:19 – 00:09:43:13
Michael Gewecke
You got Matthew and Mark and you have that for sacredness. Now you have in Luke, this this offering up of the spirit, this commending of self to God. And I think that for some people has been a stumbling block. I think what you have to understand is that the gospel writers are giving us an account of Jesus’s life and death and resurrection.
00:09:43:13 – 00:10:06:11
Michael Gewecke
They’re doing that from their particular vantage. They’re helping us see throughout the course of their entire gospel what Jesus has come to do, what the purpose of his mission is, and the sayings of what he says reflects that overall proclamation that they’re offering. Now, None of them are claiming to be exhaustive accounts of why they’re happening. None of them are claiming to have the exact perfect ordering.
00:10:06:16 – 00:10:26:25
Michael Gewecke
In fact, they’re far more loose than that, if you understand how the gospels are written. What I think is powerful about Luke, especially when you add in what we’ve already seen in Matthew and Mark, Clint is I think we discover that Jesus has this broad range of perspectives he’s bringing on the cross. He’s not just thinking about himself and his own pain and his own suffering.
00:10:26:38 – 00:10:39:36
Michael Gewecke
He’s also not just focused on the crowd. There’s this beautiful, messy mixing of all of those values at the same time, and I think it’s captured beautifully in the simplicity of these sayings on the cross.
00:10:39:41 – 00:11:12:27
Clint Loveall
Yeah. And, you know, it helps maybe to remember that this is an event that is multiple hours, six or more hours that Jesus would have been on the cross. And so the idea that there is a range of emotions, there’s a range of expressions, there’s an a range of theological things being handled, being covered, being spoken. I think that, you know, there the each author makes a little bit of room for that thing that speaks to him.
00:11:12:27 – 00:11:53:17
Clint Loveall
And certainly Luke does that beautifully. Probably no one does that more than John. John’s version of the Life of Jesus is slightly different from Matthew. Mark and Luke stands out as as unique among the gospels. And so, not surprisingly, in in that gospel, Jesus says things that we don’t read anywhere else. And so the first thing that Jesus says from the cross in the book of John is dear woman speaking to his mother, Mary, dear woman, here is your son speaking about the disciple John, and here is your mother.
00:11:53:22 – 00:12:20:25
Clint Loveall
And this is a little bit cryptic, but it has historically been understood as Jesus taking care of his mother, doing something practical and the Gospel of John, you often have these miraculous stories that are bracketed with these very mundane details of Jesus saying something like, Take the clothing off of the man who was raised from the dead, from Lazarus, and just kind of practical or a girl.
00:12:20:34 – 00:12:48:22
Clint Loveall
He he resurrects a little girl and then says, give her something to eat. And so there is a sense here in which Jesus is just he’s taking care of a detail that his death is going to cause. And in so he is living up to his responsibilities as a son and he is putting a great deal of trust also in the Apostle John, which is another theme that runs through the gospel of John.
00:12:48:27 – 00:13:19:04
Clint Loveall
I, I think maybe Michael, it’s important to remind it you gospel. You’re you’re well, you’re a John fan. One of the things that’s surprising about the Gospel of John, I think if people read it for the first time, there is no question for Jesus. There’s no wrestling over the decision, there’s no forsake in this. There’s no why me or this is painful, This is Jesus is where he wants to be.
00:13:19:04 – 00:13:26:18
Clint Loveall
He’s there on purpose. And even in the midst of that, he’s doing that which is required of him in the best way possible.
