Father … Into Your Hands

‘Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit’ (Luke 23:46). This penultimate saying – this piece of the mosaic comprised by these Seven Sayings of Jesus from the Cross – starts to paint a different picture from that we have seen thus far. Jesus is in command of himself. He who freely gave himself into the hands of his executioners, is now committing himself into the hands of God! In life he always submitted to God’s will …  and now in death it would be no different. In life, in death … in God’s hands!

Is this the same for us? Jesus’ last words, according to Luke, are words of complete faith as he entrusts himself to God. They are exactly the same words we find in Psalm 31:5 where we read the Psalmist saying, ‘Into your hands I commit my spirit’. They are exactly the same … apart from the inclusion of one vital word – Father!

This verse from Psalm 31, taught to them from an early age, was repeated by every Jewish child in the darkness of night just before they went to sleep. Jesus begins his prayer with the word ‘Father’. The forsaken feeling has gone. He is no longer alone. He is dying with a prayer on his lips like a child falling asleep in his Father’s arms!

Julia Binney