Dying Well
Seven Last Words from the Cross Part 7 * Luke 23:44-46
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
Today we tackle an unusual topic for an Easter Sunday. Usually we talk about life and life everlasting. We’ll get there, but first, let’s consider where that life comes from: death on a cross. The one certainty about life is death. The human condition is 100 percent fatal! Unless Jesus returns first, we’re all going to die. That’s a pretty cheerful thought, right?
I’ve been around death a lot. I’ve helped people prepare to die, I’ve sat with folks as their loved ones have died, and I’ve talked with people who are missing their loved ones. I’ve seen death in the Army, death in the VA, and death in lots of different church families. We are all going to die. Yes, death is not fun, but can we learn to die well? As we conclude a series of messages of Jesus’ last sayings from the cross, I believe the answer is “Yes!” Jesus can teach us how to die well.
Here’s the setting: Jesus has been on a Roman cross for six long hours. For the last three hours, darkness has covered the land. Then, as suddenly as it came, the darkness dispelled, to reveal Jesus moments away from death. He said he thirst, and the soldiers gave him a drink. He shouted, “It is finished,” and then Doctor Luke alone notes his very last words. With a loud shout, he said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” And he breathed his last. An on-looking soldier commented, “Surely this was the son of God!”
In his last word from the cross, Jesus shows us how to die well. I have broken down his statement into three parts on the outline in your program. Please note first that Jesus models for us to...
1. Trust a relational God – “Father”
It’s in the word “Father.” Hours earlier, in his first statement from the cross, Jesus had said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Later, he said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He used a more formal term there for God, as all the sin of the world fell on him in that moment. And now, at the end of his life, as he prepared to come home, he returned to this term of endearment and trust, as he said, “Father,” or in the Aramaic, “Daddy.”
Some people struggle with calling God “Father.” Perhaps they had less than an ideal dad here on earth. My dad certainly wasn’t perfect. Come to think of it, I wasn’t a perfect dad either. Please don’t let your view of your earthly father mar your view of your Heavenly Father. He is the dad you never had. Imagine every good quality in a father: provider, protector, tough and yet caring, love for you unconditional. All of these images are wrapped up in God as our Heavenly Father.
When it comes to dying, trust your Heavenly Father. No one knows their allotted time, but your Father does. And the God who made you will guide you through the valley of the shadow of death. It’s a relationship you build with your Heavenly Father now, and continue every day until your last day on this earth, and even then, as you trust him to bring you safely home. Trust a relational God, and...
2. Know where you’re headed – “Into your hands”
Jesus said, “Father, into your hands...” He placed his life, his future, his everything into his Father’s hands. Pastor Ray Pritchard makes an interesting comparsion between the Father’s hands and all those human hands that had whipped Jesus, had plucked out his beard, had pushed a crown of thorns down on his head, had pounded stakes into his hands and feet, and had lifted him up on a cross. Their hands had gambled for his clothing and cupped their mouths in shouts of derision. Human hands had pointed at him with false accusations and had stirred the crowd into a frenzied mob. All these hands against him. Yet, now he could commit himself into the hands of the One who would care for him forever. Jesus was reuniting with his Father. He was coming home.
As Jesus died, he didn’t go just cease to exist. No, he went back to his God and Father. Know where you’re headed. Do you know the Heavenly Father personally? If not, begin a relationship with him today. Invite him to become your spiritual father. As you do so, you will find there is no need to fear death, because you know where you’re heading. And then finally,
3. Finish well - “I commit my spirit”
Jesus died completing all that he had come to do. His mission was over. He had no bitterness or unforgiveness lingering in his heart, no regrets, no unfinished business. He had prepared his disciples for what lay ahead. He had stayed connected to his Heavenly Father through thick and thin. He had drunk the cup given him, even though it brought pain and suffering. He took on the sins of the world, and made peace between believers and God forever.
Scripture notes that Jesus was in full control of his death. In John 10:17-18, he had explained to his disciples, “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.” Matthew 27:50 tells us that at the moment of death, Jesus “gave up his spirit.” No one took it from him; he gave it up. Hebrews 9:14 says he “offered himself unblemished to God.” Jesus did not commit suicide. He simply made himself available for the worst human beings could inflict upon him. And he died.
To die on a cross in just six hours was unusual. Sometimes criminals stayed alive for days. That’s why the Roman soldiers came to break the leg bones of the criminals one either side, so they would die before the Passover Sabbath began. Yet, Jesus had already died. None of his bones were broken, which fulfilled prophecy. Everything was planned out by the Father. Nothing left to chance. Jesus died completing everything he came to do. He died well.
Thankfully, that is not the end of the story. Otherwise, it would be a sad story indeed. Jesus’ body was buried in a rich friend’s cave. Saturday came and went, as the women observed Sabbath and waited until sundown to prepare Jesus’ body with spices. Then, that first Easter morning, they came to the tomb at daybreak, wondering how they were going to move the large stone that covered the opening. Yet, when they arrived, they discovered it had already been moved. No one there. Grave clothes folded neatly inside. Men in white asking who they were looking for and reminding them how Jesus had said he would rise on the third day. Then he began to show up in person: first to Mary Magdalene, then to Peter, to the disciples, to the disciples again, and later to over 500 people gathered at one time, then one last time to the disciples before rising to heaven.
This is what Easter is all about: hopelessness turned to hope, fear turned to faith, defeat turned to victory, and death turned to life. Pritchard notes about death, “We think that we are going from the land of the living to the land of the dying. Not so. We are going from the land of the dying to the land of the living.” Death for the Christian believer is only temporary.
To truly understand life and death, we need to become like a little child. Did you know that Jesus was quoting scripture here in his final words? Psalm 31:5 says “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” Jewish mothers taught their children this verse at an early age. It reminds me of that simple prayer, “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to take.” These are prayers of trust, that death will not have the last word, that our Heavenly Father will carry us from this life to the next.
Peter Marshall, former chaplain of the Senate, shares a story about a little boy named Kenneth. He knew he was suffering from a terminal illness. One day he asked his mom, “What is it like to die?” She became teary-eyed, but then God gave her an insight. She said, “Kenneth, do you remember when you were a little boy and you would play hard all day? When evening came, you would be so tired that when you came in, you would lie down on Mommy and Daddy’s bed and fall asleep. That was not your bed. That was not where you belonged. But you only stayed there a little while. In the morning, you were surprised to wake up and find yourself in your own bed. You were there because someone you loved had come and taken care of you. During the night while you were sleeping, your father came—with big strong arms—and carried you to your own room. Sweetheart, death is just like that. One night you are very tired and very sleepy. We fall asleep and the next morning we wake up to find ourselves in another room—our own room where we belong—because the Lord Jesus has come and with his big arms, he has carried us from our home in this world to our home in heaven.”
The light on the little boy’s face showed that he had understood. And a few days later he fell asleep, just as his mother had said.
That is what death is like for the believer. You don’t need to fear. Jesus has said, “I will be with you.” One day each of us will “fall asleep,” and we will awake in our Father’s house. Let us pray:
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for giving us hope where there seems to be little cause for hope, for giving us life when all we deserve is death. Your love is so rich and complete for us, that we can only marvel at it. Please help someone here today accept your love for the very first time, as they turn away from their sin and turn their life over to you. And help each one of us to live life to the fullest, to make peace as best we can with those who have something against us, to live lives of purpose dedicated to you, so that when our time comes, we die well. We ask this in the name of the one who died for us, Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.
