Introduction to Last Words: A Lenten Meditation on the Final Sayings of Christ

Week 1 of this devotional is designed to begin the day before Ash Wednesday and continue through Saturday. Week 2 begins on the first Sunday of Lent.

Last Words: A Lenten Meditation on the Final Sayings of Christ

There was one special day each year that I vividly remember from my childhood. It was Good Friday. In an out-of-the-ordinary gathering, almost all of the churches in my hometown came together at the State Theater for a three-hour community service. Each year, seven different pastors were chosen to give short meditations on the Seven Last Words of Christ on the cross. Gospel readings and poignant hymns were interlaced between each homily. The auditorium was dark except for the light on the stage, adding to the drama. Across the city, from 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m., all the stores and businesses were closed. It seemed that in some way most people in my town of fifty thousand acknowledged and respected what was being commemorated. That was in the ’50s and early ’60s. Today during the season of Lent and Easter, it’s difficult to find any indication of the true meaning of this most significant time for Christians in the larger culture.

Since the fourth century, the crucifixion of Christ has been remembered annually as a solemn, sorrowful day of fasting, deep reflection, and penitential prayer. Next to the celebration of Christ’s resurrection, Good Friday is the most important day of the Christian church year. In October 1687, a devastating series of earthquakes measuring 8.4–8.7 on the Richter scale struck Lima, Calliao, and Ica, Peru, killing over five thousand people. Responding to the horrific devastation, the Rev. Alonso Messia Bedoya, a Jesuit priest, created a three-hour service on Good Friday of the following year, utilizing the seven sayings of Christ from the cross, to comfort his beleaguered people. This soon became a yearly devotion, eventually traveling from colonial Peru to Spain, where it took root and spread throughout Europe and the new world. In 1786, the Church of Cádiz commissioned composer Franz Joseph Haydn to compose a musical setting of Christ’s last words for the 1787 Good Friday service at the Spanish cathedral. Since then, dozens of compositions dealing with the sayings have been created, forming a distinct subset of Passion music. Cuts from seven different works appear in this year’s Lent Project. The last words of Christ have not only inspired dozens of musicians, but poets and artists as well.

Many consider these sayings of Jesus to be the most profound statements He ever delivered. In the final moments of His agony, while suffering from asphyxiation but miraculously able to speak in a loud voice, Christ spoke forth succinct, memorable utterances which have echoed down through the ages. These truths have resonated with generation after generation for two thousand years, transforming those who have heeded the messages found in them. Dr. Arthur Pink described them as follows: 1) The Word of Forgiveness, 2) The Word of Salvation, 3) The Word of Affection, 4) The Word of Anguish, 5) The Word of Suffering, 6) The Word of Victory, and 7) The Word of Contentment. Four of the sayings were spoken to those at the crucifixion and by extension to the world He came to save. The other three were specifically directed in prayer to God the Father—“Father forgive them,” “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me,” and “Into Thy hands I commend my spirit.” God Almighty’s response: “Darkness came over the whole land,” “the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom,” “the earth quaked and the rocks split,” and “graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.” No wonder eyewitnesses like the Roman centurion exclaimed, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Luke 23:34, Luke 23:46, Matthew 27:45-54, NKJV).

This Lenten devotional project offers a sustained exploration into the final hours and words of Christ as He bled and died for the sins of the world—past, present, and future. Although some refuse to embrace the associated violence and gore of that dark day, we cannot look away. This intense, extended, yet ultimately positive meditation on death can only be found within the church. After all, the death of Christ is the crux of everything—the epicenter of time and eternity. Writer and cleric Richard John Neuhaus writes, “Good Friday forms the spiritual architecture of Christian existence. The Seven Last Words embody the truth of Good Friday…To accompany Him to His end is to discover our beginning.…Stay awhile with Christ and Him crucified.” It is with a certain gravitas, then, that we invite you to join us as we gather at the foot of Christ’s life-giving cross to ponder His divine messages. As Elder Sophrony of Essex once said, “There is enough grace in Holy Week to sustain the believer for an entire year!”

Detail of the Altarpiece of the St. Vincent Cathedral by Augustin Frison-Roche