Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (Luke 23:46)
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.
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
In Genesis chapter 2, we read: “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
Right at the beginning of the world, God gave life. And very soon after this, Adam and Eve brought upon themselves death. And now we come to Good Friday, and it looks like death has won, death has gained the upper hand.
But in actual fact, the person who dies on Good Friday is not just any old man—but he is truly God, and he is the same true God who breathed life into the nostrils of Adam all those many years ago.
And now, Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, dies. And in this little verse from St Luke’s Gospel we read Jesus’ final words, words from Psalm 31: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
And here we see Jesus Christ, true man, born of the virgin Mary and also true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, die. Here we see our God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God dead, overshadowed with darkness, truly dead. Nothing less than dead.
But this breath that Jesus breathes out—this is our life! This is our hope! With his last breath, Jesus breathes out his living breath into his Father’s hands, and he makes alive a new creation.
Christ is your life… and without Christ, you simply have no power to live. He is the one who has breathed the breath of life into your nostrils and made you a living soul. And on this Good Friday, we see our Lord and our Saviour, breathe out his last breath into the hands of his Father—there is no power to live in you, except this breath which Jesus gives up in his final cry to the Father.
And because Jesus has done this and breathed out this last breath—you are free from death. Death has no power over you. Jesus is there—and he is breathing life into your death.
As St Paul says in Philippians: For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. And in Colossians: For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
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On the other hand, people, human beings, like you and me, breathe out something quite different.
Psalm 27 says: Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.
This is the world we live in: it is a world of sin. It is full of people who are breathing our sin and lies. You are one of them. Jesus dies alone on the cross—all the disciples flee from him and deny him. That includes you. The whole world lines up to bring false charges against Jesus.
Right from our birth, all people who are born into the world are born in sin. Sin is stuck to the breath of everyone. The fault does not lie with God who created us, but with us who sin.
Nice words can’t cover up the damage that is constantly done.
James says: How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
This is the reality of human existence: careless words, empty words – and then suffering, death and sadness.
As Psalm 90 says: For all our days are under your wrath, we bring our years to and end like a sigh. Or Psalm 102: For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.
Each member of the human race clings like a magnet to sin and unbelief. As the prophet Isaiah says: The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.
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And so around 2012 years ago—a virgin conceives and bears a son. Jesus begins his life as the tiniest of babies, as the tiniest of human embryos—he is born, grows up into a boy, a teenager, a man—and when his hour had come, he goes to the cross for us.
As it says in one of the great hymns:
Thus, when thirty years accomplished, Went he forth from Nazareth, Destined, dedicate, and willing, Wrought his work, and met his death; Like a lamb He humbly yielded On the cross His dying breath.
I have heard it often said: Why would God bother with us? With all the things that God could occupy himself with, and with all the violence and greed and hate that exists in the world, why would God bother with us?
And this exactly what we commemorate on Good Friday: God is bothering with you. Jesus Christ, true God and true man, comes into the world, almost like walking into a tomb that stinks of death, and bothers to stay.
What’s strange is that people mistake the stink. People think that Jesus is the one who stinks of death, but in actual fact, they are the ones who stink.
And we would expect Jesus to simply wipe out this violence, this blood shed, this sin, this corruption that he sees around himself. Instead of speaking judgment against the world, the world speaks judgment against him. Instead of throwing out the stink, the stinkers throw him out. Instead of bring accusation against all the guilty, the guilty bring accusations against him, the innocent lamb of God.
But this is what people always do: they exchange the truth of God for a lie! As it says in Romans 3: Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.
All the might of the world’s curses, the world’s deceit, the world’s lies, the world’s venom, the world’s bitterness—all of this is breathed out and hurled at Christ when it is said: They all condemned his as deserving death.
If there were ever one man in the whole history of the world who was not guilty of death, it was Jesus Christ. And yet, day by day, the entire human race breathes out their lies at the innocent Jesus.
This is the only man who has never lied. He says: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. And he says: I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He goes out and he seeks us out, he seeks out the lost, and he dies for the lost.
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And so, in the midst of world breathing out curses against God, and raging against God with all their might, Jesus breathes out his last breath. “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”
He loving and gently places his sacrifice into his Father’s hands. Not long before hand he had said: “It is finished.” Every sin that had ever been committed had been suffered for. Every human life in the world past, present and future was paid for with this holy and precious blood.
And so, Jesus commends this sacrifice into the hands of his father. Hebrews says: We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
This offering is now placed into the hands of the Father—perfect, holy, sufficient. Jesus commends into the Father his spirit.
Psalm 49 says: Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice.
Hear what the Psalm says: Truly no man can ransom another… but Jesus Christ, who is true God and true man, can ransom the entire human life—he is able to offer to God the price of your life, and it does suffice.
As St Peter says: You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
This blood is spilt—the price is paid—your guilt is atoned for. All the accusations against you have been nailed to the cross. Every sinful word has been forgiven through Jesus silence before his accusers. Every sinful action has been forgiven through every unjust action that was inflicted on Jesus—his crown of thorns, the spit, the whippings, the nails, the vinegar. Every sinful thought has been forgiven through Jesus’ breathing out his Spirit into his Father’s hands.
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And so, on this Good Friday, our Lord Jesus Christ comes to heal up the broken hearted and bind up their wounds.
With heavy and broken hearts, with wounded and seared consciences, with troubled and confused minds, we come to our Jesus Christ and we stand under his cross.
Psalm 51 says: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
St Paul says: God made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might be the righteousness of God.
Jesus commends his broken spirit, his spirit that felt the accusation of the world, his spirit which felt the abandonment of God when he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”—Jesus commends this spirit into his Father’s hands.
“Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
And he breathes his life, his salvation, his forgiveness, his peace, his healing into your broken heart. He comes and he speaks his death into your life. He has buried you through baptism into his death, so that just as he is risen from the dead, we too might walk in the newness of life.
When comes your turn to die, there is no reason to doubt, there is no reason to be worried. Jesus has breathed out his last breath, and he pours out his life into your death. He is nailed to the cross, and you are set free from death.
This breath of Jesus is the breath of life. This final breath of Jesus breathes out power to all the dying.
As the hymn says: Mine eyes shall then behold Thee, Upon Thy cross shall dwell, My heart by faith enfold Thee; Who dieth thus, dies well.
Let those words also be your last words, at the end of each task, the end of each day, the end of your life: Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
Your Lord Jesus has died for you. He has commended his spirit into the Father’s hands for you, and simply because He loves you with every fibre of his being, and with every breath.
Jesus says: In my Father’s house are many rooms, and I am going to prepare a place for you.
And when Jesus on the cross realised that everything was set in order, that every house for every believer had been built and prepared with his nailed and bleeding hands, we read:
Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
Amen.
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