Luke 23:44-49 The Death of Jesus

44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” 48 When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. 49 But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things

You can prepare for something your entire life, and still not be ready when it happens.

No-one in this scene is prepared for this moment. Jesus’s followers never thought he would die like this. Jesus’s tormentors are not prepared for the chaos that ensues. Even Jesus, knowing he would go to the cross, is experientially unprepared for the pain and isolation of being there.

Jesus arrives at this moment at the end of three tumultuous years.

Living, he has taught them how to live like him. Love God and Love your neighbor. Let His Word take root in you. Bless those that curse you. Serve the least of these. He has offered them a revolutionary way of love.

And now, dying, he has taught them how to die in Him. Forgive your tormentors. Cry out to God but stay faithful, redeem fellow sufferers, secure your loved ones, be about your father’s business, and persevere till the end.

So living, he has taught them how to live like him. Dying, he has taught them how to die in Him.

And now at Death, He will teach them how to live for him.

Jesus speaks words familiar to many in the crowd: Into thy hands I commit my Spirit. They are from Psalm 31:5, and we need to understand three things about this verse.

It was the prayer every Jewish mother taught her child to recite before going to bed. Like “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep,” it soothed frightened children. It was a prayer of comfort

It was also a prayer that would have been recited publicly, each day at evening offering, at the ninth hour, the time of Jesus’s death. It was the prayer of Custom.

Jesus faithfully quotes the Psalm but Adds “Father.” At the height of injustice and pain, Jesus falls asleep like a child in his father’s arms. It was the prayer of Consecration. Of abandonment. Of complete trust.

Even as he enters a bafflingly foreign experience of suffering unto death, Jesus has lived his whole life in preparation for this moment.

The question we must ask is what are our lives preparing us for? And will we choose to trust God no matter the cost?

The events of this moment would magnify its significance to everyone present

First, darkness descends over the land. And to a person standing there, any number of thoughts might have come to mind. Like: run. God is not pleased. Evil is present. Something is very, very wrong.

Then the temple curtain rips, the barrier between the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place. And we can look at it now and wonder if God was inaugurating a new priesthood of all believers, who could live in God’s access, or revealing his glory, but to the Jewish believer who revered this temple, and even to Gentile onlookers, God might have appeared to be leaving.

So trusting God has probably never been more crucial than it is now.

And at this very moment, Christ, the man who would appear to have it worse than anybody, declares his trust. Into your hands, I commit my spirit.

And as Jesus remains faithful in his darkest hour, everyone around him is forced to examine their own trust. The centurion, witnessing Christ’s grace and faith in suffering, acknowledges Jesus’s righteousness, and therefore the unrighteousness of the religious authorities and the injustice of his own police action. Christ’s outer circle mourns. The Pharisees may have been pleased. But Christ’s inner Circle just watched.

So what happens when you trust God in your darkest hour? Your persecutors may come to respect you. Your outer circle may regret not having your back. And most assuredly, haters gonna hate. Probably at least a few somebodies will be actively thrilled that you are suffering.

But your inner circle has been positioned to watch.

To witness your crucifixion, that they might witness your resurrection.

Christ’s dying words speak a word to us tonight: Who will you trust when you turn out the lights? In the midnight hour, when there’s no one left to encourage you?

Who will you trust when you’re in uncharted waters, and no one can give you advice?

Who will you trust between the altar and the door, when you just got done being blessed and highly favored, and then bad news knocks the wind out of you?

At Death, Christ foreshadows the character of this new life in Christ: A faith walk. Trusting God for everything. Letting him stretch you to believe him for more. He commits his spirit into God’s hands as an illustration of our daily obligation: to give ourselves away for his use.

And in so doing, Jesus models for us the life of faith. Because faith always calls you beyond yourself and beyond your experience. You have “new job” faith and then God calls you to “no job” faith. You brace yourself for one punch and you take three. You believed him for a car but can you believe him for a cure?

Good Friday offers us a faith instruction in that the declaration of trust follows the word of completion. First: It is Finished. Then: Father, Into Your hands I commit my Spirit. Now, no one takes Christ’s life. He lays it down. So unlike the rest of us, he calls the end of his own story

But we receive final words all the time. Satan clocks you good, and says my work is done, and so are you. And that’s when we have the opportunity to follow Jesus in trusting God for His final word, and say: Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.

When crisis blindsides you, and your creditors say you’re out of time? Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit.

When the judge says you’re out of appeals? Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

When your spouse says we’re finished? Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit.

When the Doctors say there’s no cure? Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit.

Committing our spirit into God’s hands is a choice, after we’ve done all we can, to trust him with the results.

From the Cross, Christ calls us to a new life of trust. Trust God. And trust me. Because I’ve been through it all.

See Jesus understood something the crowd had missed. Cuz it was only Friday Night. And Sunday was coming. Yes, life was dark and painful now. But Sunday was coming. Friends had betrayed and abandoned him. But Sunday was coming. And somebody here tonight needs to understand that Sunday is coming.

See they can persecute you on Friday. Talk about you and rewrite your history on Saturday. But Sunday is coming.

Family I don’t know what Friday nights you’re facing tonight. But God does. So, you may be down tonight. You may even have further down to go. But the cross testifies tonight that no matter how low you go, you’re not staying down. Because Sunday is coming.

And somebody here is being called to a new level of trust And you need to know that God sees you there. He may have put you there. And he’s using this time to stretch you as you cry out to him. So, trust. And surrender. And cry out with Jesus: Father, Into your hands I commit my spirit.