Quick Bible Trivia:
What were the last two words spoken by Jesus on earth, as recorded in the Bible?
In fact, Jesus said the two last words not once, by twice!
If you already know the answer, I confess you have me beat.
I was surprised by the answer.
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The Promise of Paradise to the Criminal on the Cross?
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
(Luke 23:43)
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Jesus’ Separation from his Father?
When Jesus took on the sins of the world, he felt spiritual separation from God for the first time:
“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?”
(Mark 15:34)
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The Great Commission?
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
(Matthew 28: 19-20)
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The Promise of the Holy Spirit?
“I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
(Luke 24: 49)
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All of those verses are life transforming for us all.
Arguably though, Jesus’ last words are in the Gospel of John.
(Go to the very last page of the Gospels, right before the Book of Acts)
And Jesus repeated these two words twice.
To Peter after his resurrection.
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Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
(John 21: 19)
Moments later, as Peter noticed that John was following them, John records these final words of Christ:
Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”
(John 21: 22)
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Follow me!
What do Jesus’ last two words mean to you?
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Follow him? The teacher who rebuked the pharisees when they wanted him to wash his hands when they had not washed their souls? Follow the teacher who rebuked the lawyers who put burdens on others but did not touch those burdens with any of their own fingers? The teacher that cleared the temple of scurrilous profiteers? Republicanism claims to represent Jesus, but Jesus does not represent Republicans. Follow him? Where can I go to do that? His church has become an instrument of the same corrupt behavior that crucified him. Follow him? That is like telling a victim of the mafia to trust the police for help. Follow him? Maybe read the writings of his disciples. But his temple is still corrupt. The churches I pass on the road these days are not houses of that teacher. They are houses of something… less. And they follow someone… else.
Thank you Dave for your openness. I can’t speak to what goes on within each church building, but I share in your general frustration (hence, this blog). I’ve been personally impacted by abuse within man’s creations. I do recognize that the world itself is already condemned and cannot itself change. That being said, to answer your question… where to follow Him? I went back to God’s Word. I also expanded my network of followers to gain insight and strength from other believers (another purpose for this blog). Hope that helps. Thanks, Brent
Jesus’ said in Luke 9:23, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and FOLLOW ME.” This followed the feeding of five thousand and distiguishes those who wish to be disciples of Jesus from the crowd of people looking for fish sandwiches.
I believe it still does. Each of us needs to determine what denying ourselves and taking up our cross means as we follow Jesus, and with whom and how we will join in that following. I have found that to be both a personal and community journey.
Thank you brother Wendell. Good cross reference. You’re the second person this morning who mentioned Luke 9:23! We are indeed instructed to Follow Him. It is a matter of journey. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t translate to one hour a week on a sunday morning.
The words “follow me” in the context seem to mean follow Christ into sacrifice and suffering. I think Dave is asking, “What does sacrifice and suffering mean to a resident of the US in the 21st century?” I think it means the following things…
Christians must be counter cultural. They should resist libertarian forces in our culture that look out for individual’s interest at the expense of others. They can resist not shoveling their snow because they do not care if an elderly person ever visits them. The tendency to give others more lifestyle choices because of accomplishments happens most easily in the dogma of the Republican Party.
Christian should resist misplaced concepts of equality. A person may be equal in worth, but not function. A leader takes on the responsibility of others welfare at the expense of their own comfort. A leader has a different role than a follower, but every leader is also a follower, and every follower must lead. When a person chooses others’ interest above their own, then they are following Christ. The tendency to protect a system of equality at the expense of efficiency can happen most easily in the dogma of the Democratic Party.
Christians should follow Christ into eternal life. They must reject materialism and prioritize eternal and sometimes invisible things. They can follow Christ’s death by dying to self interest. They can follow Christ’s resurrection by focusing their desires on God’s kingdom which is not of this world. We are all members of humanity. A Christian must follow Christ by resisting the temptation to appease self interest and sacrifice. They must follow a road that sets their affection on things above that are sometimes invisible and nonsense to people with out a saving faith.
