The Seven Words of Jesus on the Cross
Good Friday
April 9, 2004
 
       The First Word: "When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified 
him, along with the criminals--one on the right, the other on his left. Jesus said, 'Father, 
forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.'" (Luke 23:33-34)
 
This was different. It wasn’t that the man being crucified used the name of God. 
People who were being crucified on occasion probably called out to God for help. 
Others probably used God's name to curse the soldiers who were crucifying them, the 
people there who were mocking them. A few may even have cried out to God for 
forgiveness of their sins. But to pray for forgiveness of other people's sins? This was 
a departure from the ordinary. 
       And make no mistake about it. Jesus was not praying for people who were innocent here. 
Even if one were to make the argument that the Roman soldiers were merely following orders, 
they had hardly been “following orders” when they put a robe on Jesus and a crown of thorns on 
his head, beat him, and mocked him. Neither would they be “following orders” when they 
laughed at him on the cross. In fact, they wouldn’t even be following the rules of human decency.
       No, these men were guilty of sin, and in fact they were guilty of sin directly against Jesus. 
To say that these men were not guilty would make our Savior’s prayer unnecessary. But here he 
speaks of real guilt, so he asks for real forgiveness.
       In fact, he asks for forgiveness not only for the Romans, but also for the Jews who had 
orchestrated the whole affair. Here Jesus does not merely pray for those who are indifferent 
towards him--although indifference towards Jesus is certainly a sin, for Jesus himself said, "He 
who is not with me is against me.” (Matthew 12:30) But here Jesus prays for those who are 
openly against him. Jesus prays for those who are his enemies. 
       At this point you and I even have a bit of a hard time comprehending these words--and 
we’re Christians! Even you and I have to confess that this sort of forgiveness has not always 
come from our lips when others have wronged us.
       And yet Jesus asks God to forgive them. That is, he asks that God would not punish them 
immediately for their sins, but that God would prolong their lives, that God would give them 
time--time to repent of their deeds and to plead for forgiveness.
       More than that, Jesus is asking that God would use that time to send his Holy Spirit to 
them and bring them to faith. 
       The love that this must have required--to pray for the very people who were standing 
there mocking him--this love is beyond our comprehension. 
       But it is not beyond our belief. For we ourselves have experienced that same kind of love, 
and we ourselves have been told of that love. Paul writes in Romans, "While we were still sinners, 
Christ died for us...When we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of 
his Son." (Romans 5:8,10)
A little over 7 weeks later, Jesus' prayer was answered on Pentecost, as perhaps some of these 
same people finally did realize what they had done. Acts tells us that they were "cut to the 
heart" (Acts 2:37) by this knowledge, and that they asked Peter what to do. He told them to 
repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. They did, and they received forgiveness 
from their Father. The same thing happened to us. Jesus' prayer was answered for us at our 
baptisms or whenever it was that we came to faith. 
Jesus' words must have sounded strange that day. They still sound strange to us today. It still 
sounds strange that "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) And not 
only did he die for us, but while our sins were nailing him to that cross, he even prayed for us. 
Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. What strange, wonderful 
words.	
 
The Second Word: "One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: 'Aren't you the 
Christ? Save yourself and us!' But the other criminal rebuked him. 'Don't you fear God,' he 
said, 'since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what 
our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.' Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me 
when you come into your kingdom.' Jesus answered him, 'I tell you the truth, today you will be 
with me in paradise.'" (Luke 23:39-43)
 
