The Importance of Last Words
It's understandable that we humans place importance upon a person's last words. It's the final time they communicate something to us, and we hope some deep meaning may reside in such a terminal statement to the universe--something that might make sense of it all.
Jesus' Last Words in the Gospel of John "It is Finished" (actually just one word in Greek), are truly the most "Perfect" ever uttered. And the quote marks matter here. I'll explain in this post.
Jesus' Last Words from the Cross differ between the Gospel versions.
In Matthew 27:46, he cries out, "Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani (ηλι ηλι λιμα σαβαχθανι) which is translated, "My God, my God, why have you foresaken me?
In Mark15:34, Jesus says the same, however Mark gives us a purer Aramaic version of the utterance, "Eloi, Eloi, lima sabachtani" (ελωι ελωι λιμα σαβαχθανι). (Matthew's version replaces the "My God" element with the Hebrew equivalent.)
Luke paints a different picture. He has Jesus cry out, just before death, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." St. Luke was certainly aware of at least Mark's Gospel and perhaps he wanted to present Jesus at peace with his sacrifice, in contrast to the apparent despair that Matthew and Mark had depicted.
"It is Finished" - The "Perfect" Last Words
John's Gospel differs from the Synoptics in so many ways. And Jesus' Last Words are no exception. But unlike the other Gospels, Jesus' final statement is pregnant with a deeper meaning which the Evangelist establishes long before Our Lord ascends that Cross.
In John 19:30, Jesus said, "It is Finished (τετελεσται/tetelestai). And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.
But to understand what John really conveys here, we need to look at other places in his Gospel and Epistles where he uses forms of the root from which "It is Finished (τετελεσται/tetelestai)" derive.
John begins his own Passion Narrative with the following summary:
"Before the Feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end (John 13:1)"
The phrase "to the end" in Greek is "εις τελος/eis telos." It's the same root from which "It is Finished" is derived.
But the key to understanding Jesus's Last Words in John is the fact that this root conveys not just completion, but perfection. In other words, he loved us to perfection.
In John's Gospel and Epistles what is "perfected" is love.
Our Lord taught us about the crucial centrality of love when he said:
"A
New Commandment I give to you, that you love one another (αγαπατε
αλληλους/agapate allelous), even as I have loved you, that you also love
one another." (John 13:34).
And John reminds us that it is love that must be perfected when he writes in 1 John 4:12:
"If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us (η αγαπη αυτου τετελειωμενη εστιν εν ημιν/e agape autou teteleiomene estin en emin).
John further writes in his first epistle:
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love (η τελεια αγαπη/e teleia agape) casts out fear ... and the one who fears is not perfected in love (τετελειωται εν τη αγαπη/teteleiotai en te agape)." (1 John 4:18)
Understanding the connection between this root and love even tells us how Jesus intends the Church to stay united. For he prays in John 17:23 that the Church may be "perfected into unity" (τετελειωμενοι εις εν/teteleiomenoi eis en).
Indeed, all our sad divisions would soon cease if we would truly practice the same self-sacrificial love for one another that he commanded us. We would let go of those differences that should not divide us. And we would repent of those differences that should.
Our Lord died for us while we were yet sinners. (Romans 5:8)
And so, when he spoke those Last Words from the Cross, "τετελεσται/tetelestai," he was not saying, "It (My Life) is finished."
What he actually was saying was, "It (My Love) is Perfected."
Famous Last Words and Man's Search for Meaning
History has carefully preserved several examples of "Famous Last Words."
Perhaps the most notable of all is Julius Caesar's "Et Tu, Brute?" spoken not actually in Latin at all!
Caesar Augustus faced his final destination with the words:
"Acta est Fabula! Plaudite!" - "The Play is Over! Applaud!"
Perhaps he felt in his final moments that his life had been a show, indeed, a sham.
Nero, who styled himself an artist, uttered his last words lamenting the loss the universe endured:
"Qualis artifex pereo" - "What an Artist I am, who Perish!"
And in the end, no one's last words can truly satisfy that ultimate human hope that somehow this all matters. Nothing indeed will satisfy it, save for the Resurrection of Our Lord.
Jesus' Actual Last Words
Death has not had the Last Word. He is Risen!
We who cling to the Christian hope profess that, in the end, Jesus' so-called Last Words were nothing of the sort. He is Risen! And after his so-called Last Words, come others!
Matthew 28:19-20: "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."
Jesus still speaks today. He speaks through the Church he founded. He speaks through you and me.
But let us never forget, chief among the things he commanded us remains, "Love One Another."
And that is what he speaks to us every day.
