What did Jesus say on the cross?
Seven times Jesus spoke while hanging on the cross, and every word was written down. Taken together they show what He wanted for His enemies, for a dying criminal, for the people who loved Him, and finally for Himself.
The seven sayings in order
The Gospel writers each preserve part of the record, and only when they are put side by side does the full sequence appear.
Messiah and PrinceThere are seven utterances on the Cross, roughly in this order: 1 "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). 2 "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). 3 Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani (Matt. 27:46). 4 "Woman, behold, your son!" (John 19:26). 5 "I thirst" (John 19:28). 6 "It is finished" (John 19:30). 7 "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" (Luke 23:46).
Father, forgive them
The first word was a prayer for the men driving in the nails. One writer explains how that prayer gave them a legal standing they could never have claimed for themselves.
Michael HardtThe people crucifying Him were in the process of committing the greatest crime ever… They were fully responsible for what they did. But the Lord Jesus, in infinite grace, says the words "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." In their hatred they were blind and did not see the full extent of their guilt… The Lord uses this to treat them as ignorant, and so as manslayers instead of murderers. In other words, through this prayer He was opening the city of refuge to them (Numbers 35).
The reach of that prayer is not limited to the crowd at Calvary.
J. T. MawsonHad He not prayed this prayer to His Father, no message of mercy could ever have reached a rebellious world from a Saviour God.
Today you will be with me in paradise
The second word answers one man who asked only to be remembered.
J. T. MawsonWhat a "me" it was that he set before the Lord! His was a disgraceful past, and a hopeless future; he was a dying wretch, brought to the very brink of hell by his crimes; but he places himself just as he is before the Lord who knows him through and through… His words simply meant, "I want your company, for you are Mine."
Woman, behold your son
The third word joined His mother and John, the disciple He loved, into one household. That arrangement is read as a pattern for everyone who would later miss Him.
J. T. MawsonThey would miss Him, and in that they represented all who love Him throughout the period of His absence… He thought of it as He hung upon the cross of Calvary, and there and then He declared His will about it… They were to cleave to one another.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Darkness covered the land for three hours, and the fourth cry came out of it. Commentators point to a settled reason for the abandonment, and to why it could end.
F. B. HoleThe holy Sin-bearer was forsaken, for God must judge sin and banish it from His presence for ever. That utter and eternal banishment we deserved, and it will fall on all who die in their sins. He endured it to the full, but since He possessed the holiness, the eternity, the infinity of full Deity, He could come out of it at the close of the three hours.
I thirst
Only here does He mention His bodily suffering. The response He got measures the human heart.
J. T. MawsonHere was brought to light what men are: utterly, altogether sinful. No feeling of pity moved their evil hearts when they stood in the presence of absolute goodness in the extremity of suffering.
It is finished
The sixth word is a shout of completion, not defeat.
J. T. MawsonHe had come to do the work that God had given Him to do, and it is here in John's record that we learn that it was done… now the suffering is behind Him, and before He yields up His Spirit He utters the triumphant word "It is finished." The infinite work was accomplished, to stand for ever in its solitary grandeur.
Father, into your hands
The last word gives His spirit back to His Father. One writer notes that John describes the same moment from a different side.
J. N. DarbyAfter having suffered everything in His soul through the forsaking of God, in perfect calmness He owns that all is accomplished; He Himself separates His spirit from His body and gives it up to God, His Father — a divine act that He had the power to carry out. In Luke's Gospel we have the human side of man's faith: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." Here it is the divine side, where He lays down His human life.
Summary
- Father to Father. The first and last sayings both address the Father; between them lie the darkness and the cry of abandonment.
- Mercy first. Before He said anything about Himself, He asked forgiveness for the men killing Him — the opening of the door for a guilty world.
- One sinner. The same grace narrowed to a single dying criminal, and promised him company that same day.
- His own. He arranged for those who loved Him to belong to each other while He was gone.
- Finished. The forsaking paid what sin deserved; the shout that followed says nothing is left to add.