The Last Words of Jesus (Part 1)

The Last Words of Jesus

The last words of Jesus on the cross come as a big embarrassment to Christian

scholars. First, there are four different versions in the Gospels according to Matthew,

Mark, Luke, and John. These verses are part of a Christian doctrine of divine inspiration.

If God had inspired these four writers, why did God inspire them to record different

words? These verses are not just different words, but totally different concepts.

The following are the "last words" of Jesus:

• In Matthew 27:46 Jesus’ last words were “Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani?” My God, my

God, why have you abandoned me? (Mark 15:34) though it is Eloi instead of Eli

• In Luke 23:46 Jesus cried: “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

• In John 19:30, Jesus tasted the vinegar. Then he said, ”It is finished.” Jesus bowed

his head and died.

If God inspired the Evangelists, and if they considered Jesus the Son of God,

then how could there be any discrepancy about the last words of God or the Son of God

on Earth? How can these verses be part of a supposed "divine inspiration"? No Answer.

One Christian Scholar has a simplistic answer: Jesus said all of the above! Then why

none of "divine inspirations" stated all of the above? It seems that the reasonable

statement should be the one that Jesus said in his own Aramaic language. Besides

those words were reported in two Gospels, Matthew and Mark. But this statement raises

more serious questions.

The last words of Jesus according to Matthew and Mark represent an eternal

mystery for Christianity. Why did Jesus think that God abandoned him? It is hard to

believe that Jesus said that God abandoned him. There are three possibilities:

• He said that. Then, why did the Son of God think that his father abandoned him?

Jesus told his disciples that he would die and rise from the dead in three days. He

knew that he would die and be resurrected, so how can that be called abandonment?

If he is the Son of God that came to save humanity with his blood, so how can that

can be called abandonment? If he knew his mission in life, so how can that be called

abandonment? This statement simply contradicts the entire New Testament. Many

Christian scholars have the same trouble justifying this statement.

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• He did not say that. This means that Matthew and Mark were not accurate, and God

did not inspire the Gospels, because God would not allow any inaccuracies.

• The man on the cross was not Jesus! This may seem at first sight that it is an

unreasonable idea. But if we know that the same sentence, word for word, exists in

the songs of David, Psalm 22.1, one may be tempted to suggest that the man on the

Cross was a Jew asking God for help from his Old Testament.

The Gospel of Barnabas gives the only reasonable explanation. The man on the

cross was not Jesus. He was Judas. Barnabas reported that before the alleged arrest of

Jesus, God commanded the Angels to take Jesus out of this world, Barnabas 215. Then

God acted miraculously that Judas was so changed in speech and in face to be like

Jesus that the apostles believed him to be Jesus, Barnabas 216. When Judas was taken

to the cross, he did nothing else but cried out “God, why hast thou forsaken me, seeing

that the malefactor hath escaped and I die unjustly?” Barnabas 217. The first sentence is

a prayer of the Jews from Psalm 22:1, so Judas was praying to God from the Old

Testament. The guardian angles of Mary ascended to the third heaven, where Jesus

was in the company of Angels, and told him that his mother was weeping. Jesus prayed

to God to come down to Earth to see his mother and his disciples. Then God

commanded the angles to bear Jesus into his mother’s house, and they kept watching

over him for three days. After the third day, Jesus was carried up into heaven.

The Sign of Jonas

One of the most debatable stories in the Gospel of Matthew concerns Jonas’ sign:

“Then certain of the scribes and the Pharisees answer, saying, Master, we would see

a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous

generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no signs be given to it, but the sign of

the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s

belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the

earth. (12:38:40)

Luke 11:29 “and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet”

Mark is in contradiction with Matthew and Luke with regards to the sign of Jonas:

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“And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. And he

sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, why doth this generation seek after a sign? Verily I say unto you, There shall be no sign be

given unto this generation, And he left them.” (8:11-13).

Matthew and Luke are in agreement, and Mark is in contradiction with Matthew

and Luke. Those verses refer to the discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus

says in both versions that this generation seeks a sign to believe. In Matthew and Luke,

Jesus adds that there will no sign but the sign of Jonas. In Mark, Jesus says that there

will be no sign without any exception. This is really outrageous. Did Jesus say the sign of

Jonas or not? Can any apologist claim that Jesus said that and did not say that at the

same time?!

Which version is right? Can God inspire right and wrong versions?

Is Jesus God?

• In John 10:30, Jesus said, “I and my father are one.”

• In John 14:28, Jesus said, “I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.”

In the first verse John records that Jesus equated himself with God, his father. In the

second verse John states that Jesus said that his father (God) is greater than he.

Athanasius adopted the first verse, and extended it to mean that God and Jesus are

made of the same substance. Arius embraced the second verse. They had a heated

argument in the start of the fourth Century, that lead to the first council of church.

Which version is right? Can God inspire right and wrong versions?

The Death of Judas

• In Matthew 27:5 Judas hanged himself.

• In Acts 1:18, Luke wrote that Judas fell on his head, his body broke open, and all his

intestines poured out.

Which one of these stories was inspired, and which one was not? The best

explanation that any Christian has come up with is this: Judas hung himself, and was

hung for days and became swollen and bloated so that when they cut him down he burst

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open! Sometimes the explanation is almost as humorous as the fact that people actually

believe the story in the first place.

When was Jesus crucified?

• In Mark 15:25, “And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.”

• In John 19:14-16 “And it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth

hour: and he (Pilate) saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out,

Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your

King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he

him over therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him

away.”

The third hour of the day was 9 am and the sixth hour was noon. This is even spelled

out in the NRSV Bible that gives the times and not the hour.

Jesus’ Apostles

• In Matthew 10:2-4, “Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first,

Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and

John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican;

James son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the

Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. “

• In Luke 6:13-16, “And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them

he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles: Simon, (whom he named Peter,)

and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and

Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, And Judas the

brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.”

The first list includes Lebbaeus Thaddaeus and only one Judas, and the second list

has two Judas

Do you believe that Matthew and Luke do not know the twelve Apostles? What would

they do if the number of the Apostles were 24!

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Matthew or Levi

• Matthew 9:9 “And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named

Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, follow me. And he

arose, and followed him. “

• Mark 2:14 “And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the

receipt of custom, and said unto him, follow me. And he arose and followed him.”

• Luke 5:27 “And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi,

sitting at the receipt of custom, and he said unto him, follow me.”

Jesus was walking and he saw a tax collector, whose name could be Matthew or Levi!

Is it the Gospel according to Matthew or according to Levi?