Jesus' last words – a mirror for us

The Gospels do not tell us what Jesus truly said on the cross – they tell us what people needed to hear.

What if that's precisely the point?

But first, let's start from the beginning:

We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He became human. He healed, proclaimed God's kingdom, gave people dignity, encouraged new beginnings, spoke out against prejudice and for justice and equality, for love, and showed thatlove is the greatest of all. He lifted people up and gave them hope. He became a model for life and called people to follow him —and he was not rewarded for his good deeds, but was cruelly condemned and executed by the Roman justice in his early thirties. And this death on the cross is a historical fact, mentioned by ancient historians such as Tacitus, Josephus, and Lucian.

For centuries, Christians have wrestled with the question: WHY?

Why did the Son of God have to die? Why was he humiliated and executed?

And once more, the old interpretations return – the ones repeated to me over the years, the ones I find terrible, confining, diminishing: He died because of you. For you. He died for your sins.

Whenever these thoughts surface again, I feel a chill inside me, and a wave of nausea follows. Who could possibly want that? Who could need that? A God who sacrifices his child for my sins? A God who requires blood to be shed before he can love me, or humanity, again?
No, thank you. That kind of thinking makes me feel trapped, diminished. No, thank you, that's not my God.

So I began to search – not for answers, but for a feeling.

How did Jesus himself feel about it? What moved within him as he hung there, on the cross, at the end of his life, before his death?

And suddenly I realised:

I'm not the first to ask this question.

The first disciples – the women who remained when most had gone – stood beneath this cross – confused, torn, stunned – and each of them tried to grasp the unimaginable in their own way.

And each of the Gospels offers an answer to the pain of those who followed him.

The recorded last words of Jesus are notabsolute truth. Perhaps he said them, perhaps he did not.

That's not the point. These words on the cross are above all the answer to what we need. What the evangelists wrote was meant to help us understand.

I would like to invite you to join me on this journey, under the motto: What if the words on the cross had been for us, for our understanding?

In the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, we encounter a Jesus who struggles, who is mocked, and who cries out to God: „God, my God, why have you forsaken me?“ Jesus feels alone, abandoned; he is a human being in dire need, who fights and yet despairs. Jesus dies with a loud cry.
He dies as people died then – struggling, fighting. Perhaps you know this too: from people who are dying and have no words left, or even inwardly, when you yourself had no words for your pain and distress.
Later, people tried to turn this into something triumphant (Jesus, the victor, our hero). (Irenaeus), 2nd century).

According to Matthew and Mark, magical and mystical events occur after Jesus' death: an earthquake strikes, and the curtain of the temple to the Holy of Holies is torn in two. In Matthew's Gospel, even the dead rise from their graves and walk about.
The centurion declares: „Truly, this man was the Son of God.“

What does this mean – for the people back then, and for us? God’s Son is utterly human; he dies as a human dies. After death comes revelation.

For those who are seeking, this is an answer that offers comfort and hope: God knows your suffering too. Jesus Christ was one of us, deeply human – and death does not have the final word.

That's one reading.

Another reading appears in the letters of Paul: Jesus is obedient unto death in order to restore God’s order. God is just. Adam and Eve brought sin into the world; Jesus frees humanity from sin. Jesus restores the connection between God and human beings. Not because God needs it – God is always present – but because people can find their way back to God. And in the Letter to the Hebrews, written some decades later, it says: Jesus has died the sacrificial death once and for all, so that everything may be made pure.

That sounds theoretical. But for me, it mattered. Because here it becomes clear: Jesus redeems all people. But it is not about my individual guilt. It is about liberation. Once and for all. Set free. With this reading, I can breathe. I am not made small; I am encouraged to take up my life.

Let us go on – what answers would you have needed beneath the cross? If you had been one of the women standing there? Would your questions already have been answered, or would you long for more, saying: This is not enough for me?

Perhaps you say: Jesus died because he stood firmly for truth, justice, forgiveness and humanity – and people could not bear it. Jesus is our example, our Lord, our Saviour and Redeemer.

Then your answer would come from the cross through the Evangelist Luke. Here, forgiveness unfolds even on the cross. He lets Jesus say: „Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.“
Of the two criminals hanging next to him (also recounted by Mark and Matthew), one repents of his sins and Jesus gives him courage: "Today you will be with me in paradise." Even in death, in dying, Jesus heals.

This, too, gives me courage – as if, no matter how difficult things are, change and new beginnings remain possible. Even in the final mmoments of life.

If you now think that was all: it is not.

The Evangelist John offers yet another interpretation: Jesus gives his life willingly; it is fulfillment, not failure. Jesus says, "It is finished." No abandonment, no fear, no lament. Even in his final hour, he creates family: John and Mary are given to one another as son and mother.

The evangelist John offers a different answer to the people: Jesus goes further – beyond the usual order of things. Jesus points towards a future, even in this world. God and Jesus do not merely pass through suffering; their path expresses a profound connectedness with all beings. Death becomes a passage into a greater whole.

Each of these interpretations by the Evangelists, and Paul 's as well, opens doors:

If you are feeling abandoned, then the cry, the humanity in Mark and Matthew, may be your comfort.

If you are feeling guilty, are longing for a new beginning, and despair because you don't feel lovable: then forgiveness, the promise of paradise, might be your path.

If you are seeking meaning, then perhaps John’s “It is finished” is the light that gently finds you.

If you are wondering whether there is something after death, Paul speaks with clarity: Jesus is the first to go ahead of us. And how could you even think that death is the end? No, you may go on, into what lies beyond.

So the question is not: Which interpretation is correct? A dispute about the “true doctrine” will not lead us anywhere. Rather: Which interpretation gives you breath? Which story touches you today?

Perhaps the cross is not a riddle we are meant to solve.

Perhaps it's a mirror –

What do you see when you look?

A profoundly human, lonely Jesus?
A Jesus who knows all suffering and walks with our suffering?
A Jesus who forgivesto the very end, who is pure love and mercy?
A Jesus who puts everything together, where everything makes sense?
A Jesus who goes ahead of us - gives us hope?

For me, the most important thing is not that I understand or prove what is “right”, but that I am invited to breathe and to live. That the answers may shift and change, because I am on my way