The Last Seven Words of Good Friday

In one paragraph

On Resurrection Sunday 2023, the preacher walked through what are traditionally called the seven last words of Christ, the seven statements Jesus made from the cross on Good Friday, and read them in light of the empty tomb. Rather than working through a single text, the message moved across the Gospels in a harmony, asking of each statement: what did Jesus say, what did he mean, and what are we to...

Read together

1. Acts (specific verse not given) quoted to say it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Jesus
2. Colossians (specific verse not given) cited as the standard for forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven us
3. Ephesians (specific verse not given) cited alongside Colossians as the standard for forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven us
4. Luke 23 (verses not precisely given) the crucifixion scene introducing the first statement, Father forgive them
5. Luke 23 (continuing) the penitent thief asking Jesus to remember him and receiving the promise of paradise
6. John 19 (verses not precisely given) Jesus saying I thirst so that scripture might be fulfilled
7. John 19 (continuing) Jesus saying it is finished and bowing his head
8. Luke 23:46 Jesus saying father into your hands I commit my spirit
9. Psalm 22:1 identified as the source of my God my God why have you forsaken me
10. Psalm 22:6 accidentally read at a baby dedication instead of Proverbs 22:6
11. Psalm 31:5 identified as the source of into your hand I entrust my spirit
12. Proverbs 22:6 the intended text for a baby dedication, train up a child in the way he should go
13. 1 Peter (verses not precisely given) Christ suffered leaving an example, entrusting himself to the one who judges rightly, by his wounds we are healed
14. Philippians (verse not precisely given) because he humbled himself God lifted him up and exalted him
15. Matthew 28 (verses not precisely given) the Great Commission, all authority has been given to me, go make disciples
16. 2 Corinthians 5:17 used as the benediction, anyone in Christ is a new creation, old life gone new life begun

Talk about it

1. The preacher noted that Jesus' first recorded words were about being about his Father's business, and his last words on the cross carried that same thread all the way through. Where do you see that connection most clearly, and what does it say to you about how Jesus understood his own life?
2. The penitent thief had done nothing to earn his place in paradise except recognize his own guilt and Jesus' innocence, and simply ask. What does that stripped-down moment tell us about what it actually means to come to God?
3. When Jesus said 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,' he was quoting Psalm 22, which moves from a cry of abandonment to a declaration of trust. Have you ever been in a season where you felt abandoned by God, and what did it look like to keep trusting through that?
4. The preacher spent time on 'It is finished,' pointing out that it means everything necessary had been accomplished, and that this should free us from feeling we have to keep earning our way. Where do you still find yourself acting as though it is not finished?
5. The final words before the ascension were a command to go and make disciples, teaching others to observe everything Christ commanded. The preacher said the way you teach that is by doing it. What is one specific 'one another' from scripture that you could put into practice this week?