Someone mentioned to me the other day that "If they can't even get Jesus's last wrods right, something that you would think would be important, how can we assume anything is right?" I was curious what versus he might be referring to (he wasn't sure) and wanted to see what you thought.

-vikinghelmut

Well, the Gospels differ in their accounts. Matthew and Mark are practically identical:

But in Luke, Jesus' tone changes:

John portrays a much more stoic Jesus:

Actually Matthew, Mark and Luke are quite easily reconciled.
Matthew27:50"Jesus, when he cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost."
Mark 15:37 "And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost." This is after Jesus was offered the sponge of vinegar(Mark 15:36) Compare this with the Luke passage you quoted: "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice(the cry of Mark 15:37, Matthew27:50), he said "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit."

This seems to fit rather well: Matthew and Mark may not have recorded the words of this cry for numerous reasons. Since Both Matthew, Mark, and Luke put this cry(in Luke with words) after the offering of vinegar, they very closely cooincide and it seems likely that the words in Luke were embedded in the cries of Matthew and Mark.

John portrays a much more stoic Jesus:


quote:
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John 19:30
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
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[/QUOTE]
The gospel of John is purported to be written by the disciple John, who was the one disciple that did not leave Jesus at his crucifixion.(perhaps the reason why he of the 12 was the only one(besides Judas) who was not martyred)
Obviously the pertinent question here is "Are the last words recorded neccesarily the last words Jesus spoke?" I would argue, no. I am not about to work out the order of these words at this time, and so I would say I am not sure what Jesus' last words were. I would lean towards "It is finished." Since these are the words heard by John himself. Jesus could have muttered these last words after proclaiming "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." which only a few would hear, John being one of them.

Did the gospel writers pick and choose words for theological reasons? Probably. Which does not mean that they were not said, only some were sifted out for the sake of the reader. Luke does not record the Psalm reference("My God, My God..." since Gentile readers would not have understood it anyway.
It could have led to misunderstanding on their parts as well. Jewish readers would understand the "My God..." as being a reference to psalm 22, and taken it in that context. Gentiles might suppose that God acutally had forsaken Jesus and so been confused. As with the scream/"Father, into my hands.." we could surmise that either Matthew and Mark's sources did not understand the scream, or that they left it out for other reasons. The "It is finished" words would have been very quiet compared to the previous yells: so one that was close to the cross like John would pay note what others could not hear. Also John writes about Jesus commanding him to take care of Jesus' mother. Whether or not this was well-known is unimportant: it would certainly be more important to John and therefore more worthy or note, while to the other gospel writers it was a cumbersome detail.

I will refer a "harmonization" if anyone is interested. I think the 4 views of the death of Christ are easily likened to the 4 views any group of 4 would have about an accident, and the details that seem important or unimportant. The order of dmany events can be put together in all cases, although there are some events which we can time less clearly.

Another anonymous Christian writer puts these words into Jesus' mouth: "And the Lord cried out, saying, 'My power, power, you have abandoned me.' When he said this, he was taken up. And at that moment, the veil of the Jerusalem temple was torn in two." (Gospel of Peter 5:5-6)

It is highly probable that the anonymous writers of the narratives knew little or nothing of what Jesus said at his execution.
The writer of Matthew borrowed from Mark. The others chose to have Jesus say something else, probably for theological reasons. Suffice to say, based on the available evidence, we can never know for sure what Jesus said, if he said anything at all, just before he died.


rodahi