Father, Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit
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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. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.
Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.
On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
(pause)
Today, we have come to the foot of the Cross one more time to hear the final words Jesus spoke from the Cross nearly two thousand years ago.
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.
Death is a strange, scary experience.
(pause)
Death is common, even a necessary part of life as we experience it today. Yet at the same time, we recognize that death was not part of God’s intention for humanity. Instead, he created us as beings with whom he could experience fellowship with forever.
In the middle of the Garden God created a Tree of Life which bore fruit giving life to those who ate it. But after Adam and Eve sinned, God cast them out of the Garden and barred their way to it so they could not eat of this tree and live perpetually in wickedness and sin.
(pause)
Death then is unnatural, even though we have come to accept it as a natural part of life. It is no wonder that we struggle knowing how to handle it.
(pause)
I accepted my first pastorate in 1999 as a bachelor right out of Bible college. I served as a pastor for eight years, then taught college classes for two years during which time Zenia and I married.
We then accepted our first church as a married couple in 2009. We pastored Herriman Chapel for five years before going overseas as missionary pastors.
During my first thirteen years of pastoral ministry, I saw my fair share of funerals, but when we went overseas it was incredible how many funerals I conducted, assisted, or attended due to church connections.
(pause)
It was shortly after our family landed in Cayman Brac that I was woken up one night by a terrible phone call. The son of a couple in our church had had a terrible accident.
He had been racing his car down the narrow, winding two-lane road that spanned the island’s length. He lost control, hit a tree, and his neck was snapped.
(pause)
As I rushed to the family’s side in the emergency room, I searched for the right words to say. But how do you comfort family members who shaking their son, their brother’s dead body, pleading with him to wake up, somehow hoping God would resurrect him?
(pause)
These actions might seem silly to us today, so far removed from the situation. But I saw some really silly… and sad… things happen at funerals.
(pause)
I attended the funeral of a person I didn’t know once, but who was well known and important to our church. The funeral was conducted in the Baptist church down the street.
The funeral followed the typical format of island funerals, then the pastor got up to preach. And he gave a long, very comprehensive lesson on the pre-tribulation, premillenial understanding of end times!
It was confusing! There wasn’t much connection between what the minister taught and offering comfort to the bereaved family.
(pause)
Speaking of island funerals, let me explain. They would typically begin with a welcome, scripture, prayer, and a song - much like we typically do here in the States. But then, there would be a lengthy time set aside for tributes. The typical funeral lasted for three hours.
After attending a number of funerals, there were patterns in the tributes. There would be the estranged son or daughter, shaking with grief and remorse trying to find reconciliation after the fact.
There were the grandchildren who loved their grandparent but who didn’t know how to process their grief. There were the performative tributes by government or church lauding the life that had passed.
(pause)
Many seemed to simply be saying things everyone expected… because they didn’t know how to cope with death.
(pause)
A feature of island funerals that I was not prepared for… in the islands, at the graveside, after prayer, scripture, and a few words of comfort, the ministers toss sand on the lowered casket, following by a final prayer, you do NOT leave.
Rather, the people sing the songs in the program - repeatedly - and maybe sing other well known hymns - while the funeral directors put the lid on the vault and seal it with cement - a process that sometimes felt like it took forever.
(pause)
There were some silly things that happened at funerals. There were some insensitive things said and done. But through all of that, the sadness of death persisted.
(pause)
In one instance during our time in the Cayman Islands, I was invited into the ICU room of a family member who was just a few moments away from death. They asked me to pray with and for the person. You could hear the death rattle in her throat.
(pause)
After I prayed, I went back to the waiting room. A few minutes later, the lady was gone.
(pause)
We have different customs regarding death here in the U.S. But it seems like we struggle just as much with this topic and experience in life.
(pause)
Instead of making long-winded speeches, we seem to find comfort in a brief service and then visiting with one another afterward. Sometimes, our services are so clinical and professional that they almost seem sterile.
But it seems that this is the way our culture often feels most comfortable handling our grief.
(pause)
Sometimes, of course, novel variations are tried. My grandmother on my mom’s side, for example, left detailed instructions for her funeral. She did NOT want a preacher giving a sermon at her funeral.
Rather, she planned her own service with songs and readings that, while it resulted in a somewhat different memorial service, very effectively presented the gospel throughout the time.
(pause)
Death is strange. Death is scary.
(pause)
Do you wonder if Jesus felt “scared” as his death approached?
(pause)
We have looked at Jesus’ seven sayings from the cross one by one over a number of weeks. But when you put them all together, it is a fascinating sequence.
(pause)
At the beginning of the crucifixion, maybe when it seemed unreal that the Savior would be executed, Jesus prayed the Father to forgive them all for they didn’t know what they were doing.
