Good Friday 2018 - The Last Words of Christ

The Last Words of Christ: Words of Life, not Death Good Friday 2018 J. P. Hession "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." 44 It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 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) Introduction It was March 14, 1883, and Karl Marx, the famous philosopher, economist and socialist revolutionary was lying on his deathbed when a servant came in and asked him if he had any last words. "Go on, get out!" he said impatiently. "Last Words are for fools who haven't said enough!" But I think Marx was wrong-dead wrong. Last words are often a deep reflection of a person's beliefs, character, or deepest desires and they can give us a window into their soul. In some cases, we are given one last taste of a person's nature that we have already come to know them for. For example, when a very different Marx, the film actor and comedian Groucho Marx was dying, he reportedly let out one last quip: "This is no way to live!" Emily Dickinson, the famous (and local) poet spoke poetically to the very end. Her last words were, "I must go in, for the fog is rising." But what deep desires must have been left unfulfilled in the life of a towering man of history, Sir Winston Churchill, who's last words were simply, "I'm bored with it all." Or what unfathomable insecurities must have beset one of the most accomplished geniuses of the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci who said in his last breaths, "I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have." As Benjamin Franklin lay on his deathbed, his daughter who was by his side told him to change positions in the bed so he could breathe more easily. Franklin's response was, "A dying man can do nothing easily." So, as we come to the last words of Christ we should remind ourselves that when Christ was hanging there on the cross, suffocating, and in excruciating pain, breath did not come easily. Words did not come easily. And there was not one ounce of energy or one moment to squander. These last words of Christ are not wasted words. Rather, they are epically and eternally important. "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." (Luke 23:46) These are the Words of His Life The statement itself is fairly straightforward. The word commit here means to entrust, to put oneself into the care or protection of, or we might say, to commit oneself into the care of. In other Words, Christ made a commitment to trust the Father with all of life-and with His very life. Now, there is no question that the plain sense of Christ's words here is a voluntary giving over of His spirit as His body dies, but with that definition of commit in mind, I submit to you that these dying words are not words of death only. In fact, don't these words echo back on the way Christ lived? What He says now on the cross in His final breath, He said during every breath of His life by resting on and submitting to the will of the Father. "Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit...here now in my death just as I have faithfully done so in my life." This committing of His life to the will of the Father is expressed so beautifully in the high priestly prayer near the end of His ministry. He says, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you...I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do." (John 17:1,4) When Jesus was before King Herod it says, "Herod questioned him at some length, but he made no answer." (Luke 23:9) And when He was before Pilot he said to him, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews." (John 18:36) Christ had the opportunity to find favor with these leaders and perhaps gain His freedom, but instead He submitted to the Father's plan, even unto death. We saw this same submission to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane as he prayed, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." (Matt 26:39) Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Again in the Garden as a mob comes to take Him away and Peter fights back with a sword, Jesus says, "Peter, put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?" (John 18:11) Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And finally, Christ demonstrated His submission to the Father as he hung there on the cross. Listen to Matthew's account of the scene: And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, "You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross." So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him." (Matt 27:39-43) But Jesus stayed on the cross and endured the pain and humiliation of crucifixion rather than using His power to get down. He submitted to the will of the Father. He committed His life to the plan and purpose of the Father. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. What are these Hands? What kind of hands are these that Christ trusted His very life to? These are the hands that, according to Isaiah, "Laid the foundation of the earth and spread out the heavens." (Isa 48:13) And Job tells us that, "In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind." (Job 12:10) In the Psalms, King David tells us that the hands of God give, feed, provide, protect, and deliver. Listen: You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. (Ps 145:16) Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. (Ps 138:7) O sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. (Ps 98:1) And then there is this promise from God which is one of my own favorites: Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isa 41:10) These are the hands of God-the hands that Christ committed His spirit and indeed His whole life to. How then should we live? One day Christ gave a hard teaching to the people, and in response, many of them left. Turning to His disciples Christ asked, "Will you leave me also?" Their response: "Lord, where else will we go. You have the words of life." Similarly, I ask each of you tonight, to what other hands would you go? Your doctor's hands? Your spouse's hands? Your boyfriend's hands? Your stock broker's hands? Your President's hands? Your employer's hands? Your own hands? They all fall short. But, Friends, He who did not spare His own son, how will He not also give us all things? (Ro 8:32) By the cross, God demonstrates just how thoroughly His hands are working for your good. What other hands could you possibly submit your lives to? Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. These last words of Jesus on the cross should be our words now, as we carry our own crosses daily. What does it look like for, you mothers with wild kids exhausting you, you high schoolers or college kids thinking about the next big steps in your lives, my seasoned brothers and sisters who know that many more days are behind you than ahead, those of you who are sick-what does it look like to put ourselves in the Father's hands-to commit our spirits to His will and to His care? Our dear brother Donnie made this Lifesong. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And having had the privilege of visiting with him in his last days I can tell you that this deep reliance and trust and submission into the Father's hands was with him to the very end. For some of us (I know it is for me) these last words of Christ are an invitation for repentance. "Father, I have said with my words that I submit my life into your hands, but too often my actions show differently." Brothers and sisters, Christ died for your hypocrisy and for mine. A broken and contrite heart God will not despise (Ps 51:17b). For some here, maybe you have grown up in the church but you have never really said this in your heart: "Father, I submit my life to your will." Maybe this is the night. To what other hands will you go? Let us follow Christ's lead and all submit our lives fully to the secure, wise, and caring hands of the Father. Let's live our lives so that we can say it now, and so that we can say it on our last day, in our final breath: Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Amen.