Lasts of Jesus
Week 5
Last Words
Scripture Readings: Mark 15:33-41, Luke 23:44-49, John 19:28-30
Opening Question
What word or phrase stood out most to you in these scripture passages?
Core Question
1
How would you translate Jesus’s last words? What is He really saying?
Core Question
2
How do you think God answers Jesus’s question, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
Core Question
3
What do you think happens between Jesus’s desperate “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” and His “Into Your hands I commend my spirit”?
Closing Question
In Jesus the King, Timothy Keller points out that the centurion presiding over the crucifixion is the first human being to publicly recognize Jesus’s divinity as the Son of God. Keller believes this is why:
By saying the centurion ‘heard his cry,’ Mark is pressing the story right up to your ear. If you listen closely to that cry—My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?—you can see the same beauty, the same tenderness. If you see Jesus losing the infinite love of his Father out of his infinite love for you, it will melt your hardness. No matter who you are, it will open your eyes and shatter your darkness."
Which of the final words of Jesus have the greatest impact on you today? Why?