Who was crucified? “Crucifixion was the standard Roman mode of punishment for capital offenses against Rome, and hence was practiced on a large scale in Judea under the Roman occupation. All acts of rebellion against Rome were a capital offense.”

Slaves could be crucified for less crimes but free men only for capital offenses. However, Roman citizens were not crucified at all. They were beheaded, which is why Paul was not crucified but Peter was.

The four gospels collectively report seven “words” (phrases) that Christ spoke from the cross. The words differ between the four gospels, but this is neither surprising nor alarming: if you get four people to watch the same event, then you will get a general agreement on what happened but four different perspectives. God inspired human beings to write his Word down but he is also gracious to work within our humanity, and so each gospel writer brings a true yet different perspective to the same event.

The Words

The Words don’t have a strict chronological order, because none of the four gospels have all seven words in them. We can work out a rough order.

1. “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke)
2. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke)
3. “Woman, behold your son. [John], behold your mother.” (John)
4. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew, Mark)
5. “I am thirsty.” (John)
6.  “It is finished!” (John)
7. “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke)

“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

His words are incredibly gracious, asking his Father to forgive the mob that turned against him and even now screamed for his torture and death. Yet he loved them anyway – just like he loves us, for how often do we turn away from him too?

“I promise you that today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

The word usually translated as “thief” is leistai, which translates roughly to “freedom fighter” if you support their goals and “terrorist” if you didn’t! Just because these were Jewish rebels doesn’t mean they were nice guys. Rebel gangs had little against murder and stealing to support their cause. But it would be the rebellion against Rome aspect that got them crucified.

In Matthew and Mark, two criminals were being crucified with Christ, one on his left and the other on his right. They were both mocking Him. But in Luke, the second rebel yelled at the first to “Shut up!” He said that they deserved what they were going through, but Jesus did not. This thief then turned to Christ and asked him to remember the poor thief when Christ came into his kingdom. Jesus told the thief that he would be with Him this very day in heaven. It is likely that both criminals started out mocking Him but the second one had a change of heart.

“Woman, behold your son. [John], here is your mother.” (John 19:26-27)

When Jesus saw his mother standing near the cross with other faithful women and John, the Beloved Disciple, Jesus cared enough in his extreme suffering to put his mother into John’s care. John was faithful; from that hour he took her unto his own home.

By the way, we would have expected Jesus to put Mary into the care of her other sons, not John who was no relation. Likely reasons: 1) her other sons (and daughters) weren’t there at Jesus’ crucifixion, and Jesus did not want His mother to leave alone. 2) John was “the beloved disciple,” and was probably closer to Jesus than his own brothers, who thought Jesus was crazy until after the Resurrection!

His brothers and mother Mary came to belief, they show up again in the book of Acts, in the Upper Room after Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension.

¹² Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. ¹³ When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. ¹⁴ They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. (Acts 1:12-14)

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34)

This word occurred near the end. Mark and Matthew both report that Jesus spoke the words at 3:00 in the afternoon, and died shortly after. This saying is a direct quote from Psalm 22:1: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?”

In fact, the entire Psalm 22 is a Messianic prophecy!

“I am thirsty.” (John 19:28)

Of course he was thirsty. Dehydration hurried the crucifixion victim’s dying process along. The guards offered him bitter herbs (gall and/or myrrh) that had narcotic qualities. They mixed the herbs with cheap wine – i.e. vinegar to make them drinkable. But Jesus refused it. Jesus was also fulfilling the Messianic prophecy from Psalm 69:21: “They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”

John adds something interesting in 19:28-29: ²⁸ Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.”

On one hand, the hyssop stalk is fairly long, and would have reached Jesus’ mouth. But hyssop is more than that. At the first Passover, when God told the Israelites to mark their doorposts with lamb’s blood so the angel of death would pass over them, God was very specific about the paintbrush: a bunch of hyssop. David also talks about hyssop in Psalm 51:7: “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”

In the Old Testament, blood and hyssop purified a sinful person. Jesus’ shed blood and the hyssop plant are the same image.

“It is finished!” (John 19:30)

This is the third saying in John and the seventh and last in the gospels. With Jesus’ last words his suffering was finished. He still descended into death but within days he would rise again, alive again forever… and us with him.

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:46a)

John ends the Crucifixion account with “It is finished!” Luke ends it with “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Jesus was quoting Ps. 31:5: “Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.”

The whole verse says even more: ⁴⁶ Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ When he had said this, he breathed his last.” (Luke 23: 46) A loud voice! That should not have been possible. Crucifixion mostly kills you by strangling you. Your lungs cannot fill with air because of the weight of your hanging body. The crucified would try to push up with their feet to take a breath, which of course was horrible enough. This is why after Jesus died, the guards broke the legs of the two rebels – so they’d die faster, in time for the beginning of the Sabbath.

But Jesus spoke in a loud voice! Biologically impossible, this was His final earthly miracle before His Resurrection.