Here is my cover version of the classic hymn "Ah Holy Jesus," for your contemplation of Our Lord's sacrifice:
To commemorate Christmas, CNN ran an opinion piece today by Dr. Jay Parini entitled Jesus and Mary: It's complicated.
After asserting that Mary and Jesus had significant disagreements, he concludes that "their relations ended on a note of deep accord, with Mary taking on
her role as "mother of God," becoming an important figure in the early
church."
But before he got there, he drags out a series of tired Modernist claims about Mary's behavior during Jesus' ministry that are designed to challenge the appropriate honor we Orthodox and Catholic believers accord her.
So here, one by one, are the erroneous Modernist claims (I say this as a former Modernist Protestant), and why they are a misinterpretation of Holy Scripture.
1) The Finding of Our Lord in the Temple
Dr. Parini asserts that the first "complicated" exchange between Jesus and Mary is when the family is on their way back from Jerusalem, only to find that Jesus has stayed behind and was debating matters of law with the teachers in the Temple. Jesus tells his mother, "Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" Dr. Parini states that "He was smart, perhaps a bit sassy. As the only glimpse we get of Jesus before the age of 30, it's a telling instance, however."
Telling of what? Few mothers, even Modernist Protestants, sympathize with the boy who put his mother through hell by disappearing for several days. But unless Dr. Parini has a lot more evidence to come, this will not really serve, retrospectively, as proof of a pattern of conflict between Jesus and Mary.
2) Mark 3:21. Jesus' Family says he is "Out of his mind."
Dr. Parini informs us that "In Mark 3:21, it's clear the family wishes he would cease and desist. 'He is out of his mind', they cry."
The Greek of this passage tells us that those who thought he was crazy were, literally, "Those of him" ( οι παρ' αυτου ). There is no reason to believe that Jesus' mother was part of this group. This could have been a group of his extended family with no involvement of Mary.
3) Jesus tells Mary "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" ( τι εμοι και σοι )
Dr. Parini informs us, 'This sounds harsh."
The context is the Wedding at Cana, John 2:4. Mary has asked her son to make wine out of thin water (a thing she apparently knows he can do).
The phrase "What have I to do with thee?" ( τι εμοι και σοι ) is exactly repeated in an exchange between Jesus and a demon in Mark 5:7. I've even heard Radical Protestants latch onto this fact and assert that this is proof that Jesus rebukes his mother in the same way as he rebukes a demon.
Only one problem. It's the demon who says this in Mark And it's Jesus who says it in John.
Now, the use of plural to denote respect was not operative for spoken Greek at that time. So neither the demon nor Jesus was disrespectful as such by the use of singular. The fact that the demon in Mark 5:7 speaks this phrase just prior to begging, from a position of weakness, to be sent into the pigs (as opposed to being cast out of the country), shows that the phrase "What (is there) to me and to you" is spoken by someone who acknowledges they are inferior to the one they are speaking with. So for Jesus to use this phrase shows us that, even though he is the Son of God, he also expresses filial piety toward the Mother of God. Not harsh at all.
4) Jesus speaks dismissively of his mother in Mark 3:35
Dr. Parini informs us that "Jesus says dismissively: "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."
The
context here is that someone told Jesus that his mother and brothers
were seeking to see him. This is only a diss and only dismissive if the
wider context of Scripture teaches that Jesus mother and brothers were
not doing God's will. And therefore, the gathered crowd were his real
mother and brothers and not those of his genetic stock.
But
if Scripture does not present Mary as opposing God's will, then Jesus
was simply teaching people that a relationship with God does not require
genetic relation to him. Thank God.
Yet Scripture clearly teaches that Mary is a paragon of doing God's will.
She it was that proclaimed "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to be according to your word." (Luke 1:38).
John
the Baptist leaped in the womb of Elizabeth when he heard Mary's voice.
(Luke 1:41) In the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth declared to Mary "Blessed art
thou among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb" (Luke 1: 42).
In the Holy Spirit Mary proclaimed "Henceforth all generations will call
me blessed (Luke 1:48)."
This passage is quite similar
to another which some misquote and mistranslate to dismiss Mary.
In Luke 11; 27-28 we read that a woman in the crowd called out, "Blessed
is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed."
Jesus replied, as oft quoted, "No, rather, blessed are those who hear
the word of God and do it."
Only problem, the word frequently rendered as "No, rather" is menounge ( μενουνγε ). The eminent Greek scholar Dr. Chrys Caragounis points out that this word actually means "Yes, and what's more..." In other words, once again what is translated as a diss on Mary is anything but.
And so, every passage paraded out as evidence that Mary did not support her son's ministry is a mistranslation or misunderstood reading of Scripture. The Mother of God sits in the front pew of every Church, leading us to follow and worship her son. Christ is born. Glorify Him!
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