When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling for Elijah.’ And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’ (Mark 15: 35-36)

The sound of the Aramaic for "my God" - Eloi - is similar to the Hebrew name Eliyah. Mark suggests the bystanders misunderstood Jesus.

Others were being crucified with Jesus. A bystander would hear their groans joined with the weeping of women gathered at the foot of the cross. Soldiers talking, perhaps laughing, might also be heard.

Even when the context was more condusive to hearing Jesus was often misunderstood. If Mark is right, in his last words Jesus pointed us to a well-known scripture. But many missed the clue.

Other gospels give us the sermon on the mount. The message Jesus offered there was full of paradox. At the end of his life Jesus is on another mount and chooses as his last words the opening of a profoundly paradoxical psalm.

We groan and we praise. We cry out in pain and sing our thanks. We are but worms and we are also chosen by God. We are on the edge of death and edging toward eternity. What are we to hear in this of the realm of God?

Above is Golgotha by Romare Bearden.