Then, as he and the two criminals hung on their crosses, as Jesus endured the insults of the people, one of the thieves had a change of mind and asked Jesus to remember him. Jesus promised the man he would be with him that day in Paradise.
As the reality of his impending death became more real, Jesus arranged for his mother’s care.
At noon, an unnatural darkness came over the land. We should note that this was Passover time, when the moon was at its fullest. This was not an eclipse.
This was an unnatural, unexplainable darkness that resulted as the Son of God bore all the sin and wickedness of the world on his shoulders.
(pause)
Jesus cried out:
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
(pause)
For three hours darkness prevailed as the Son of God became sin for us. One wonders if this timeframe was intentional to remind the people of the three days of terrible darkness that could be felt that God plagued Egypt with, before the final, tenth plague in which every firstborn son was killed by the death angel.
(pause)
Jesus spoke out of his humanity, “I thirst.” Then, after tasting sour wine that did not quench his thirst but only made it worse, Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” The payment for sin had been completed.
Now, Jesus shouts a final time: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”
How could Jesus so confidently, assuredly place himself in the hands of God as he faced the unknowns of death?
(pause)
A fascinating fact about this very last saying of Jesus on the Cross is that Jesus was quoting a scripture from the Old Testament - Psalm 31:5.
Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.
Jon Courson writes in his commentary on Psalm 22:1, which Jesus quoted when he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”…
… the rabbis had a tradition of quoting the first half of a passage, expecting their students to go home and do their homework by reading the entire passage. In quoting this verse, I believe Jesus was calling His disciples to go home and do their homework—to turn to Psalm 22, for in Psalm 22, crucifixion is perfectly described eight hundred years before it was invented. Thus, He was not only expressing the emotional shock of separation from His Father, but at the same time was instructing those who heard Him to read the Scriptures, to understand that He was the fulfillment of Scripture, that He was their Messiah.
Courson, J. (2006). Jon Courson’s application commentary: Volume two: Psalms-Malachi (p. 26). Thomas Nelson.
With this interpretive principle in mind, then, it seems important for us to turn to Psalm 31 to see why Jesus would quote from this song as he took his last breath.
Psalm 31 is a passionate prayer by David for God’s help.
In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
in your righteousness deliver me!
Incline your ear to me;
rescue me speedily!
Be a rock of refuge for me,
a strong fortress to save me!
(pause)
The occasion for this psalm is not given, yet there are some fairly specific details about the overwhelming enemy he faced. Those who opposed him trusted in false idols, while David trusted in God.
I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols,
but I trust in the Lord.
I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,
because you have seen my affliction;
you have known the distress of my soul,
While David’s tone might seem hopeful here, he was in deep trouble.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
my eye is wasted from grief;
my soul and my body also.
For my life is spent with sorrow,
and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my iniquity,
and my bones waste away.
Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach,
especially to my neighbors,
and an object of dread to my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street flee from me.
I have been forgotten like one who is dead;
I have become like a broken vessel.
For I hear the whispering of many—
terror on every side!—
as they scheme together against me,
as they plot to take my life.
Can you picture, can you feel the despair of David in this psalm? As Jesus hung on the Cross, bearing our sin, the Father looking away, the earth dark, indicating God’s judgment and wrath, surely Jesus experienced this same distress.
No, unlike David, Jesus was not guilty of sin. He had never committed wrongdoing. Yet he bore our sin. And his bones wasted away.
Before his adversaries Jesus was truly a reproach!
And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine
As Isaiah wrote…
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
And, as David wrote of those scheming against him, plotting to take his life, Jesus experienced the same.
But read what David wrote next.
But I trust in you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand;
rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!
Do you remember how Jesus, multiple times during his earthly ministry, repeated, “The hour has not yet come.” Multiple times, different groups of people sought to kill him.
His own hometown wanted to throw him off a cliff. Officers were sent to arrest Jesus but stopped, spellbound, by his teaching and healing.
At one point while he was in the Temple, some took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus escaped. Then, at the end of the Passover meal Jesus ate with his disciples just a few hours before he was arrested, Jesus began his intercessory prayer of John 17 with the words:
… Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
(pause)
Truly, Jesus’ “times” were in God’s hand!
(pause)
In Psalm 31:17-18 David prayed that he would not be put to shame, but that his enemies would go to Sheol - to Hell. He prayed that their lying lips be muted.
In contrast, Jesus largely suffered quietly on the Cross. Instead of speaking out curses and recriminations against those who had wronged him, Jesus said:
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.
(pause)
In this psalm as David poured out his distress and complaint to God, we see him sinking in despair, but verse nineteen marks a change:
Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
in the sight of the children of mankind!
Then, in verse 21, we find full throated praise for God:
Blessed be the Lord,
for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
when I was in a besieged city.
I had said in my alarm,
“I am cut off from your sight.” (remember how Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”)
But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy
when I cried to you for help.