	If all the world’s indeed a stage, we’d have to say that many of the plays in which we 
perform are repeat performances. That is, circumstances of life repeat themselves, and hopefully 
we learn from past performances so we perform better when similar circumstances present 
themselves. But there really aren’t any rehearsals for death. When death comes, you’re on stage, 
and it’s generally a one-time only performance.
	That was true of the two criminals who were crucified with Jesus. They were on death’s 
stage that day, and it proved to be their one and only performance. How would they play their 
roles?
	One criminal played the role with his upper lip stiffened and his head held high. He 
looked straight ahead, making no apologies, expressing no remorse or regrets, and asking no 
favors. He showed fight and an unbroken spirit until the end. Some would say that he “took it like 
a man.” 
	It was quite a macho performance. A compelling performance. And a tragic performance. 
It was a tragic performance because the man was obviously guilty (the other criminal even said as 
much), and the Bible says that people who try to cover or deny their sins will not prosper. Making 
this man’s performance doubly frightening and tragic is the fact that God says he “opposes the 
proud” (James 4:6), and when God opposes people, they eventually are banished to hell.
	What was happening with the second thief wasn’t pleasant or comforting, either. Death 
rarely is, and the manner of his death—crucifixion—made taking his turn on death’s stage a 
particularly unpleasant role to play. But more than that, as his life passed before his eyes, he 
didn’t like what he saw. He saw what he had been and what he had done and become. He 
probably compared it to what he could have—yes, what, according to God’s Word, he should 
have—done and become. But it was too late for that. The spikes in his hands and feet told him 
that where he was at the moment was as far as he was ever going to go in life—that his chance to 
play the role of “all-around good guy” was past, and the only role left for him was “person facing 
death—and what comes after.” 
	How disappointing it must have been! How frightening it must have been! It must have 
been especially so because right next to him was the very Son of God—someone who was going 
to play a far different role than the one he was playing right now—someone who was one day 
going to play the role of Judge over the criminals next to him.
	We will find ourselves in the criminal’s role someday—on death’s stage. How will we 
approach it? Act innocent, like the first criminal? Plead ignorance? Offer excuses? Proudly 
proclaim that you’ll stand on your merits? Many have, many do, and many will. But these are not 
people to look to for our cues and lines.
	Look instead to the second criminal, because when he turned to Jesus he said, “Lord, 
remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He offered no excuses because none would 
satisfy. He offered no bluster because you can’t bluff God. He offered nothing more than what the 
tax collector offered in Jesus’ parable (Luke 18:9-14), he offered nothing more than what we 
offer when we confess our sins here on Sundays—“Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
	And Jesus’ response? “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Let us rehearse that 
criminal’s line. Like him, let us admit our sins to God as the curtain falls each day and ask him to 
be gracious to us, so that those words will be in our hearts and on our lips when it’s our turn to be 
on death’s stage.
 
       The Third Word: "Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary 
the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple 
whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, 'Dear woman, here is your son,' and to 
the disciple, 'Here is your mother.'" (John 19:25-27)
 
       This would seem to be one of the least significant of the 7 words--ranking right down 
there at the bottom with "I am thirsty." 
       Kind of Jesus, yes. Thoughtful of Jesus, yes. But nothing more than what any good son 
ought to do for his mother. Right?
       Right. Indeed, this is nothing more than what any son ought to do for his mother. By 
doing so, Jesus is doing nothing more than obeying the 4th Commandment, which says, "Honor 
your father and mother." (Exodus 20:12) It's a relatively simple commandment. It doesn't require 
that we do any great feats of strength. It doesn't require us to deprive ourselves of anything that 
we need. As Luther explains it, it doesn't require anything but that "we honor, serve and obey our 
parents and others in authority and give them love and respect." 
       Indeed, Jesus was doing nothing more here than obeying the 4th Commandment, nothing 
more than honoring his mother. A seemingly insignificant action.
       And yet, have we done this for our mothers, our fathers? 
       We have not. Some of you may have to think back further than others, but how did you 
treat your father and your mother when you were younger? Were there times that you failed to 
show them honor--because you didn't feel they had earned it? Were there times that you didn't 
obey them--simply because you didn't want to, and who were they to tell you what to do? Were 
there times that you didn't respect them--perhaps even going so far as to tell them that you wished 
they were dead?
       Jesus honored, he served, and he obeyed. Jesus gave his parents love and respect. After 
his parents found him at the temple at age 12, we read that "he went down  to Nazareth with them 
and was obedient to them." (Luke 2:51) And that's what Jesus did for as long as he lived with 
them. He obeyed them.
       Now, at age 33, we see Jesus honoring his mother, putting aside his own discomfort, his 
own excruciating pain in order to comfort and care for his mother.
You see now why this is not such an insignificant word from the cross? You and I have not 
even kept the very simple 4th Commandment. And for that we deserve death and punishment 
in hell. God demands perfect obedience to that law, and his demands have not changed to this 
day.
       But Jesus has obeyed the law. He said that he had not come to abolish the law, but to 
fulfill it. (Matthew 5:17) He came to obey it our place. And he did that--to the very end. 
       Here we see one more assurance that Christ has indeed done what we have not. Jesus has 
fulfilled the law for us. When that law comes threatening us with a list of our failures, we may 
point to Christ's success--his success for us. 
       Thanks be to Jesus for perfectly obeying the law for us--even in this most difficult hour.
 
