Into Your Hands (Holy Week Devotional)

“Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last.”

- Luke 23:46

In their portrayals of Jesus’s final hours on the cross, the four gospel writers offer a moving sketch of who Jesus is. We are reminded of his divinity when he declares the plan of salvation to be finished, of his humanity when he asks for something to drink. We are shown his love for enemies when he asks God to forgive those crucifying him, his love for those closest to him when he places his mother in the care of his beloved disciple. We see the heights of his grace when he promises Paradise to the thief beside him, the depths of his dread when he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In these last words of Jesus, we are shown a Savior who is physically and spiritually exhausted, but whose heart remains with others, even those utterly undeserving of his love. His sacrifice is revealed as both the majestic climax of a divine plan and as a physical, flesh-and-blood ordeal. The emotions of the reader rightfully alternate between gratefulness and horror, joy and sorrow, in thinking about the glory of salvation and the cost required to obtain it.

So as we draw to the end of the Seven Last Words, it is instructive to note the final impression the gospels give us of Jesus. With his dying breath, Jesus’s identity as full human and fully divine, as humiliated and exalted, as fearful and faithful, is summed up in the simplest of terms: he is on the cross what he always was, the servant of his Father.

Jesus does in death what we struggle to do in life—he faithfully places himself in God’s hands. So often in times of trouble, we come to the Lord with prayers of half-faith, hoping that God will be with us but hedging our bets just in case with solutions and strategies that are convenient but not Christlike. It’s the only way; the ends justify the means; if God had a different plan He would have stopped me—these are the justifications we offer. But ultimately choosing your way instead of God’s—lashing out instead of reaching out, extending punishment instead of grace—is simply a refusal to do the hard work of trusting God when you don’t know where he’s taking you.

With his dying breath on the cross, Jesus’s words match his example—above all else, he is serving his Father, trusting in His will even when it is difficult. As you reflect today on all that the cross means for you and all that Jesus has done for you, may you not lose sight of that blessed example. Jesus trusted the Father even unto death—may you trust him in life.