“The Seven Words of Jesus from the Cross”

Isaiah 52:13-53:12; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

 The First Word: Luke 23:34

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

Forgive them for what? For our thoughts. For every hatred and lust of the heart (cf. Mt 5:21-22, 27-28). For those never even acted upon, because God sees all, and not a thought goes by that isn’t known, not an evil thought that isn’t sin (cf. Prv 15:3; 1 Ki 8:39; Ge 6:5). For every conversation in the heart heard by God. For every time we had it out for someone, because God knows when we judge. He knows when we rehearse arguments, build cases, hold imaginary courtrooms to condemn others. For every time we failed to put things in the best construction. Forgive them for what? For our words. For every careless word (cf. Mt 12:36). For every harsh phrase spoken that cuts deeper than the knife. For every crass joke. For every slander and gossip that can’t be negated by public apology because, once it’s out there, it’s picked up by the wind, taken far and wide. For every time we failed to explain everything in the kindest way. Forgive them for what? For our deeds. For abuse. For those things enacted with someone else’s consent or seemingly good motives but were actually an affront to God. For failing to help our neighbor in every physical need.

The prophet says that the Christ would be “wounded for our transgressions… crushed for our iniquities… stricken for the transgression of the people… [that He] would bear all their iniquities… and make intercession for the transgressors.” He could do this for us because He would not do what we did. Jesus is the only one who always “acted wisely,” who did not turn “to his own way,” who “opened not his mouth,” who “had done no violence.” He alone could “make an offering for sin” because He alone is without sin. He’s the Righteous One “led to the slaughter” so that many should “be accounted righteous” (cf. 1 Pet 3:18), so that “the will of the Lord should prosper in his hand”—the hand pierced by sharp steel. “The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” for there was no other way, for sin is a matter of death and forgiveness a matter of blood (Heb 9:22). Because “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23), Jesus gave His life—a life that no faithless man sees as majestic or beautiful, but a life that every faithful man sees as the sacrifice, the atonement, the redemption. He “grew up… like a young plant, like a root out of dry ground,” sent to die on a dead plant, a cross planted in the ground. This was His choice for you in love. And when He was “high and lifted up” He prayed, “Father, forgive them.”

We sing stanzas 1 through 3 of “Jesus, in Your Dying Woes.”

Jesus, in Your dying woes,

Even while Your lifeblood flows,

Craving pardon for Your foes;

Hear us, holy Jesus.

Savior, for our pardon sue

When our sins Your pangs renew,

For we know not what we do:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

Oh, may we, who mercy need,

Be like You in heart and deed,

When with wrong our spirits bleed:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

The Second Word: Luke 23:43

And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

What words do you seek in your dying breath? What promises would you hear from those beside you? Because we don’t choose the time to die, there may be no one beside us, no words to hear (cf. Ps 90:3). Yet the words of God remain: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb 13:5). Is the sinner consoled? Is the thief hanging next to Christ—the one who confesses, “we [are indeed under the same sentence of condemnation] justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds” (Lk 23:40-41)—is that one comforted? He is! The words he desires most, he hears: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” The paradise of God, the paradise without sin! The sinful body must be put to death so the soul can rise to heaven so the body might be raised anew so the soul might be reunited with the sinless body. Both soul and body find hope in these words spoken by Christ and received in faith. The soul that longs for paradise and hates his own sin will live life in the body that no longer “falls short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). The soul that seeks those words in his dying breath hears those words—an unbreakable promise from his Savior, Jesus Christ, who does not lie. Like the thief on the cross 2,000 years ago, so will you be: confessing your sin, looking to Christ crucified, knowing His gracious presence, and hearing His words: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

We sing stanzas 4 through 6.

Jesus, pitying the sighs

Of the thief, who near You dies,

Promising him paradise;

Hear us, holy Jesus.

May we in our guilt and shame

Still Your love and mercy claim,

Calling humbly on Your name:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

May our hearts to You incline

And their thoughts Your cross entwine.

Cheer our souls with hope divine:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

The Third Word: John 19:26-27

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Mary is the mother of God. She heard the angel’s words and said, “let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). For nine months she carried her son, and for 30 years she cared for her son (cf. Lk 3:23). And now He cares for her from the greater gift to the lesser gift!

