Jesus Last Words

All four gospels claimed to have recorded down the last words Jesus uttered before he passed away. We would expect, if their veracity is to be trusted that they all reported Jesus to say the same words. However, this is not the case. The evangelists simply cannot agree on what exactly Jesus said just before he died. We give below each gospel and their report of Jesus last utterance:

Mark 15:34,37 (Matthew 27:46,50)
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"...with a loud cry Jesus breathed his last.

Luke 23:46
Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.

John 19:30
When he had received his drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his life.

Obviously all the above passages contradict one another. Not all of them can be true. And, as usual, all have theological reasons for putting their own version of what Jesus' last words were. Mark's source was the book of Psalms:

Psalms 22:1
My god, My God why have you forsaken me?

Luke's source was another verse from the same book:

Psalms 31:5
Into your hands I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

John�s version is in keeping with his portrayal of Jesus throughout the passion-his saviour was triumphant. So just as he triumphantly carried the cross himself, he now exclaims the final accomplishment of his mission. As usual none of these accounts have any valid claims to historicity. [1]

Back to the top

References

1.	Guignebert, Jesus: p485-486 Helms, Gospel Fictions: 123

Back to the top

[Home] [The Central Thesis] [Christianity] [The Bible] [Jesus] [Paul] [God] [History] [Pascal's Wager] [Bibliography] [Links]
© Paul N. Tobin 2000
For comments and queries, e-mail Paul Tobin

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws