Running Head: SEVEN LAST WORDS 1

Seven Last Words

Rachel Satira
Seton Hill University
SRT 280 01
Dr. Martino
November 4th, 2016
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Growing up with an ordained minister and reverend as a mom, a very religious family,

and being in a private Christian elementary school, I would say my academic study of Jesus is

greater than of other peers my age. In my Non-Denominational upbringing, I understood a great

deal about Jesus and his work. I was baptized twice, once as a baby then again when I was ten

years old. I accepted Jesus into my heart and accepted Him as my Savior when I was ten as well.

I had a strong church, Sunday school, elementary school, and Vacation Bible School programs to

keep me surrounded by God’s love. My understandings of the Bible were different from my

friends at the time. I was “advanced” in Biblical knowledge and understanding while most of the

teachings in the Bible were just stories to them that “flew over their head”. They didn’t absorb

and interpreted things like I did. From a very young age, I followed my parents and I believed

they have set me on the right path in Christ. To this day, I still am a firm believe in Christ, I pray

everyday, and thank Him for everything is has done and will do for me. Today, I can easily have

a conversation about any religious matter except my Catholic and Atheist roommates do not

understand where I am coming from and have differing views. I do not shove Christianity down

their throats and definitely do not try in any way to forcibly change their lifestyle. I have my own

lifestyle and I know it is the lifestyle God wanted me to have.

Now, one thing that concerns me every once in a while when my thoughts get to me is

dying and having my soul go to heaven. I know I accepted Jesus in my heart and as my savior

but when I make a bad decision, I always pray that Jesus forgives me because I am usually

overwhelmed with fear: fear of the unknown, fear of bad consequences, and fear that my life will

not be lived the way He wants. I don’t want to be on my death bed, worried if I have lived a good

life. Every day is a new day to start over and I see the works of Jesus in my favor everyday. The

chapters about forgiveness and the afterlife really captured my attention so I have decided to
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expand my opinions and interpretations on those last words. Jesus was born to die, that was his

purpose. His last words obviously can share a great deal of information. Reading between the

lines and digging deeper into what the true meaning of his last words meant is the hard part.

There are various interpretations of the “planned” time of Jesus’ life, that throughout the

centuries there are still relevance in the famous words. Like stated before, I believe God knows

everything that I will do, have done, and what I’m thinking about so I believe God planned Jesus

to say these specific seven quotes for a reason. I am excited and interested to interpret these

seven last words.

After reading Chapter One, I realized that I really never had a moment of radical

forgiveness but I have heard so many amazing stories about it. The author, James Martin, wants

readers to understand that there is more meaning behind the phrase “I forgive you”. To say it, is

one thing but to mean it and know that it is right with Christ, is another thing. The powerful

response only comes from the divine. The overwhelming emotions we feel lead us to react out of

spite and hatred rather than what is good and divine. God made the world and said it was good,

so we just have to live justly and honor God. We need to live the way He wants us to. People

either committing unintentional or intentional sin truly aren’t at fault. They might not even know

that they have done wrong. The person is more than the crime they have done. “Forgiveness

frees both parties” (Martin 22). It allows the victimized to live freely while setting the guilty free.

One cannot hold a grudge. When our Earthly time is up, people should not be holding grudges

against others. Forgiveness has to happen. My interpretation is that just because you forgive

someone, doesn’t make it right, it sets you free. We cannot harbor unforgiveness, resentment,

and bitterness in our hearts. Jesus, in his final moments cried out for forgiveness of the people

and criminals. Jesus spoke out to everyone because they haven’t experienced forgiveness. They
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didn’t know the truth and what it can do to a person. He knew that if He died without forgiving

them, there would not be peace in either party; the human and divine. Jesus could have lashed

out in anger against the sinners but He knew the only way to make the situation just and Holy

was to forgive. Jesus sees people with great potential because God placed them on the Earth for a

purpose, to share the Gospel, to live a Godly life, and we need to forgive because that is what

makes us right with Christ. One thing that stood out in the text for me is that forgiveness is a

grace given to us by God. One might say I can never forgive that person but God can and

through you, He will lead you to forgiveness. All one needs is the desire; the desire to live justly.