Why should God concern Himself with a sinner? “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Ps 8:4). Why should God care that a woman has a home if she’s finally to be forsaken? Is it so she might have some short-lived pleasure in this life? That sounds cruel… like giving a glimmer of hope only to take it all away in the moment the body goes from life to death! Jesus gives a home because He gave a greater home. He provides for Mary’s temporal need because He provided for her eternal need. He dies for her. He saves the one who needs saving. For nine months she carried her son; for 30 years she cared for her son; now in six hours He carries her sin; now in six hours He cares for her completely: He forgives her sin unto an eternal home.

Jesus gives a body because He has a greater body to give (cf. 1 Cor 15:44; 2 Cor 5:1-2). He gives His mother a temporal home because her body matters. The body He created, in which He lived for nine months, matters. The body matters because Jesus paid for the body, paid to resurrect the greater body, for “do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price” (1 Cor 6:19-20). Mary is not her own… she is her son’s. She is His, as are you (cf. 1 Cor 3:23), for you were bought with the same currency: the blood of Jesus. She watched the price be paid in a mother’s agony, yet the truth was never lost that Jesus gives things now so you might have all things then (cf. Heb 6:5)! He gives life in this age so you might have life in the age to come. He made His soul “an offering for sin” so He might “see his offspring”—you who are made saints through Him, just like His very own mother.

We sing stanzas 7 through 9.

Jesus, loving to the end

Her whose heart Your sorrows rend,

And Your dearest human friend:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

May we in Your sorrows share,

For Your sake all peril dare,

And enjoy Your tender care:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

May we all Your loved ones be,

All one holy family,

Loving, since Your love we see:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

The Fourth Word: Mark 15:34

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

The great mystery is the Trinity. The second great mystery is God made man (cf. SD VIII.33). The third great mystery is the forsakenness of Christ. God is one and cannot be divided—the Son can neither be here without the Father nor the Father there without the Son (cf. De 6:4; Jn 10:30). Yet the Son alone assumed the humanity. And the Son alone suffered the penalty we deserve, which is separation from God (cf. 2 Thes 1:9).

These words of Jesus are a prayer. They’re a prayer to the Father in whom He has faith. We might hear them as the first petition from last night’s psalm: “O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion!” (Ps 22:19-21). Jesus doesn’t talk behind His Father’s back. He doesn’t complain about His Father to those ridiculing Him at the foot of the cross. When they mocked Him, they said, “He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him!” (Mt 27:43; cf. Ps 22:8). In throes of death, Jesus resisted the temptation to trust someone else, someone other than God. Instead, He took his complaint directly to God because He has faith.

Every one of us knows the difference between someone lodging a complaint about you to you versus lodging a complaint about you to others—the former gives room for understanding, the latter for resentment. Jesus does not resent His Father. He wants to know the Father’s salvation. He wants to be brought out of suffering. But He also wants to suffer for your sake. He wants to bear this pain for your salvation. He goes to the cross willingly and prays His Father for aid—not because Jesus isn’t almighty, but because His Father is also God (cf Jn 20:17). He and His Father are both working for salvation, along with the Holy Spirit. All three want the same thing: the redemption of all men; man in fellowship with God; eternal non-separation of man and God, the way it was always intended.

To this end, Jesus cries, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He prays to God while dying for you. He prays to God as a man for the salvation of all men. And that prayer was answered by God when “he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

We sing stanzas 10 through 12.

Jesus, whelmed in fears unknown,

With our evil left alone.

While no light from heav’n is shown:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

When we seem in vain to pray

And our hope seems far away,

In the darkness be our stay:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

Though no Father seem to hear,

Though no light our spirits cheer,

May we know that God is near:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

The Fifth Word: John 19:28

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”

“He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Ps 121:4). He who keeps Israel neither eats nor drinks (cf. Ps 50:13-14). Yet Jesus slept on the boat, and Jesus ate with sinners (Mt 8:24; 9:11), for “since the children share in flesh and blood, [Jesus] himself likewise partook of the same things” (Heb 2:14). He submitted Himself to shared humanity to save you. He hungered, thirsted, slept, aged, wept, suffered, died. He came as a man—not as a sun or a moon or an angel, but as a man—in order to heal men. In order that you might be “blessed [to] hunger and thirst for righteousness [and] be satisfied” (Mt 5:6) on account of the full satisfaction of His death, which takes away every accusation of sin and gives you a heart of flesh that desires the good (cf. Ez 36:26). He took on all things human so you might call the One who has “sympathized with [all y]our weaknesses” my brother (Heb 4:15; cf. Heb 2:11; Rom 8:29).