00:13:26:27 – 00:14:07:31
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, absolutely. Let’s take a really concrete look at that. So verse 28, you’re following what he has to say about his mother. Jesus says, I’m thirsty. Yeah. And you think to yourself, Well, that’s a strange thing that the gospel writers are going to take time to tell us about, you know? But I remind you that in the Gospel of John, where Jesus says that he’s the fount of living water, that that he is the one who is water for eternity, He has this whole conversation about it, about, you know, why do we go to a physical Well, when I’m the water of life and ultimately the person who said that about himself is thirsty on
00:14:07:31 – 00:14:34:31
Michael Gewecke
the cross, that that’s not an accidental detail. Clint, There’s this amazing moment in which even the one who from his own being flows endless water for the soul. He’s thirsty on the cross. John is showing us in theological and also practical language exactly how forsaken Jesus is. He’s not using that language that we had previous. Right. But it’s exactly the same theme.
00:14:34:31 – 00:14:57:18
Michael Gewecke
It’s saying that the one who is God is suffering as one who is not God, that there’s a there’s this unbelievable turning of the universe in this moment. And John. Yes, it’s a simple physical thing, but it is not a simple truth. It’s not a simple teaching. There’s something deeply profound about Jesus being thirsty and that’s right here in the Book of John.
00:14:57:23 – 00:15:27:34
Clint Loveall
And something as simple as I thirst is prefaced with when Jesus knew that all was finished, He said, In order that Scripture would be fulfilled, so that even that has a purpose, that it’s the fulfillment of Scripture. Is he thirsty? Maybe John I don’t think John is particularly concerned with Jesus physical need in that moment. It is a sign that Jesus is checking all the boxes, doing everything that needs done.
00:15:27:48 – 00:15:55:39
Clint Loveall
And I think the best example of that we see just a verse later, verse 30, when Jesus received the wine, what they gave him to drink, He said, It is finished. Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. And this is very characteristic of the book of John. Notice he doesn’t die, right? He gives up his Jesus even decides when it is time for his death in the Gospel of John.
00:15:55:51 – 00:16:25:24
Clint Loveall
And He does so by declaring it is finished. It everything is done. All that needed done has been accomplished. There is nothing left unfinished. It is finished. And if you understand the gospel of John, that is a cosmic declaration that the Savior Jesus Christ makes. It’s not a comment on the day of the cross, though it is that it is far bigger than that.
00:16:25:24 – 00:16:29:11
Clint Loveall
It is finished. My work is done is essentially what he’s saying.
00:16:29:18 – 00:17:10:46
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, there’s multiple levels to these words because on one hand, very clearly to an onlooker, this is crazy talk, right? Because Jesus isn’t finishing anything. Rome is finishing its job. Right. Rome has set out to kill Jesus and they’re they’re succeeding in their efforts. So the idea to your point, Clint, the idea that in verse 30, Jesus vows his head and gives up his spirit to anyone watching, that’s likely not an obvious thing to see, to John and to the people, to the women who were there, who had the the teachings of Jesus who’ve been with him right that very day.
00:17:11:00 – 00:17:34:51
Michael Gewecke
They were still wrestling and struggling. We see that clearly in the biblical record because they leave this place grieving and questioning. And we have that story in Luke of walking the enormous road and being completely confused because they thought that the Messiah had come. But now the Messiah is dead. So in the midst of all of that complicating factor for Jesus, there’s no complicating factor.
00:17:35:05 – 00:17:58:03
Michael Gewecke
There’s really no question here in John’s account of what is happening, that Jesus knows what’s going on. Jesus has chosen the outcome of what’s going on. He’s chosen the pacing and the timing of what is going on. And when Jesus has determined that He has fulfilled all of the things that need done, then he’s the one who finishes the task.
00:17:58:03 – 00:18:23:24
Michael Gewecke
He’s the one who finishes the work that needs to happen and what someone astonishing about that is it gives us another perspective of the work of the cross. It helps us to see from another angle that this isn’t just about the saving of the criminal next to him. It’s not just about the idea of being that person who’s going to bear the weight of original sin.
00:18:23:24 – 00:18:51:18
Michael Gewecke
It’s that God has chosen the cross, God’s chosen death, and that that choice is ultimately the thing that of God’s own power, what appears to be submission to death, which we would think of as weakness, is actually God’s power at work. That that’s what John is helping us to see. And that’s a revolutionary thought. If we understand it, it it is mysterious because you can’t just pin that idea down that this is a deeply meaningful text.
