‘Into Your Hands’ — Seven Sayings, Part Seven

‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ — Luke 23:46

There can be few more intimate moments than the moment of someone’s death. I was present with my father when he died and it is a moment I can never forget.

If we could choose the moment of our death I imagine most of us would like to pass away in private, surrounded by family.

Jesus had no such luxury. The Romans intended his death to be as public and humiliating as possible, in his nakedness and torment by the roadside. Yet, there is an intimacy in his last words which transcends these circumstances.

Once again Jesus addresses his ‘Father,’ having used the more distant address ‘My God’ (Mark 15:34) when he was carrying the punishment for our sins. Now the intimate relationship is restored. This was bold for its time and reminds us that Christ paved the way for us all to have this personal, intimate encounter with God.

When we come to faith in Christ, it must be through a personal, intimate encounter with Jesus. Abstract understandings of God, however accurate, can leave our hearts cold and hard, but intimate relationships move and warm our hearts.

Jesus’ last words were confident words. He was trusting his Father with his life – here his ‘spirit’ – a more natural reading of the text than Holy Spirit. Note the lovely touch ‘into your hands’ which emphasises the intimacy. Hands are our point of contact with others from our earliest memories and their grip the place of safety. Jesus knew there was no more intimate nor safe place in the universe than the hands of his Father. His words are based on Psalm 31:5 which also describes God as a rock and a fortress. Jesus’ words were no sentimental wish, but grounded in the Bible’s promises and the mighty nature of God.

The Christian attitude to death can be very different from other views.

I do not want to minimise the sense of shock, loss and other deep emotions which are felt at any death, but for Christians there is not the despair sometimes expressed. In Scripture death is described as ‘falling asleep’ because it is not a permanent state. In the Old Testament death leads to a ‘gathering to his people’, or in the similar New Testament sentiment of ‘away from the body and at home with the Lord’ (2 Corinthians 5:8).

Jesus’ confidence was not misplaced, for just a few days later he was brought to life, and a few weeks later he was raised to glory (known as the ‘ascension’). Even knowing all this it is hard to face death; it is a subject that is not natural or easy to think about. John Wyatt is a Christian and an eminent doctor who recently wrote Dying Well, which is a very accessible and practical guide to the medical and moral questions as loved ones face death and I highly recommend it.

We need to remember that as children of God, death is not our natural state. We were made for life and born again to eternal life. Death can seem so final, so all encompassing, but it will be defeated. Paul writes extensively about this in 1 Corinthians 15 and in our final state of glory, death and its pain will be no more than a distant memory (Revelation 21:4). For those of us who live this side of death and this side of glory, we also can trust our Father with our deaths and the life that is to come.