What does it mean to be human? God knows! He’s not aloof. He came down from heaven to be with you and live as you. He knows what this human life is like—He knows it all in His very own body. Yet His sorrow was far greater than any other soul can comprehend, for the psalmist prophesied, “The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me” (Ps 18:4; cf. Ps 116:3). He “carried our sorrows” and more. He carried everlasting sorrows in six hours. His sorrow was more intense than anyone has ever felt. In that sorrow, He struggled. In that struggle, He remained obedient “to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8; cf. Heb 5:8). And He knows your grief. He knows how it feels to lose a loved one. Even though He never married for its earthly ends, the bride of Jesus is the church (cf. Eph 5:25). So when Lazarus died, “Jesus wept”—when Lazarus died, Jesus grieved (Jn 11:35). You are not alone in your humanity. God is man who knows grief and sorrow. And the Son of God remains man even now, even as He will for all eternity: your brother through life everlasting.

We sing stanzas 13 through 15.

Jesus, in Your thirst and pain,

While Your wounds Your lifeblood drain,

Thirsting more our love to gain:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

Thirst for us in mercy still;

All Your holy work fulfill;

Satisfy Your loving will:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

May we thirst Your love to know;

Lead us in our sin and woe

Where the healing waters flow:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

The Sixth Word: John 19:30

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

“It is finished.” It is paid. Full satisfaction made. There’s nothing else to be done. Every suffering and penalty for sin borne by Jesus. Every atonement for sin requited by Jesus. Every fist and spit and whip and thorn and nail and spear a payment made for salvation. He endured the mockery and the shame of hanging on a cross—no punishment withheld. We can’t add to it… neither can we take away from it! There’s no undoing it. “It is finished.”

“Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God” (Mk 14:25)—when He drank it from the cross while establishing the kingdom of God! When He drank wine while making payment for sin! Without His death, there’s no kingdom. Without His death, there’s no grace. Without His death, the price remains unpaid—even unable to be paid, for it takes the lamb of God, the “lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Pet 1:19; Jn 1:29). If we should make amends, wouldn’t Jesus send us to die? If we could pay the debt, wouldn’t He send us to the cross? If we would earn righteousness, wouldn’t we be stricken, smitten, and afflicted of God? But Jesus went to the cross to “sprinkle many nations.” He went to cover sinners by His blood so they might be “a new creation.” At the drinking of the wine, at the payment of the debt, “behold, the new has come,” for “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” Now “the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died.” You are fully redeemed because it was fully finished. And the words of Jesus before He died ring true: “there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power” (Mk 9:1)—the power of forgiveness through the precious blood of Christ.

We sing stanzas 16 through 18.

Jesus, all our ransom paid,

All Your Father’s will obeyed;

By Your suff’rings perfect made:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

Save us in our soul’s distress;

Be our help to cheer and bless

While we grow in holiness:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

Brighten all our heav’nward way

With an ever holier ray

Till we pass to perfect day:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

The Seventh Word: Luke 23:46

Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”

His faith doesn’t waver. The psalm reads, “In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me! Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me! For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me; you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge. Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God” (Ps 31:1-5). Jesus suffers the greatest suffering a man could ever know, yet the Father remains His rock, His refuge, His fortress. The Father remains the immovable, the place of shelter, the very stronghold against the enemy. The devil tried and failed. He tried in the wilderness, He tried in Gethsemane, He tried during each moment of Jesus’ life and failed… because the faith of Christ is perfect! Because every single one of His thoughts, words, and deeds are worthy before God.

And because that’s true—because Jesus lived the perfect life and died the perfect death for you—you commit your spirit to God. You commit your very being to God who has every good in mind for you, even in the face of evil and tragedy. When all things are against you and “there [is] darkness over the whole land” (Lk 23:44), you commit your spirit into the hands of your loving Father who works all things for your good so you might have life after death and reunion after separation, so all your suffering and sorrow might be overcome in the truth of forgiveness and the grace of God in the death of your Savior, Jesus Christ!

We sing stanzas 19 through 21.

Jesus, all Your labor vast,

All Your woe and conflict past,

Yielding up Your soul at last:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

When the death shades round us low’r,

Guard us from the temper’s pow’r,

keep us in that trial hour:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

May Your life and death supply

Grace to live and grace to die,

Grace to reach the home on high:

Hear us, holy Jesus.

Banner Artwork: The Crucifixion by Tintoretto (1565)

Tagline and introduction Scripture taken from the New King James Version^®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Sermon Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“Jesus, in Your Dying Woes” from the Lutheran Service Book (Concordia Publishing House, 2006). Text by Thomas B. Pollock. Public domain.

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