00:18:51:18 – 00:18:57:23
Michael Gewecke
And I think it fits within the whole canon of all of these sayings to give us a full picture of what’s happening.
00:18:57:30 – 00:19:26:24
Clint Loveall
And I think that it’s fitting that just by the arrangement of the Gospels, it is literally the last word that we hear from the cross in the way that the Gospels are arranged, it is finished. Is, I think, the right ending. Note for the crucifixion story. Michael, could you pull that graphic up that you had the. Yeah, the one word summaries there because I think there’s something in that helpful there.
00:19:26:29 – 00:19:59:00
Clint Loveall
And should there be a seventh, maybe forgiveness? No. There we go. So this is a thing that that sometimes people have used to categorize these sayings and I think it’s not bad. I think, you know, the words themselves are bigger than that. But forgiveness, salvation, relationship, abandonment, distress, triumph and reunion is not a bad list of words for the things that Jesus says from the cross.
00:19:59:00 – 00:20:39:05
Clint Loveall
And so as we move into Thursday evening, as we move into Good Friday and Saturday, as we make these last few steps toward Easter, we hope that there’s something in these words. If these are easily found, you can find lists of these words. You can find them in the Bible very easily. I would encourage you, if you get a chance, make these a part of your preparation for Easter, because they are they are profound, they are enduring and they give us a a very good insight, I think, to the full range of what the gospel writers are trying to tell us about the cross.
00:20:39:05 – 00:20:43:09
Clint Loveall
And I hope they’re helpful to you as we prepare for Easter together.
00:20:43:13 – 00:21:04:04
Michael Gewecke
By way of conclusion, I just want to point out, and it’s generally a little dangerous when you look for in the Bible for what’s not there. But I just want to point out so that we’re we’re clear on this. Look, what’s not in these sayings of Jesus. There’s no lording over the Romans. There’s no fighting back against the religious leaders.
00:21:04:04 – 00:21:26:13
Michael Gewecke
There’s no woe is me in the sense of, you know, I got the short end of the stick. Jesus is bearing the weight of this sin, and he’s doing so as the savior of the world. You can look at these seven accounts and be moved by the fact that that Jesus is capable of bearing a load that is literally unimaginable to any other human.
00:21:26:13 – 00:21:50:54
Michael Gewecke
He is in the process of being killed in one of the worst ways possible. And yet he is doing the business of saving. He is fulfilling a purpose. He has a destiny and a plan. The idea that Jesus can make creative use of death is one of the most powerful claims of Christianity. And if you can lean into the heart of that, it is dark.
00:21:50:56 – 00:22:16:53
Michael Gewecke
There’s no way around it. That’s it’s a painful theological teaching. But if you’re able to lean into that, it has a way of revealing the suffering of our own lives as a way of opening our eyes to see how God can be at work in the midst of that darkness and suffering in our own lives. There is actually hope in these sayings, even if these sayings are located in Jesus’s process of dying.
00:22:16:53 – 00:22:42:25
Michael Gewecke
And that’s what’s so astonishing about the faith in general, is that what may appear to be some kind of historical account to a modern person. here’s the story of Jesus dying. There’s actually a kind of a pulling back of the curtain so that we can see the extent to which God will go to save even today. And that is what makes texts like these so powerful and why you can never reach the end of them in your own personal study.
00:22:42:25 – 00:22:52:24
Michael Gewecke
So I join my voice with yours. Do spend some time with these, live into hearing them deeply this season and they’ll be a blessing to you.
00:22:52:37 – 00:23:08:01
Clint Loveall
Absolutely. Happy Easter as we get our way there. And if we don’t see you it at church and the various things that are happening here on our campus, we hope that you’re blessed and we hope you’ll join us again next Tuesday as we start Jonah, together. Thanks.