 
The Fourth Word: "From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. 
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?'--which 
means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46)
	
	I doubt Jesus wasn’t the first person to ask this question, and he certainly wasn’t the last. 
It’s a question often heard from people experiencing some stress, difficulty, or sorrow—
especially if that stress, difficulty, or sorrow is particularly intense and/or particularly prolonged. 
	You’ve been here, haven’t you? You’ve been in the absolute depths of despair and 
sorrow, wondering where in the world God is and, more to the point, why he isn’t with you, why 
he seems to have turned his back on you, why he has forsaken you. 
	You know what it’s like to ask that question, a question that asks for an explanation 
concerning the horror, the pain, the helplessness of your present circumstances—to ask for an 
explanation and not immediately get one—if you even get one at all.
	And so sometimes we answer our own question. We assert that God has made a mistake, 
that we have done nothing that deserves this sort of treatment, that we have done nothing that 
deserves this sort of suffering. 
	Those of us who believe that we see ourselves a bit more realistically, a bit more humbly 
would say that in fact we do deserve this sort of suffering because of our sins and that God is 
turning his back on us because of our sins.
	Both answers are wrong. To suggest that God owes us a certain standard of treatment 
because of our track record in the past is the height of foolish arrogance. It is an answer that 
thinks of sin but lightly and fails to suppose the evil great. It’s an answer that fails to see sin’s 
nature rightly, and fails to estimate the enormity of its guilt.
	And really, so does the other answer—the answer that suggests that because of our sins, 
in fact we do deserve, in fact it is just and right for God to allow us to lose our job, to have a 
relationship fall to pieces.
	To suggest that God’s perfect justice is satisfied you being unable to get up and go to 
work 5 days a week and to suggest that God’s wrath over sin is satisfied by something as gut-
wrenching as having a relationship crash and burn around you—or just slowly crumble—around 
you—to suggest those things is to confess sin, but to entirely fail to see sin’s nature rightly. It is 
an answer that supposes the guilt to be far less than it is.
	This—here at Calvary—is someone being truly forsaken by God. These words of Jesus 
are no exaggeration—as when we claim that we are suffering hell on earth or that our lives have 
become a living hell. These words of Jesus are no outright falsehood—as when we claim that 
God has abandoned us. These words of Jesus are the truth. Jesus was truly suffering hell, and 
therefore God had truly abandoned, truly forsaken him.
	No, the fact is that we haven’t “been there”—but we most certainly should have been. 
Because of our sins, we most certainly should be forsaken by God forever in hell. But because of 
Jesus, we won’t be.
	And therefore we may be assured that we are never forsaken by him here on earth, either. 
The apostle Paul says to you, “He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may 
live together with him” (1 Thessalonians 5:10). God himself has promised us as much, saying 
“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). Even Jesus promised us as 
much, saying to his disciples, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 
28:20). 
	What’s the answer to Jesus’ question? I suppose we might answer it by saying, “God 
forsook Jesus because of our sins. God forsook Jesus because he absolutely hates sin, because he 
punishes sin in a fearful way, and because Jesus was carrying the weight of each and every one of 
my sins.” Jesus’ question, asked in darkness, certainly has such a dark, sobering answer. But we 
might also answer, “God forsook Jesus so he would never have to abandon us, so he could be 
with us forever.”
       The Fifth Word: "Later, knowing that all was now completed so that the Scripture 
would be fulfilled, Jesus said, 'I am thirsty.'" (John 19:28)
 
