At Litchard Mission, we’ve recently finished our controversially timed post-Easter series on the seven sayings of Jesus on the cross. (If you have a spare few hours, you can watch the messages on our YouTube channel.)
Meditating on these seven sentences left me with a greater-than-usual sense of my inadequacy as a preacher. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” How can we begin to fathom the glory of those words?
With my own limitations in mind, I was thankful for the wise input of a few Christ-exalting authors along the way. So, in case you’re planning an Advent series through the seven sayings, here’s a short review on two recent books.
Robert Nash - Last Words
(New Growth Press, 2020)
Don’t be put off by the excessive endorsements (one for every 8.78 pages). This is a wonderfully encouraging book.
Each chapter begins with a short exposition, looking at the words in their Calvary context before drawing connections with other Bible passages. Nash is keen to show how each of the sayings points to wider biblical truth, so there are a lot of cross-references (no pun intended). For the first saying (“Father, forgive them”), he takes us to the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18, the two debtors in Luke 7 and the Last Supper, as well as highlighting 14 other Bible verses.
Throughout these expositions, Nash draws out a variety of applications, with some well-placed rhetorical questions to make it personal. But the real blessing comes at the end of the chapter, where there are four reflection questions, leading you to “see your need”, “see Jesus”, “come near to God” and “go to others”. These are good fuel for personal meditation, or for discussing with brothers and sisters, both for new believers and more mature Christians.
This is the sort of book you could give to any book-reader in your church. It’s accessible, with short sections, but there is a richness to the connections and applications Nash points us to. You won’t get ground-breaking insights or answers to the difficult questions, but you will see more of Jesus, and that’s the main thing.
Fleming Rutledge - The Seven Last Words from the Cross (Eerdmans, 2004)
This book is the published fruit of a series of Good Friday meditations that Rutledge preached in 2002 and 2003. It’s a much simpler format than Nash’s book, but wonderful for different reasons.
In her meditations, Rutledge vividly captures the crucifixion scene, showing how “the Cross in reality is, by a very long way, the most irreligious, unspiritual object ever to find its way into the heart of faith” (6). She mingles first-century description with contemporary illustrations, drawing from the vocabulary of lynchings and the abuse of prisoners of war to reinforce the deep realities of Golgotha. And there are personal anecdotes to show the enduring relevance of the sayings too.
Although these are short homilies, there is still a close engagement with the actual text of the crucifixion accounts, including occasional mentions of Greek. She carefully shows how the third saying (“woman, behold your son”) is not just a Mother’s Day text and how the fifth saying (“I thirst”) points to the Son’s sovereignty as well as his humanity. There are fewer cross-references (no pun intended) than Nash, but a more detailed engagement with a few texts.
Through all of this, Rutledge’s aim is to lead us to a greater sense of wonder and worship, and that’s exactly what these meditations do—with a hymn at the close of each chapter for good measure. This is an excellent book for people who are familiar with the seven sayings but want to experience them afresh.
And, in Fleming Rutledge style, I’ll end this with some hymn words that I discovered during this series (recently recorded with a fresh tune by the Hymn Collective):
Hark! the voice of love and mercy sounds aloud from Calvary;
see, it rends the rocks asunder, shakes the earth, and veils the sky:
“It is finished! It is finished!” Hear the dying Saviour cry.“It is finished!” O what pleasure do these charming words afford;
Heavenly blessings, without measure, flow to us from Christ the Lord:
“It is finished! It is finished!” Saints, the dying words record.— “Hark! the voice of love and mercy” by Jonathan Evans (1784)
Shopping list
Robert J. Nash’s Last Words is available from 10ofThose.
Fleming Rutledge’s Seven Last Words is available from Eden or Logos.