Those Seven Last Words...

In case this was not obvious, there are very few topics, whether related to scriptures or general theology, about which I would not enjoy writing (or preaching, were the pulpit available to me.) Perhaps the only one at which I would flinch (and, even then, only if I had to speak about all of them in succession) would be the Seven Last Words of Jesus on the cross. With Holy Week approaching, I have some sympathy for clergy here and there who may be presenting this from 12-3 on Good Friday.

As usual during Lent, I've been using Raymond Brown's "Death of the Messiah" (and various Tom Wright works) for lectio. Brown's massive work, with its detailed analyses and references to commentaries old and new, is fascinating indeed - but, as far as the seven last words are concerned, the illustration of how many odd points of view (don't get me started on Anselm...) have become attached to them is amazing.

I know I'm saying the grass is green, but preparing an integrated meditation on the words (as opposed to their exceptional potential for use in musical settings) is a task only slightly less complex than parting the Red Sea. Of course, the various 'words' are from different gospels, with very different theological points and specific settings. Yet what more than the Passion of Christ has been a taking off point for meditations in the past? (That is an observation, not a criticism, since I often meditate on that myself... even if I always manage to then get a few days ahead... then forty, the fifty... never mind where I end up, since it's the last thing we all mention in the creed...)

What prayer, for example, could be more beautiful than "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do"? (Anyone who emails me to speak of how Christian concepts of forgiveness keep anyone from dealing with grief will get 40 years in purgatory - and don't think I'm not connected. Please recall both who uttered these words and where he was at the time.) Yet the patristic era had many pondering just who was forgiven, whether the punishment implicit in 'let his blood be on us and our children' made forgiveness at odds with the justice, whether the prayer of Jesus meant that Jerusalem, which had to be wiped out for being his place of execution, had a 'stay' for 70 years instead of getting it at once. Today, of course, there undoubtedly would be some hearer (of the "if there is a problem here, I caused it" school) who would protest "but forgiveness means we judged someone!" (On a level more personal than scholarly, I'll whisper that I think Jesus just may have meant all of us... but I'll not expound lest I get into a missive on how we never fully realise the implications of what we do.)

"Mother, behold thy Son..." This is a magnificent depiction of how, in Johannine theology which is always concerned with the eschatological, the presence of Jesus' mother and the beloved disciple are beyond the concerns of this world. Sadly, treatments of this one have gone from everything such as whether John lived nearby to recruiting speeches for sodalities.

The last word which could have the most powerful treatment of all (and even has pastoral potential...) is "Why have You forsaken me?" Oh, is this a tricky one! (Anselm related this to the divine wrath being satisfied... get me another gin, even if it is Lent.) To have Jesus really mean this is a bit too human. I suppose he not only has to be strictly quoting a psalm (and have all onlookers recall the ending of said psalm), but has to be referring to Israel (as the psalm is) and not to himself.

Recently, a priest of my acquaintance (perhaps as nice a man as one could hope to meet, and a dedicated vicar - but the worst preacher on the planet) was going on and on, not able to stick to any topic, because he kept saying "but I can't say that, because I now know (this)..." It took me a moment to realise just what this new development was - he'd always preached dreadfully (he's the same one who, months ago, spoke of how he hoped Martha was resting in heaven while Mary flipped hamburgers), but not being able to finish a sentence because he was diverted by new knowledge was hardly long-standing. I then recognised some of the diversions and their clear source - he'd over-dosed on Raymond E. Brown! (I personally would like to see Brown canonised as a doctor of the Church - but one cannot read his lengthy works unless one takes one's time.)

This is a rambling post... about a rambling topic I never would care to tackle. So, I ask a blessing on any of you who are preparing talks on the Seven Last Words!