       We haven’t really talked about it until now, but these words remind us that nailed to the 
cross was not only the Son of God, but also a living, (barely) breathing human being. We’ve 
always known that about Jesus, of course. We’ve seen it in the gospels--Jesus got hungry when he 
was in the wilderness for 40 days. He got tired and slept. He even became sad and cried at the 
death of  Lazarus. 
       But when it comes to his crucifixion, perhaps we aren’t inclined to think about and 
understand his suffering there. Part of that may come from the fact that while we have 
experienced hunger and fatigue and sadness, we have never experienced crucifixion, so we can’t 
quite comprehend what it would feel like.
       Let’s consider that for a moment. Feel your wrist. It’s full of bones, tendons. Imagine a 
sizable metal spike being driven through those bones and tendons. Now imagine it happening to 
your other wrist. Imagine the same thing happening to your feet. 
       As you sag forward, you begin to suffocate. You try to pull yourself up with your arms, 
and pain shoots through them until you can take it no longer, and you sag back down. As you 
begin to suffocate again, you try to push yourself up with your feet, and pain shoots through your 
legs. As you push yourself up, your back--which has been cut to ribbons by the beatings you had 
received--is in tremendous pain as the open wounds scrape against the rough wood of the cross. 
Now think about this taking place for hours on end. It’s no wonder that Jesus would have been 
thirsty.
       And yet that was what Jesus bore. Although Jesus acted differently than you and I would 
have--words of pardon and concern rather than words of anger and self-pity--although Jesus acted 
differently than you and I would have, in reality it was no different for him. Because Jesus was a 
living, breathing, human being, Jesus was feeling very real pain--every bit as much pain as you 
and I would have felt.
       Therefore what took place on Calvary that day was not a charade. Jesus was not 
pretending to suffer--as when a grown man wrestles with his 3-year old nephew and pretends 
that his nephew is hurting him. These were actual nails, those were actual bones, tendons, and 
nerves, and that was actual pain.
       If you’ve seen Jesus’ crucifixion portrayed on film, maybe you have been inclined to 
look away--perhaps because you hurt at the very thought of what you would have felt had it been 
you on that cross instead of Jesus.
       And perhaps you were inclined to look away because you knew that it should have been 
you on that cross instead of Jesus. But let us tonight look directly at Jesus’ pain. Let us look at it 
because it reminds us of all that Jesus suffered because of his love for you. Let us look at it 
because it reminds us that because Jesus suffered, because he thirsted, you and I will never have 
to suffer, never have to thirst forever in the awful heat of hell.
        
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       The Sixth Word: "When he had received the drink, Jesus said, 'It is finished.'" (John 
19:30)
 
