Words from the Cross

The final words of Jesus on the Cross at the last moments of his earthly life offer us demanding instructions for our prayers.  Jesus, who asks the Father to forgive those who are crucifying him, invites us to take the difficult step of also praying for those who wrong us and have injured us.

Jesus, who at the moment of death entrusts himself totally to the hands of God the Father, communicates to us the certainty that, however harsh the trial, however difficult the problems, however acute the suffering may be, we shall never fall from God’s grace that created us and sustain us on our way through life — we are guided by His infinite and faithful love.

These final words of instruction come to us through the three times that Jesus spoke on the Cross.

The first prayer that Jesus addresses to the Father is a prayer of intercession — He asks for the forgiveness of His executioners.  By so doing, Jesus is doing in person what He taught in the Sermon on the Mount when He said: “But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27).  He also promised to those who are able to forgive: “But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High …” (Luke 6:35).  Now, from the Cross, Jesus not only pardons His executioners, but also addresses the Father directly interceding for them.  Jesus’ actions are imitated in the account of the stoning of St. Stephen, the first martyr.  Stephen, nearing his end, “knelt down and cried in a loud voice, “Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’; and when he said this, he fell asleep” (Acts 7:60).  The comparison between Jesus’ prayer for forgiveness and that of the first martyr is significant.  St. Stephen turns to the Risen Lord and asks that his killing not be held against those who stoned him.

Jesus on the Cross addresses the Father not only asking for the forgiveness of those who crucify Him, but also reflects on what is happening.  According to what He says, the men who are crucifying Him: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).  He postulates ignorance, not knowing, as the reason for His request for the Father’s forgiveness.  This then opens the door to conversion as happens in the words of the centurion at Jesus’ death: “This man was innocent beyond doubt” (Luke 23:34)

The second time that Jesus speaks on the Cross is His answer to the prayer of one of the two men crucified with Him.  The good thief comes to his senses and repents before Jesus.  He realizes that he is facing the Son of God and begs Him, “… “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42).  Jesus’ answer to this prayer goes far beyond the request. In fact, He says, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).  Jesus knows that He is coming into direct communication with the Father and reopening to man the way to God’s paradise.  With this response, Jesus gives us the firm hope that God’s goodness can also touch us, even at the very last moment of life.  Sincere prayer, even after a wrong life, opens the arms of the Father who awaits the return of His Son.

Let us consider the last words of Jesus dying: “It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle.  Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit’; and when he had said this, he breathed his last” (Luke 23:44-46).  The words spoken by Jesus’ invocation to the Father borrow an invocation from Psalm 31:5, ‘Into your hands I commit my spirit.”  These words express Jesus’ firm decision to deliver Himself to the Father in an act of total abandonment and total trust in God’s love.  Jesus’ prayer as He faces death is dramatic, but it is also imbued with a deep calmness that comes from trust in the Father and the desire to commend oneself totally to Him.

In Gethsemane, Jesus began His final struggle, and “He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground” (Luke 22:44).  Nevertheless, He was fully obedient to God’s will, and because of this “and to strengthen Him an angel from heaven appeared to him” (Luke 22:43).  Now in these moments, Jesus turns to the Father, telling Him into whose hands he really commits His whole life.

Now that life is about to depart from Him, He seals His last decision in prayer: Jesus let Himself be delivered into “the hands of men”, but it is into the hands of the Father that He places his Spirit, thus, as the Evangelist John affirms (John 3: 16), all was finished, the supreme act of love was carried to the end, to the limit and beyond the limit.

This article is adapted from a reflection presented at St. Andrew Catholic Church, Cape Coral, Florida on February 23, 2025