Yesterday we began to look at – what I believe – were two simultaneously spoken words of Jesus as his dying words on the cross. The first of these was from the disciple John, who heard Jesus’ words “It is finished”. John records that Jesus then “gave up his Spirit”.
Luke,
probably in interviews with various people –
maybe Mary Magdalen, or Mother Mary - adds to the final words from one of those who was also standing there and connected Jesus' words to a dramatic event that demonstrated the finality of Jesus’ work on the cross.
“It was
now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the
ninth hour,
while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in
two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands
I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last” (Luke
23:44-46).
In our
journey with Jesus to Jerusalem, we witnessed his resolve to finish the work of
redemption that His Father sent him to do.
Jesus was sent into the world by the Father and was purposed to die for
the Sin of the world. Yesterday, we
witnessed that Jesus “gave up his spirit” – i.e., Jesus was in control
of his life and his death. The darkness
outside witnesses the gravity of His death – which was to defeat Satan and
Sin. He then speaks – softly, I think –
to the Father’s will - "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit".
Jesus, truly
human, and truly divine is the perfect sacrifice for our Sin. Sinless in his life, he took our Sin upon
himself and gave to us his righteous perfect sinless life. It was the Love of God that motivated God to
do this for us giving His Son as our substitute. The Apostle Paul wrote it this way to the
Corinthians:
“For the
love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died
for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live
might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was
raised...For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we
might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5: 14-15, 21).
Christ
Jesus appeared as the “lamb of God who takes away the Sins of the world”
– the Paschal Passover lamb. This is the
culmination of all redemptive history and proves both the love of God and the
faithfulness of God in his covenant toward us.
The curtain is torn in two because there is no other sacrifice needed
than the one Jesus made on the Cross.
As Jesus
commits his life to the Father and breathes His last, one can wonder what those
around the Cross thought. We don’t have
to go far in our reading to know there was at least one who knew what Jesus had
done.
“Now
when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, ‘Certainly
this man was innocent!’” (Luke 23:47).
Christ
Jesus abandoned his life to the Father, as each of us must do. Jesus’ earthly life lived for God, now comes
to an end. Jesus, the “word-incarnate”, uttered
his last words, but the two words that stand out are “Father”, and “Thy hands”. Those two words are the keys to our dying
someday. In His life on earth, he always
did the work of His Father, the Abba (Papa) whom he encouraged his disciples to
put their faith and trust in.
“Our
Father, who is in Heaven,
Hallowed is thy name,
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done,
On earth, as it is in Heaven…
One day
we will come to the end of our lives, and my hope, personally, is to be able to
say “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.”
Peace
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