       Finished. It’s hard for us to think of many things actually being finished. Oh, little things 
get finished, I suppose. Writing an exam, reading a book--those sorts of things can be finished. 
But laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, car and home maintenance--those sorts of things are 
never really finished. Those are the sorts of things that need our constant attention. There’s 
always something that needs redoing before long.
       And who of us would dare to say that we can allow ourselves to be finished working on 
our relationships with others? When it comes to our relationships with our spouse, our kids, or 
other people, even if there isn’t something that needs fixing, there is always something that we 
can do better, something that we can do in order to move the relationship closer towards being 
perfect.
       Many people transfer that experience and thinking to their status before God. They view 
their status before God as not being finished--as something that is always under construction. 
They not only talk about getting on the good side of God, but they also talk about how they might 
remain there. In other words, they think that it’s never finished.
       People who think and speak in such a way appear to be very humble, but they are in fact 
very wrong. And by speaking in that way, they ignore and disregard the words of Jesus. Because 
Jesus said, “It is finished.”
       The sacrifices for sin? Hebrews says, “Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of 
many people...This priest...offered for all time one sacrifice.” (Hebrews 9:28; 10:12) Finished!
       The condemnation of God’s law? Romans says, “There is now no condemnation for 
those who are in Christ Jesus...He was delivered over to death for our sins” (Romans 8:1, 4:25a) 
Finished!
       The necessity of measuring up perfectly to God’s standards? Hebrews says, “By one 
sacrifice (Jesus) has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Hebrews 10:14). 
Finished!
       In fact, he spoke only one word here in Greek: tetelestai. It was the word a shopkeeper 
would write on someone’s bill when it had been paid. Paid in full! Finished. The bill for our sins 
has been paid.
       There is a reason why Jesus summoned all the remaining strength that he had in order to 
shout out these words. Jesus shouted these words because they needed to be heard. It wasn’t that 
these words needed to be heard by God—for God already knew that it was finished. No, these 
words needed to be heard by those of us who are tormented by the thought of our sins and the 
wages of those sins. Jesus shouted those words to us, so that when the devil comes to us on our 
deathbed, when he holds the 10 commandments up to us in order to make us despair of our 
sinfulness--Jesus shouted those words to us so that we may shout them at Satan--"It is finished! It 
is finished! The blood of Jesus Christ his Son has purified me from every sin." (1 John 1:7)
       We will hear Jesus speak these words one more time, of course. On Judgment Day, when 
the whole world is judged, Jesus will stamp our bill “paid in full”, saying those glorious words, 
“It is finished.”
 
  
The Seventh Word: "Jesus called out with a loud voice, 'Father, into your hands I commit my 
spirit.'" (Luke 19:46)
 
	Jesus’ birth was one of a kind. He’s still the only person conceived by the Holy Spirit and 
born of a virgin.
	Jesus’ life was one of a kind too. In his infancy and early childhood there had never been 
any backtalk, hitting, fighting, whining. Jesus never went through rebellious teenage years. In his 
adult years he didn’t learn to excuse sinful behavior by suggesting that “sometimes you have to 
cut some corners.” Obviously Jesus’ life was one of a kind—and certainly very different from the 
lives that you and I have led.
	What about Jesus’ death? Was that one of a kind, too? In some ways, yes, because it was 
something he controlled. He once said, “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own 
accord.” (John 10:18). And here, in his final words from the cross, we hear him saying that he is 
going to do just that—lay it down on his own accord, hand his soul to God.
	That is a one of a kind death, because you and I don’t have that kind of control and we 
never will. We do not have the authority to decide when we die, because God reserves that right 
for himself. Neither will we, as such, hand over our souls. The Bible says that our souls will be 
taken from us. 
	And yet Jesus’ death was not one of a kind in this way: Just as Jesus did not fear handing 
his soul over to God, we need not fear either. There is a peace and a serenity in these last words 
of Jesus, and that’s not a one-of-a-kind thing.
	Jesus had a peace and serenity as he handed over his soul because he knew that he had 
good reason to do so confidently. He had no sin to hide, no punishment to fear. We too have no 
sin to hide, for Jesus took all those sins upon himself. We too have no punishment to fear, for 
Isaiah has said that Jesus was “punished” in our place and that that punishment “brought us 
peace” (Isaiah 53:5). Therefore we may have peace at the thought that one day our spirits will be 
in our Father’s hands. Amen.