Famous Last Words
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV Cycle C
You'd think that when famous people die, they ought to leave us some final word, a last word, if you please, that would be memorable. Something like Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death." Or Nathan Hale's "I have but one life to give for my country."
Some notables came through, although one gets the sense that the lines were pre-written and staged for effect. Henry Ward Beecher offers, "Now comes the mystery," and Beethoven gives us, "Friends, applaud. The comedy is over." Voltaire's famous line at the point of death rings more true. When asked by a visiting parish priest to renounce Satan, the wag replied, "This is no time to make new enemies."
More often than not, however, the famous and infamous leave this vale of tears with a whimper and not a bang. Lord Byron could only say, "Now I shall go to sleep. Good night." Pancho Villa grabbed his friend and said, "Don't let it end this way. Tell them I said something." Marie Antoinette, after inadvertently stepping on the executioner's toe, said "Pardonnez-moi, Monsieur," and went to her death.
Some last words manage to conjure a smile. The actor Edmund Gwen opined, "Dying is easy; comedy is difficult." The French grammarian Dominique Bouhours offered: "I am about to -- or I am going to -- die; either expression is used." And perhaps the best comes from James French about to die in the electric chair: "How's about this for a headline in tomorrow's paper: 'French Fries!' "
No doubt some last words were spoken without the speaker knowing they would be his or her last words. Walt Whitman requested a potty break. Dylan Thomas said, "I've had eighteen straight whiskeys. I think that's the record." Victor Hugo said, "I see a black light." Karl Marx shooed away his pesky housekeeper by saying "Go on, get out!"
Jesus Christ said, "It is finished." And in those words are encapsulated the entire salvation history of humankind. What God in Christ had set out to do had been accomplished. These are three words that all sinners can repeat with gratitude for their eternal salvation: "It is finished."
Of course, these were not the last words of Jesus at all -- as it turned out. After his resurrection, he had much more to say to his disciples and to us. So, it is finished, but now it continues in the lives of everyone for whom Christ died. Thanks be to God!
Some notables came through, although one gets the sense that the lines were pre-written and staged for effect. Henry Ward Beecher offers, "Now comes the mystery," and Beethoven gives us, "Friends, applaud. The comedy is over." Voltaire's famous line at the point of death rings more true. When asked by a visiting parish priest to renounce Satan, the wag replied, "This is no time to make new enemies."
More often than not, however, the famous and infamous leave this vale of tears with a whimper and not a bang. Lord Byron could only say, "Now I shall go to sleep. Good night." Pancho Villa grabbed his friend and said, "Don't let it end this way. Tell them I said something." Marie Antoinette, after inadvertently stepping on the executioner's toe, said "Pardonnez-moi, Monsieur," and went to her death.
Some last words manage to conjure a smile. The actor Edmund Gwen opined, "Dying is easy; comedy is difficult." The French grammarian Dominique Bouhours offered: "I am about to -- or I am going to -- die; either expression is used." And perhaps the best comes from James French about to die in the electric chair: "How's about this for a headline in tomorrow's paper: 'French Fries!' "
No doubt some last words were spoken without the speaker knowing they would be his or her last words. Walt Whitman requested a potty break. Dylan Thomas said, "I've had eighteen straight whiskeys. I think that's the record." Victor Hugo said, "I see a black light." Karl Marx shooed away his pesky housekeeper by saying "Go on, get out!"
Jesus Christ said, "It is finished." And in those words are encapsulated the entire salvation history of humankind. What God in Christ had set out to do had been accomplished. These are three words that all sinners can repeat with gratitude for their eternal salvation: "It is finished."
Of course, these were not the last words of Jesus at all -- as it turned out. After his resurrection, he had much more to say to his disciples and to us. So, it is finished, but now it continues in the lives of everyone for whom Christ died. Thanks be to God!
