The Seven Last Words of Jesus from the Cross-Part 1: The First Word

“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34)

When I was growing up, I remember that my grandmother always listened to “The Sermon of the Seven Words” on the radio, which always aired on Good Friday. As a little girl, I did not pay much attention, but since I loved to be with my grandmother, I would usually be in her room playing while she had the radio on, so some of it would catch my attention. However, I wish I had paid a lot more attention because last week, I was asked to give a talk at a Lenten Retreat on this topic. One thing that I do remember hearing is that God sent His Son into the world, to save us from our sins. And even though Jesus was divine because He was God, He was also human and thus He feared the cross. That is why at the Garden of Gethsemane He asks His Father that if it’s possible, to please take the cross away from Him. But then He says something critical, He says “Not my will but Yours be done.” Jesus surrendered His will to God because He loved us so much that He knew that in order to save us, He had to give His life for each and every one of us. He suffered great pain and agony when He was scourged, stoned, kicked, whipped, and mocked. Yet that did not stop Him from offering Himself as a sacrifice. And even from the cross, in the midst of incredible anguish, He speaks to us. And it was those words that my grandmother listened to on every Good Friday.

Lucky for me, even though I don’t remember that radio show word for word, a lot has been written about Jesus’ last words from the cross. A few years ago, I got a little book by Venerable Fulton J. Sheen titled “The Seven Capital Sins.” Venerable Sheen was the auxiliary bishop of New York from 1951 to 1966, but he became famous in the 1930s when he delivered a sermon on this topic of the seven words on Good Friday 1933. He then gave this talk for fifty-eight consecutive years. In this book, he explains in detail the meaning behind these words. Do you know that each of these seven words, or sentences, contains a message of salvation for each of us? They do. Even in the agony of the cross, Jesus was not thinking of his own pain; He was thinking of us.

According to Venerable Sheen, the first sentence Jesus speaks from the cross: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34) was in reparation for the sin of wrath. And what is wrath? Wrath, better known as anger, causes us to be impatient and to lose our tempers easily.

There was once a young man who would get angry at the most insignificant matters. He was convinced that anger was ingrained in him, out of his control. He wondered why his family could not accept him the way he was. After hearing over and over from his wife that he needed help, he went to confession, and the priest assigned him an unconventional penance. He told him, “Take a wooden board and every time you get angry, hammer a nail into it. Come back to see me when the board is full of nails.”

The man went back to his house and carried out his penance faithfully. Before long, the board was full of nails. He looked at it and felt ashamed, but he returned to the priest with the board covered in nails.

The priest told him, “Now, make a conscious attempt to control your angry outbursts. Each time you succeed, take a nail out of the board. Bring back the board when there are no more nails in it.”

This time, it took him much longer to clear the board. But for every nail he removed, the man experienced a sense of pride as he began to gain control of his anger. After a few months, he felt relieved. Finally, the wooden board was once again free of all the nails. At this point, he went back to see the priest.

The priest took the board in his hands, examined it, and told him, “I can see that you have cleared the entire board of nails. But now, can you make all these holes disappear?”

The damage created by anger may be remedied, but it can never be undone. A mark will remain forever. We must learn to control our anger before it causes irreparable damage. Anger can break marriages and split apart families.

Copyright © 2026 Christy Romero. All rights reserved. If you thought of someone while reading this, bless them by sharing it with them.