FAMOUS LAST WORDS
I would like to begin with a question and then ask for a few
moments of quiet—a pause—to reflect on the question: “If you could choose your
dying words—the last words of your life—what would they be?”
(PAUSE FOR A FEW MOMENTS OF QUIET)
Now, obviously, most of us will not have that choice. As the
Dutch proverb puts it, “Death does not blow a trumpet.” Most of us will not
know when or where or how we will die.
So let’s put the question this way: “Right now, what would
you like your last words to be?”
(PAUSE FOR A FEW MOMENTS OF QUIET)
OPENING IMAGE
A man was a hopeless alcoholic for most of his life. He
abused his wife. He was a menace to his children. Then there was the separation
and the divorce. As a father, he was a disaster and a failure.
The family lost track of him as they grew up, married, and
moved to various parts of the country. However, one of his daughters, almost by
accident, found out he was dying in a nearby hospital.
And she was blessed to be by his bedside before he died. A
short time before he sank into final unconsciousness and death, his final words
were: “I’m sorry. I really made a mess of my life, didn’t I? You kids and your
mom had every right in the world to be angry with me. I’m sorry. I apologize.
Please forgive me.”
Those were the last words he spoke. For months after his
death, his daughter thought about his dying words. Slowly she was able to
forgive him for what he had done to her, mom and the other kids. Not only was
she able to forgive him, but she was also able in time to be healed of many of
the hurts that were still inside of her because of him.
And in time she was also able to share with her brothers and
sisters that final scene of his death and his last words and how she learned to
forgive him and the inner healing that resulted.
HOMILETIC
REFLECTIONS
In today’s Gospel from John 17: 20-26], we have a scene from the Last
Supper — FAMOUS LAST WORDS—of Jesus the night before he died.
He prayed a powerful prayer to his Father for unity, that
all might be one.
Isn’t that the prayer of so many parents for their families,
that there be family unity, especially after they die?
Jesus prays for his disciples, but also for the whole world,
for all families, for all communities, that all may be one.
Recently in class, a group of 8th Graders were
sharing their dreams. A 12 year old girl said that she would like to go to
Russia. “Why?” And she answered her teacher’s question, “They can’t be all that
bad. They’re people. There must be some way we can get this world together.”
Now isn’t this dream of a 12 year old girl at the beginning
of her life, the same hope and dream of Jesus at the end of his life—just
before he died?
“That all may be one—as we are one!”
And from the cross the next afternoon after his Last Supper,
Jesus gave us a formula for unity. It’s a “HOW TO”—a how to bring about unity
and peace. And it’s one of Jesus’ traditional Seven Last Words from the Cross
before he died: “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”
Obviously, we all should know what we are doing, but so many
times we don’t.
“Father, forgive us for we don’t know what we are doing.”
PRACTICAL
APPLICATIONS
Now, these famous last words of Jesus from the cross can
bring about the peace and unity he prayed for at his Last Supper.
“Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are
doing.”
Isn’t that the formula that the alcoholic father I mentioned
earlier was asking his daughter to accept as he was dying? He wanted his
daughter to forgive him because it wasn’t till the very end of his life that he
realized what he had done. And eventually she forgave him. It took time. It
took prayer and reflection on his dying words, but she reached the point where
she could let go of the many hurts he had inflicted. And the result was inner
peace and unity within herself and with her dad—even though he was dead.
Now most people would say, “It’s too hard. It’s too
difficult to forgive. I just can’t forgive him.” “I just can’t forgive him or
her after all he or she did to me.” “I could never say, `Father, forgive him
for what he did to me.” And don’t they add, “He knew very well what he was
doing to me.”
And the result is: we stay where we are. We remain in a pit
of anger—a hole of hurt. But do we realize we are actually hurting ourselves by
not forgiving others? Most of us don’t know that’s what we are doing. “Father,
forgive us for we don’t know what we are doing.”
And isn’t that the reason why Jesus taught us to forgive.
Trying to get back at another boomerangs back at ourselves. Why continue the
vicious circles of hurt and mistakes in our life? We are the ones who can stop
problems by starting to forgive—by starting with ourselves and not by sitting
around sulking because other people are not changing and saying they are sorry.
“Father, forgive me, I don’t know what I am doing.”
“Father, teach me to know what I am doing: forgiving.”
“Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are
doing.”
“Father, teach them to know what they are doing: hurting
others.”
So the first step is to start with ourselves. We have to
become more aware of what we are doing. We need to step back and realize we
excuse ourselves all the time for not knowing what we are doing. And if we
forgive ourselves with the excuse: “I wasn’t thinking,” or “I didn’t know what
I was doing,” why can’t we do that to others?
Forgiveness then is a key ingredient in being a Christian.
In fact, along with love, it’s one of the two major signs of being a Christian.
As the old song went, “Yes, they will know we are Christians by our love, by
our love. Yes, they will know we are Christians by our love.” Now let us add:
“Yes they will know we are Christians by our forgiving, by our forgiving. Yes,
they will know we are Christians by our forgiving, by our forgiving.”
In today’s first reading, we see the story of someone who
followed Jesus’ advice and uttered almost the same last words of Jesus. As he
was being killed, Stephen said these last words before he died: “Lord, don’t
hold this sin against them.”
Wouldn’t we all love those last words of Stephen or the last words of Jesus to be our last words? There would be lots of healing for years to come after our death because of them.
But as I said in the beginning, we don’t know what our last
words will be. And why wait till our end to speak words of forgiveness, unity
and peace? Make Stephen’s last words, make Jesus’ last words, your words right
now.
And we don’t have to go to Russia to find people we are not
united to. There are people all around us—right now—in our midst whom we can
forgive. There are members of our family whom we still hold hurts and
resentments against. Why wait till our death bed? Why not make future moments
in hospitals and funeral homes easier now, by words of forgiveness now?
And don’t we all still inwardly say, “All this is beautiful;
forgiveness is wonderful, but it’s too difficult?”
And behind that objection stands one person: myself alone.
We forget that being a Christian means that we don’t have to
go it all alone. We have community. We have others. We can reach out for help,
for advice, for counseling, for prayer, to learn how to forgive. And C. S.
Lewis would add that we don’t have to start learning how to forgive with the
big stuff. Start with the little stuff.
And today’s second reading [Revelation 22: 12-14, 16-17, 20] challenges us
to reach out to Jesus for help. Pray the prayer which is the famous last words
that end the New Testament, “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus.”
Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega of forgiveness, the first
and the last to forgive, the Root and the Offspring of forgiveness, the Morning
Star of forgiveness. If you find it impossible to forgive someone who hurt you,
if you find it impossible to pray the words of Jesus, “Father, forgive them for
they don’t know what they are doing”, if you find it impossible to say the
words of Stephen, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them”, have you reached
out to Jesus in prayer and asked him to teach you how to forgive, “Amen! Come,
Lord Jesus!”