Then, in the final two verses of the psalm David turns his attention to the reader and gives us instruction:
Love the Lord, all you his saints!
The Lord preserves the faithful
but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for the Lord!
(pause)
As we look to Jesus hanging on the cross, we recognize that while he experienced the awfulness of God’s judgment and anger for our sin, he did so willingly, intentionally, in accordance with his Father’s will.
While it has been suggested by commentators that Jesus intended for the people to recognize his quotations of scripture and then meditate on the larger passage, commentators have also suggested that while Jesus hung on the cross about to utter his final words, commending his spirit to the Father, he also may have meditated on the entire song and prayer of Psalm 31.
And with David, who struggled with despair but found hope in God, Jesus felt the agony of separation from his Father due to the sin of the world, but also suffered in hope knowing his life’s blood was the one sacrifice would satisfy God’s wrath for sin and his Father’s love would raise him from the dead.
(pause)
So, while Jesus may have cried out, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” and “I thirst” in agony and apparent defeat, he also cried out, “It is finished!” in triumphant victory and “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” in confident assurance.
(pause)
In our Bible study this past Wednesday the question was raised, what happened on Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday?
(pause)
Apparently, most of the Jewish people celebrated Passover Friday evening as the religious leaders had wanted to make sure Jesus and the two thieves were not hanging on crosses during this holy day.
(pause)
One wonders if the disciples and those closest to Jesus had any appetite to eat.
(pause)
Think about that awful pause and silence that began with the sealing of the tomb. How these believers’ faith must have struggled! Did they give up hope? Did they question if it made sense to believe in anything any more?
(pause)
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.…
(pause)
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
(pause)
As our Lord and Savior and example for life, we then recognize a wonderful truth:
Big Idea: When all looks lost, entrust yourself to God's redeeming faithfulness.
Big Idea: When all looks lost, entrust yourself to God's redeeming faithfulness.
(pause)
There are times in our lives when everything seems to go awry. We experience discouragement, setback, defeat, suffering, even death - death of loved ones, death of our plans, death of our hopes.
(pause)
Like David, we may cry out to God in despair. Our enemy - or simply our challenges - are overwhelming. We are in distress.
(pause)
But when we look to God we remember…
For you are my rock and my fortress;
and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me;
you take me out of the net they have hidden for me,
for you are my refuge.
And so with David, but more importantly with Jesus, our Lord and Savior, we cry…
Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.
(pause)
The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
(pause)
Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
(pause)
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(pause)
Yes, when all is lost, entrust yourself to God’s redeeming faithfulness!
(pause)
This, then, is the hope that we live with … and celebrate as we come to the Lord’s table today.
We celebrate the grace of sin’s forgiven through the shed blood of Jesus.
We celebrate the new life we receive through the power of Christ’s resurrection.
We celebrate the family of God into which we have been adopted and enjoy sweet fellowship.
We anticipate the return of Christ and His coming reign of peace, righteousness, and joy.
(pause)
This then fuels us, inspires us, for a life of service to Christ. Even when our days may be dark with disappointment, defeat, even death, we entrust ourselves to God’s redeeming faithfulness.
(pause)
As we have come to the close of this service, we will now spend a few moments celebrating Communion - our life in and with Christ and one another, the Church of God.
(pause)
Jesus said: I am the bread of life. All who come to me shall not hunger, and all who believe in me shall not thirst. With Christians around the world and throughout the centuries, we gather around these symbols of bread and wine—simple elements that speak of nourishment and transformation. Let us pray.
Loving God, we thank you that you are as close to us as breath,that your love is constant and unfailing. We thank you for all that sustains life, and especially for Jesus Christ, who teaches us how to live holy. We thank you for your grace which transforms us, made evident in his life, death and resurrection.
We ask you to bless this bread and this cup. Through this meal, make us the body of Christ, that we may know the love of Christ among each other, and make this love known to all the world. Amen.
(pause)
We will now distribute both the bread and the juice. Please wait until everyone has been served, and then we will all partake of the elements together.
(DISTRIBUTE BREAD AND JUICE)
We remember on the night when Jesus and the disciples had their last meal together, Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, and gave it to the disciples, saying “This is my body, which is broken for you. Take and eat it, and as often as you do, remember me.” In the symbol of the broken bread, we participate in the life of Christ and dedicate ourselves to being his disciples.
(EAT BREAD)
In the same way he took the cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to the disciples, saying: “Drink this, all of you. This cup is the new covenant, poured out for you and for many. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." In the symbol of the cup, we participate in the new life Christ brings.
(DRINK JUICE)
Let us pray.
We give thanks, loving God, that you have refreshed us at your table. Strengthen our faith; increase our love for one another. Help us now to go out into our world to share this love with everyone we meet. we pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.
