Famous Last Words

Moses' Blessing

1 Listen, O heavens, and I will speak;
hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

2 Let my teaching fall like rain
and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants.

3 I will proclaim the name of the LORD.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!

4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he. -Deuteronomy 23:1-4

Moses' last words are quite the words. A long elaborate song telling the whole story, beginning with beautiful praise for his God. And then, he gives a blessing to each of the tribes of Israel. Finally, God takes Moses to the point where he can see the Promised Land, even though he will never cross over.

It's so wonderful to praise God's name. The other day I was just in my room and I decided to write my own praise based on a personalized version of a Psalm, proclaiming God's goodness. Sometimes this is very easy to do here in Tucson, and my room has a lovely view of the mountains. "His works are perfect, and his ways are just." When I feel anxious or worried, when I feel sad or downhearted, I need to remember the promises of the Lord. He will provide and all will be taken care of, because He is "a faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he."


Jesus' Cry

33At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"[c]

35When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah."

36One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said.

37With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

38The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and[d] saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son[e] of God!" -Mark 15:33-39

When I was younger, I used to be puzzled at Jesus' words here. "Didn't they border on blasphemy? How could he say such a thing? Didn't he know the plan? Didn't he know this needed to happen?" While it is still a bit of a mystery to me, I now understand the extreme physical pain that he was undergoing better than I did as a child. Also, I believe that Jesus took on the sins of the world, and here he said what a sinner would say... a sinner would be abandoned by God at the end for his sins, so Jesus took on not only the sin but the separation (the abandonment): Why have you forsaken me?


The 'famous last words' in these two instances stand in stark contrast to one another, and I can't help but think of how much Jesus gave up. Jesus deserved a death like Moses' and more, but he lowered himself to a painful death on the cross that brought him to cries of pain instead of praise.