‘Father, Into your hands I commit my spirit’ (Luke 23:46)
Luke informs us that this last saying of Jesus on the cross was also a loud cry. Other loud cries were his fourth saying (‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’) and his sixth saying (‘It is finished’). While we are not told why they were spoken loudly, it is reasonable to assume that reason was that many people would hear what was said. The place where Jesus was crucified was near the public road and it is likely that many people would be walking along it and heard what Jesus cried. We might be curious to know what they thought of the cry, but we are not told.
Luke does inform us of three responses: (a) the centurion praised God and affirmed the innocence of Jesus; (b) the crowds who were attaching went home, beating their breasts, an action connected to repentance; (c) the friends of Jesus watched from a distance. What can we make of those three responses? The response of the centurion is another affirmation of the innocence of Jesus. Luke indicates that the words of a centurion were an expression of praise to God. Why did the crowd beat their breasts? They had been through an unusual period of darkness during the day, a cosmic event that must have made them think that God was involved in some way with what had occurred. As far as the friends of Jesus were concerned, did some of his disciples come to the cross and join the women? Who can say? From Luke’s point of view, he is indicating that many witnesses saw the death of Jesus and could confirm that he had truly died.
A quotation from the Old Testament
The words that Jesus used in this seventh saying are found in Psalm 31:5: ‘Into your hand I commit my spirit.’ Jesus did not quote the entire verse – he did not repeat the second half of the verse: “you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.’ Instead of saying ‘God’, Jesus used the term ‘Father’. Because he is the Son of God, he possessed authority to adjust a verse of scripture and instead of using God, as David did in the psalm, Jesus used Father. Jesus would have done so consciously, and since he did so with a loud voice he did not do so secretly. He had taught his disciples and others that God was the heavenly Father. Of course, we know that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are the three divine persons of the Trinity. But in his death, he was heard doing what he had done throughout his life – speaking to his Father.
His decision not to cite the second half of the verse reveals the lucidness of his mind even after the awful experience he had gone through on the cross. It would have been inappropriate for him to say that the second line, which speaks of someone having been redeemed, applied to himself. Rather than being one of the redeemed he was the Redeemer of his people. He had paid the price for their redemption on the cross. We will see shortly that his people can use the entire verse, and many have done so in situations of death. But he, the Redeemer, would and could only use the first half of the verse about himself.
Clearly, Jesus could have composed suitable words at that moment to indicate the manner of his dying. Yet he chose to honour the written Word of God by citing a verse from the Book of Psalms. The Bible was the food of his soul throughout his life. He understood the parts which applied to himself and after his resurrection he pointed them out to his disciples (Luke 24:27, 45). He had told his opponents that they should search the scriptures because they testified to him (John 5:39). So we should not be surprised that he would choose a verse from the Bible as his final word on the cross.
Matthew Henry observes that ‘Christ died with scripture in his mouth. Thus he directs us to make use of scripture language in our addresses to God.’ It is the case that we can use the words of the Bible in our prayers provided that we are using them with their biblical meaning. And what could be more powerful than using the words of God himself when we approach him in praise and prayer?
Imitators of his example
Many well-known Christians have used the last saying of Jesus when they reached the end of their lives. Within the biblical record, there is the account of the martyrdom of Stephen. As he was being stoned, he cried out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ And like his Master who prayed for his executioners, Stephen prayed for his: ‘“Lord, do not hold this sin against them’ (Acts 7:59-60).
When Jan Hus was condemned by a Council of Constance, it was said to him by the bishops, ‘We commit your soul to the devil.’ Hus replied, ‘And I commit it to the most merciful Lord Jesus Christ!’ Within a short time, he was burned at the stake as a heretic, but there was One to take care of his soul as he died.
Both Martin Luther and Philip Melancthon used this verse on their deathbeds. Luther died on February 17th, 1559. He told those around his bed, ‘I will go in peace and joy. Amen.’ Then he repeated the words of Psalm 31:5 three times. They were his last words. He was asked if he was dying trusting in Christ and if he still believed what he had taught, he whispered yes. Melancthon died on April 19th, 1560. His doctor asked him if he desired anything. He replied, ‘Nothing else but heaven.’ A person standing beside his bed recited Psalm 31:5 and he responded with strong agreement. They were his last words.
