46“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” – Luke 23:46
Today, we wrap up our look at the 7 words or phrases of Jesus at the cross.
It is a very un-Easter thing to look at words of Jesus from the crucifixion – these coming at the moment of His last earthly breath. Yet, here is the last time we see Jesus as fully human and fully God. In this phrase, we see a culmination of His entire earthly life, coming to join His forever deity. His two identities merge fully. To “commit” His spirit is the ultimate act of submission: as a human to God, and a part of the trinity to the Father.
Moments before this cry, Jesus asks to remove the cup of the crucifixion. It is important to keep those words in mind as we remember the Easter story. In a few short hours, He went from uncertainty to a Holy submission to whatever lay beyond the limits of His last breath. As is much of His words on the cross, this is a direct reference to what His audience knows (Psalm 31:5). Jesus, quotes David, showing Himself connected to the lineage and faith, but also shows the cry of someone who even in death, is looking towards the eternal.
Easter is more than the resurrection. Many will use Sunday to promise victory and the overcoming of life’s hardest obstacles. They will describe a power of conquering circumstance because of this Sunday morning years ago. Without a view of Calvary, this well-intentioned message is incomplete.
Sometimes, victory looks like defeat.
Many times it is humiliating.
May we remember that resurrection came after, and only after, a death of self and body. No one looking at the events on Good Friday would say Jesus or his bizarre movement of followers won. The message of Christ is this: victory is promised, in this life or the next. Regardless if we find ourselves in a resurrection moment or a crucifixion moment, this redemptive victory requires a death.
And this is great news.
When we align ourselves in submission to a pure ideal, we rise above the circumstances this life burdens us with.
That even when we lose, we win.
Even when we are at our weakest, we have strength.
Even when we are the most sinful, we are children of grace.
But this requires our submission, and not perfection. It requires our true self, skeletons and all. It demands a death to preference and even opinion. This is the message of our age. That instead of reaching for what divides us, looking to offense, we choose Christ. When we want revenge, we choose forgiveness. When we expect much, we give all. When given the choice of praise or humiliation, we find little difference.
May this resurrection be different. May our submission bring reconciliation to your people Help us to hold fast to the tension of the cross with the glory of the resurrection. Amen
Matt simon blog 