Personally, I have never been in a situation which I needed to forgive someone for a major

wrong doing. My parents have taught me to forgive even if it doesn’t feel right. My dad always

said, “You do not hate the person, you dislike their actions”. With that being said, forgiveness,

no matter how difficult it is needs to be done.

Along with Chapter One, I picked Chapter Two to analyze for this project because I can

relate to it the most. As previously stated, I had doubts about he afterlife. After reading Chapter

Two, I have realized that many devout believers have doubts just like me. We cannot be doubtful

because Jesus said not to worry and he does not tell lies. We have to put our trust in His words.

The last healing of Lazarus shows that believers do not die, they have eternal life in heaven with

God. Their Earthly time may be up but their soul will live in Heaven. During the final hours on

the cross, the Good Thief understood what Jesus was saying. The Good Thief realized that they

were “receiving their due rewards of their deeds but this Man has done nothing wrong. Lord

remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:41-42). He called the man hanging

next to him, Jesus, Lord who saves. Ones who seek healing or demons usually call Him by this

name. The other thief had a hard heart and didn’t believe. He wanted to see Jesus save himself.
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Another interpretation is through St. Paul. The first fruits are explained as Jesus being first to rise

from the dead. Jesus was the “first fruits” because he was first and everyone who believes will

come after. We are simply sleeping but after Jesus’ resurrection, we will enter to eternal life and

partake of that fruit. We have eternal life because Jesus showed us that on Easter Sunday when

he rose from the grave. God had a relationship with us since we were born. He controls our life

and we have to remember that God is with us. For me personally, it is the little things that I know

God has control over for me. I have to stop and smile and say “thank you God” because I know

He is with me working in those miracle moments. God gives us such amazing things, He

wouldn’t do all of this for us and not promise Heaven to humankind. It is up to humankind to

believe in Him. With this reassurance from Chapter Two, we are promised the after life by Jesus’

words on the cross, His resurrection, and by the loving relationship we have with God. That

relationship will never go away, even after we die. Jesus said don’t worry, there is a heaven. We

obviously have to trust Him; He does not lie which I found to be most meaningful. We often

times forget that Jesus’ words and God’s love do not fail. We have to accept Jesus as the Savior

in our hearts to know we will live forever in paradise.

To conclude, Martin strengthened my foundation in religion. I really enjoyed reading the

book. It gave me reassurance to some questions I had. After reading, I truly found a new insight

on Jesus. I even recommended the book to my mother. Out of curiosity, I asked my mom for her

interpretations of the scriptures Luke 23:34 and 43. I did not add them in the paper but I liked her

ideas. She thought it was very interesting that the book explained more than what she got from

reading the Bible. I liked how Martin included people of other religious backgrounds in sharing

what Jesus is and what his words meant. One connection I thought of while reading, was during

the beginning of the semester when we learned that the gospels were synoptic but still came from
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various places so the writing was fit for the backgrounds of the writers. The last words in Seven

Last Words also mentioned that the gospels had different viewpoints of situations. After reading

the book, I would say my spiritual life has reached a new level of understanding. My whole life I

was looking for answers and I found those answers in Seven Last Words. Yes, I will have eternal

life no matter what I have done on Earth and that forgiveness is a divine sense and it come from

God. I surely found the truth after reading this book. The cross has made us flawless because

Jesus died for us and showed that forgiveness and the afterlife were in our reach. All we had to

do was accept Christ in our hearts and as our Savior. This helped me reach a new understanding

and confidence in my religion.

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References

Holy Bible: New King James Version. (1984). Nashville: T. Nelson.

Martin, J., SJ. (2016). Seven last words: An invitation to a deeper friendship with Jesus. New

York, NY: HarperOne, and imprint of HarperCollins.