Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit – Luke 23
Was it just something you said when you were dying or was there more to it?
Scripture records the very last thing Jesus say. “Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ When he had said this, he breathed his last” (Luke 23:46).
We do read in John that Jesus was laying down his life of his own accord. By his own will:
“17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”” Jn 10:17-18
The Father loves the selflessness of Jesus that he lays down his life for man to be reconciled back to God.
But there’s another layer to this statements that perhaps is even more important.
So much of the cross was the fulfillment of Scripture, specifically Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22. But this phrase Jesus says in his last breath adds a new depth. The words are a quote from Psalm 31. It had to be meaningful, so what is Psalm 31 about?
In Psalm 31 we find David in extraordinary distress. His enemies are coming against him and he is in utter anguish. But he puts his crushing distress in the context of trust.
A prayer of trust 1-8
Then a cry of distress – 9-13
A declaration of trust – 14-24
1 In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
deliver me in your righteousness.
2 Turn your ear to me,
come quickly to my rescue;
be my rock of refuge,
a strong fortress to save me.
3 Since you are my rock and my fortress,
for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
4 Keep me free from the trap that is set for me,
for you are my refuge.
5 Into your hands I commit my spirit;
deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.
Jesus was acknowledging the horror of the cross and the anguish that it brought. But in quoting this Psalm he is declaring no matter how bad his suffering is, he trusts Almighty God.
This is powerful because when we suffer, especially when it is for an extended time, one of the core questions that we always seems present is, “Do we trust God?”
How often we, myself included, have we failed the test and lashed out at God. “If you love me where are you? Why don’t you deliver me? Why did it turn out this way?” David asked hard questions too but he always put it into the context of trust, just as he does her psalm 31. And just as Jesus does.
On the cross Jesus asks Why God has forsaken him and is quoting Psalm 22 which is also a psalm of distress. That psalm and now reinforced with Psalm 31 though ends with an enduring, secure trust in God. That was the point.
Jesus, yes is breathing his last. But in doing so he is declaring that no matter how bitter the cross was, he wants to declare,
I trust God.
Ps 31:23 Love the Lord, all his faithful people!
The Lord preserves those who are true to him,
but the proud he pays back in full.
24 Be strong and take heart,
all you who hope in the Lord.
