…Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and carrying the cross himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, "Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews." Now many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that he said, 'I am the King of the Jews.'" Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written." When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares, a share for each soldier. They also took his tunic, but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top down. So they said to one another, "Let's not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be," in order that the passage of scripture might be fulfilled (that says): "They divided my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots." This is what the soldiers did. Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I thirst." There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, "It is finished." And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit…(Jn 18:1-19:42)
“He said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.'” These words are the word of Jesus on the Cross and one of the last words. These words tell us that Jesus does not leave his people alone or divided rather he builds relationship among them. He has come to build unity and relationship among people. He came to bring people together. Even the very last act and words of Jesus to the others were to relate them to each other so that each can bring the other home.
‘I thirst’ were again one of the last words of Jesus. These words reflect his own situation. Though it presented the physical situation of Jesus, yet we can see in these words the longing of Jesus. His thirst was to fulfill the plan of God in his life. The physical condition of thirst was due to his suffering and agony in fulfilling the mission given to him by the Father.
‘It is finished’ puts him relation to the Father. The Father had given him a mission and sent him in to the world. His mission was to preach the kingdom and begin the kingdom among the people. His three years of public ministry was solely doing this. He gave primacy to God and led the people to God and to one another. He has completed this and hence he, with the sense of completion, could say it is finished.
The last three words of Jesus, as we see in the Gospel of John, present the three relationships: Jesus’ relationship with the others (his work for them), his relationship within himself, and his relationship with the Father.
