Good Friday 2016: Seven Last Words That Jesus Uttered On the Cross, Messages and Bible Verses

By Julie Brown Patton

As Christians around the world focus during this Easter weekend on how Jesus Christ died on the Cross to redeem mankind and to save sinners, some will be contemplating the final lessons the Savior's last imparted.

As recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Holy Bible, Jesus Christ was mocked, scorned and tortured in the praetorian. He carried his cross up the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem to Calvary, was nailed to the Cross and hung between two common criminals. He suffered an indescribable end, recalled by the Church on Good Friday of Holy Week. 

Some Christians reference meditations about the Passion of Christ as the Way of the Cross. 

When religious pilgrimages to the Holy Land ended with the military occupation of Jerusalem in the Middle Ages, a popular devotion known as the Way of the Cross arose during Lent retracing the Passion, Crucifixion, and Death of Jesus.

The 14 Stations of the Cross are (1) Pilate condemns Jesus to death; (2) Jesus takes up his Cross; (3) He falls the first time; (4) Jesus meets his sorrowful mother Mary; (5) Simon helps carry the cross; (6) Veronica cleans his face; (7) He falls the second time; (8) Jesus consoles the women of Jerusalem; (9) He falls the third time; (10) Jesus is stripped of his garments; (11) Jesus is nailed to the cross; (12) Jesus Christ dies on the cross; (13) He is taken down from the cross; (14) Christ is laid in the tomb. 

Feet Good Friday
Feet Good Friday Reuters

Following are the last seven expressions recorded in Scripture of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." -- Gospel of Luke 23:34

"Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." -- Gospel of Luke 23:43

"Jesus said to his mother: "Woman, this is your son." Then he said to the disciple: "This is your mother." -- Gospel of John 19:26-27

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" -- Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34

"I thirst." -- Gospel of John 19:28

"They put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished;" and he bowed his head and handed over the spirit. -- Gospel of John 19:29-30

"Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." -- Gospel of Luke 23:46

Jesus was obedient to His Father to the end, and his final word before his death on the Cross was a prayer to His Father.

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