Seven Words for the End of Your Journey

From the Introduction

Dying is not easy. It can be filled with fear, regrets, loneliness, and pain. But Jesus’ Seven Words offer guidance and hope for the end of our earthly journey.

The purpose of this book is to help people die a good death. That term sounds incongruous, just like Good Friday—how can that Friday when Jesus suffered a horrible death be called good? Both good death and Good Friday convey confidence that in a very bad situation good can prevail.

The Seven Words deal with the real needs and experiences of dying people. It may be easy for a healthy person to tell the dying what to expect. But Jesus did not lecture from a distance. He entered into the experience, speaking for the dying as he himself was dying. Just as throughout his life Jesus taught people how to live, so in his dying he taught us how to die. Of all the end-of-life resources available, there is nothing more practical than the Seven Words of the Cross.

The Seven Words are not just for the elderly. Jesus himself was in his thirties when he died. Earlier, during his teaching ministry, he had cautioned people to always be ready, because things can happen when you least expect them. A wise application of the Seven Words is to live by them at all times so that when we come to the end of our journey we may be prepared.

Before we get into the Seven Words, let us look at how Jesus himself faced the reality of his impending death. During the last months of his earthly life Jesus recognized that he was in constant danger. The opposition to his teaching had become so great that it was only a matter of time till he would be assassinated. He also knew that it was his destiny not to fight it, or run from it. So he faced it, and knowing how devastating his death would be to his disciples, he sought to prepare them for it. The disciples of Jesus did not respond well to this because they believed that Jesus was the Messiah. Indeed, to them much of what Jesus did and said appeared to indicate that he was the Messiah. Except…his talking about the fact that he would have to suffer and die. This is not what his followers wanted to hear. They wanted to share in his messianic glory for the rest of their lives. And they were well aware that some Old Testament passages predicted that the Messiah would live a long life (see Psalm 91:16 and 21:4).

Is not that what we all want, long life? Forget about death conversations! But thoughts and conversations about death do not need to be morbid. From the words of Jesus we can learn how to focus our thoughts and actions on positive outcomes even at the time leading up to death. During my service as hospice chaplain I learned how important it is to face facts. For many people the dying process is harder than it needs to be because they and their family and friends are caught in a web of denial to the very end. Jesus’ disciples did not want to hear him talk about dying, and so they failed to support him in his final hours of anguish. So also in our time we may find that family, friends, and even clergy do not dare to use the D word for fear of discouraging the patient. Too often when a terminally ill person has attained the courage to accept that she is dying, others will try hard to push her into denial: “Don’t say that; you can still live a long time.” Or: “You’ve got to have faith; just believe that you are going to get better.” Or: “You have to keep fighting.” But if we let others push us into an illusion, we miss out on the power of faith that can give us peace and even joy when we come to the end.

How can we face death with serenity and hope? I believe that Jesus’ Seven Words of the Cross can be a great help to all who face their mortality, and also to those who care for them. In these words we hear how Jesus in his final hours still cared for the needs of others, laid bare his inner self by speaking of his own anguish, and showed how faith will triumph in the end.