Thank you Pat. You always offer such great insight. You offer a well balanced response here. I will confess it is a daily challenge for me to stay focused on all that is eternal. But staying in the Word and engaging in healthy conversation and service every day certainly helps! Thanks again.
The bottom line is prayer makes a difference more than anything else.
Good call brother!
I expect that in the end there, Jesus was out of patience. He was out of kindness. Out of his mind. Oxygen deprived. Dying, but not fast enough. And he looked up at his source, and asked why he would not end his suffering. Why had he forsaken him? And in that moment God ended his suffering. And accepted the atonement. And transformed human destiny. But before Jesus got that crunched, emotionally and physically, he taught us to love God, and to love one another. Not to hate the gay ones, or enslave the black ones, or force unwanted pregnancies on the female ones, or to stone the other (wink wink) female ones. He said we ought to love one another. And we ought to do onto others what we would have them do unto us, if the tables were turned around. He taught to let some folks turn left in front of us. Give them the wave to merge in. Stand up and say “enough” when we hear a bully beating up people – even though he is fighting to end abortion. Jesus said to love one another. Then he asked God to hurry things along. Then something happened, and then he wasn’t dead anymore. And we got something in the bargain. And so did God. And so did Jesus.
The night before that he asked his friends to stay up and pray with them, and judging by his reaction when they chose to sleep instead, yes, as a follower of Jesus, I would concur that prayer is important.
Dave,
Is Jesus God? The Jesus Christ that I follow is Lord of the Universe and creator of the heavens and earth. The miracle of the gospel is that He chooses to empty himself and take the form of a human being. In doing this He can lead a perfect life while being tempted in every possible evil that life presents. In essence He becomes the second Adam, and this time gets it right. We continue to fall short, but he serves as our mediator. Because he lived a sinless life He can take our place on the cross like the innocent sacrifices of doves and bulls. He does this as the final sacrifice that makes atonement for our sins. Death could not hold him however. The great hope of our salvation lies in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When he rises from the dead we rise up with him as holy before a living God who welcomes us into eternal life.
Unfortunately, you are not able to understand or perceive this apart from the revelation of the Holy Spirit himself. It takes a divine revelation to understand the good news of our salvation. This is why I said that prayer makes all the difference. I am praying that God will reveal himself to you in a powerful way that will change your perspective to one that Jesus is God, and because of his holiness we can be empowered toward holiness.
Well thank you. I accept your invocation that a loving God that created me, and of which I remain an extension, will reveal Himself to me in full. I suspect that His voice is exactly as loud as my willingness to listen to it.
Thank you for the open discussion.
Follow Me. To me it means follow in my footsteps, follow my path, follow my ways. Follow my teachings, FOLLOW MY EXAMPLE. Do as Jesus has done.
Interesting post and discussion, Brent!
I took your question about the last two words to mean His final words in His earthly form (on the cross), not as the resurrected Christ. Thus, I was thinking, “It is finished”–3 words(?).:)
The call to “Follow Me” can only be attempted in any real way by giving ourselves to the study of Scripture and prayer. To follow Him, we must die to self–cast off the desires of our flesh–and put on Christ. There are other practices that are helpful along the path to following Him,(fellowship with other believers, reading Christian material, listening to Christian music), but the Lord speaks to us through His Word and prayer. Without those, we cannot know His will, and in turn, we cannot effectively follow Him.
I understand Dave’s frustration, but we so easily forget in our self-righteousness that we are all sinful and will be until our renewal is made complete in heaven. We must extend grace–the amazing gift given to us without which we would all be dead to salvation.
Indeed! Thank you Julie. I wrote this post because I was thinking the same thing (Jesus’ last words on the cross) and not his last words resurrected: “Follow me”. It does require immersion in scripture and prayer so the call to action is clear.