John Knox’s will, dated 13th May, 1572, begins with this statement: ‘Lord Jesus, I commend my troubled spirit in thy protection and defence, and thy troubled kirk to thy mercie.’ He died a few months later, on November 24th. On that day, he said, ‘Now, for the last time, I commend my spirit and body into thy hands, O Lord.’
On December 22ndf, 1666, a young man called Hugh McKail was executed in Edinburgh for being a Covenanter. What did he do when he was led to the place of his death? He sang Psalm 31:5.
The uniqueness of his dying
There is one obvious unique feature of the death of Jesus and it is that a sinless man died. Death is the wages of sin, but Jesus had never committed any sins inwardly or outwardly. His death was connected to his sinbearing, and even although the severest part of his sufferings had already occurred when he was forsaken by the Father, he still had to become the Lamb that was slain. We can see here the depth of his commitment to our cause when he, the sinless One, entered into death for our sake.
We can also see from his manner of dying that he chose when to die. He had said previously in John 10:17-18: ‘For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may 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 I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.’ The Jews may have asked for the death sentence, Pilate may have pronounced it, the soldiers may have administered it, but only Jesus himself could allow it. All the combined forces of earth, and even although the efforts of the powers of darkness were also included, together they could not bring about the Saviour’s final breath. It was his prerogative as to when he would die, he chose the moment.
Jesus also chose why he would die. We can imagine those who have volunteered to die for their country facing their end. They die bravely, but they would rather live because their death means an end to their participation in the life of their country. Once they have died they can do no more. Jesus had fought on behalf of his people and had endured the wrath of God against their sins when he was alive on the cross. Now he is about to enter into death, and the writer to the Hebrews tells us that ‘Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery’ (2:14-15). Death was an enemy that the Saviour had to defeat, and it was connected to the power of the devil because he could claim that we deserved to die because of our sins. By entering into death, Jesus both destroyed the devil’s power and delivered his people from the fear of death. So, as we listen to this seventh saying, we see him acting on our behalf.
The happy confidence of the Saviour
It is obvious from his words that Jesus died confidently. In other situations, this would have seemed unrealistic. After all, the human spirit that bore the punishment was now put into the hands of the One who had inflicted the punishment by the One who had borne it. But he was able to do so because he had finished the work given him to do by the Father. Jesus was putting his spirit into the care of the One who was well-pleased with him for completing the task of dealing with our sins.
We can also see from this seventh saying that Jesus is now again conscious of communion with his Father. A short time before he said this saying, he had cried out because of his sense of being forsaken by the Father during the three hours of darkness. That forsaking was now over, and the Saviour was conscious that communion was now taking place between him and the Father.
Yet Jesus had to make this saying by faith, trusting that the consequences of his death, which meant the separation of his spirit from his body, would only last for three days. On several occasions before he went to the cross Jesus had said that he would be killed and then rise again three days later. Now he had come to the moment when he would die, and his soul and body would be separated. He calmly, but trustingly, placed his situation into the care of his Father. Jesus knew the predictions of Psalm 16 about his resurrection and the reunion of his soul and his body.
What happened to Jesus when he died?
The answer to this question is that his spirit went straight to heaven and his body remained on the cross for a short time until it was placed in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. So his soul and body were separated until his resurrection on the third day. Yet we must remember that Jesus is also God as well as man. Although his soul and body were separated, both remained united to his divine Person.
This saying was the second one in which Jesus referred to this state of separation between his spirit and his body. The other saying was the one when he promised the penitent criminal that his soul would be with Jesus that day in Paradise. Later that day, the former criminal died at Calvary and immediately found himself in the presence of God. He would be amazed that he was now perfect in holiness, but he would have been overjoyed to have fellowship with the One who had been beside him on the cross and who had kept his promise that the forgiven sinner would be with his Saviour.