Jesus’ Last Words: Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit
Author’s Note: This article is adapted from a sermon I preached on March 20, 2016.
It was close now. Crucifixions typically lasted days until the victim was literally too weak to breathe. After only six hours on the cross, Jesus was still strong enough to speak. He said when they pounded the nails into his flesh, “Father, forgive them.” He told the thief, “You will be with me in paradise.” He directed his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” He cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” And just moments ago, he bid, “I thirst.”
For the last three hours, supernatural darkness had descended upon the whole land and, with it, a dreadful silence. Now, though, as the darkness was lifting and Jesus was breathing his last few breaths, our Lord raised his voice one more time and, in Luke 23:46, “called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.'”
Right away, one wonders why Jesus used a loud voice to call out this. It would seem this was a more intimate, private moment between Father and Son. Why would Jesus pray this out loud at all? Yet, how many times throughout the gospels did Jesus do something similar for the benefit of the people around him? For instance, in Matthew 15:32, before feeding 4,000, he explained to his disciples, “I have compassion on the crowd.” So also, in John 11:42, while standing outside Lazarus’ tomb, he prayed, “I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so they may believe you sent me.” Indeed, throughout the gospels, Jesus repeatedly said and did things for the benefit of the people around him, suggesting that he was perhaps doing the same thing here, and I would submit there are two things we may glean from Jesus’ final, one-line prayer.
We must have a relationship with God.
The first is found in the way his prayer begins. Namely, Jesus called out to his “Father.” Google provides three definitions for this term. First, a father may be “a man in relation to his natural child or children.” Of course, we are all familiar with the concept of a natural or biological father. We all have one, whether we know him or not. The problem is that there is a broad spectrum of relationships which exist between children and their bio-dads. Some are tender and loving. Others are abusive. Still others are completely absent.
Second, Google says a father is “the oldest or most respected member of a society or other body.” This is good because it implies that the father is worthy of respect. On the other hand, there are two types of respect: that which is given to those demonstrating upright character, and that which is demanded by those carrying a big stick.
The third definition Google provides for the word “father” is “a man who gives care and protection to someone.” This is helpful in that it clarifies what a father does, but a police officer may provide care and protection to someone without ever knowing their name.
Each of these definitions, then, has strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, in order to truly understand what Jesus was saying here, we must take the best of each definition and toss the rest. Thus, when Jesus prayed to his Father, he was really praying to someone who cared for and protected him, whose character and command he earnestly respected, and with whom he shared a healthy, vibrant relationship. Indeed, Jesus’ prayer reveals that we must a have relationship with God.
The importance of relationship is driven home by the gravity of Golgotha. Just the night before, Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me.” In his humanity, Jesus did not want to go to the cross! He did not want to endure the pain, suffering, humiliation, and death of crucifixion, and who can blame him? Yet, here was Jesus, hanging on the cross. In that moment, only seconds before he breathed his last, Jesus could have chosen to give the Father the silent treatment, call him by some other name, or even just give him the finger because the Father didn’t do what Jesus wanted him to do. That, however, is not how relationship works. Instead, real relationship recognizes that it’s not always about me and my wants. It realizes that, if we respect that someon will always do the right thing, sometimes the right thing hurts. It endures a whole lot more than a little cross.
That is the sort of relationship we are supposed to have with our Father. He takes care of us, even on a cross. We respect his character and command because we recognize that, even when we do not like them, they are nonetheless good. We share a relationship with him that is healthy, vibrant, and strong enough to endure any challenge which may present itself. We must have a relationship with God.
We must trust God.
The second thing we can glean from Jesus’ final, one-line prayer is key to how and why he could call on his Father, even from the cross. Consider again the exact words that Jesus prayed: “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.”
Almost anyone will tell you that the foundation of a good relationship is trust. Indeed, regardless of how your translation renders that word in Luke 23:46, trust is the underlying concept. In fact, Strong’s compares the term to money put on deposit with a bank. When you deposit money with the bank, you trust that, at the very least, it will still be there when you return.
The magnitude of that simple act of trust escapes most Americans today. We do not hesitate to deposit money at the bank because we have never really faced the possibility that the bank would close and our money would be gone. You see, today’s banks are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which guarantees that, even if the bank were to fail, its customers will still get their money back (up to $250,000 per account). For our grandparents and great-grandparents who lived through the 1930’s, there was no such thing. Therefore, when the Great Depression hit and nearly 1 out of every 3 banks closed, taking with them the entire life savings of millions of Americans, depositing money in a bank became a big deal. An entire generation of people literally stuffed money into their mattresses before they would take a dime to the bank.
So also, we often take for granted the magnitude of trust which Jesus here displayed. We assume that, because he was the Son of God, it was somehow easy for him to trust, but the reality was that it was only twelve hours earlier that Jesus was in Gethsemane praying for another way! In fact, in entrusting his spirit into the hands of his heavenly Father, Jesus revealed that the bedrock of trust underlying their relationship was no trivial thing. Jesus, after all, was hanging on a cross! In seconds, he would literally give up his spirit and die for the redemption of mankind on the promise that (a) it would be enough and (b) God would still grant him the victory, even after death.
Fortunately, God does not daily ask us to entrust him with our spirits. However, there will inevitably come a day when we must decide whether we really trust him. Perhaps it will be the day when our friend asks us to do something that we know is wrong, and we must entrust God to either change that friend’s mind or bring us a new friend. Perhaps it will be the day he calls us to some new role, and we must entrust him with our family finances and submit our resignation to the boss. Perhaps it will be the day when we must trust him to help us lay down our lives to save someone else. Perhaps it will be the day when we must trust that he will walk with us through chronic or terminal illness.
Jesus’ trust led him to submit to those flesh-tearing nails while so many other victims of crucifixion fought with everything they had. It led him to forgive the guards who hung him on that tree while at least the one thief was busy cursing everyone he could think of. It led him to give up his spirit, knowing that it would be kept safe until it was returned, even as his twelve closest friends, the disciples, ran and hid to save theirs.
We are not, then, to have a mere relationship with the Father. Rather, we are to have a relationship built on an implicit, unconditional trust so that when the call comes, whatever that call may look like, we are ready to entrust into his hands our spirits.