It is fitting that we began today’s journey in Luke and we now end it there as well. One of the challenges of a service like this is that it meshes the Gospel accounts into one singular story, and sometimes in doing so we lose the voice of the original author. We have a habit of doing this at Christmas too- when we have wise men and shepherds in the same nativity scene. These retellings “bring together strands of the various gospels in tandem with the popular imagination” (Epperly). This collection of Jesus’ final words, presented in this way, gives voice to the suffering we encounter in our own humanity.
And that reminder of our own humanity is fitting, especially in this Luke account, because I think the way Jesus is portrayed in Luke gives us deep insight into WHY Jesus was killed. And to be clear, Jesus was murdered by the authorities because of who he was and what he taught. He was a progressive, radical, Jew who wanted to see people freed from the yoke of Roman rule.
Jesus' life was lived in the midst of desperate political and financial times steeped in violence and greed. And in the middle of all of this, there’s Jesus who sees people under the painful yoke of Roman occupation and taxation. And while the religious authorities could have worked to help the people, they instead operated as spiritual elites, mostly ignoring the people most affected by Rome’s occupation.
Jesus loved the people and wanted them to be clothed and fed. He didn’t want them to suffer. He knew the only way forward was division. Division from Rome, division from spiritual elitism. He knew that the only way to be able to build something new was to burn the old systems to the ground and start over.
The people had a choice: to become completely as desired by Rome- compliant, obedient, rule-following people who kept their religion mostly quiet and didn’t get in the way. OR the people could follow their faith and live it out authentically and fully. There was no halfway or compromise possible. What Jesus was working toward was a revolution- a true change in the way things were done. A rejection of Rome, a reclaiming of a religion that would be accessible to all people, a singular way forward.
A choice had to be made: Rome’s way or Jesus’ way. It’s no wonder then that the Roman establishment and the religious zealots colluded to crucify Jesus. He was calling for an end to their power. He was calling for their destruction. He was intentionally inciting division knowing that a house divided could not stand. This was Jesus at his most radical- at his most political. And it’s this rhetoric that ultimately got him arrested and killed.
This is the Jesus of Luke. This is the very human Jesus who loves, who struggles, who cries. This is the Jesus who pushes back, who speaks out, and who widens the reach of God’s love. This is the version of Jesus that pushes us to be followers of God in every way: in love, in care, and in speaking truth to power. In Luke, “the Inclusive parameters of Jesus’ ministry reach their height…in the passion narrative.”(Wilson 438), and it is only in Luke’s account that we have the weeping daughters of Jerusalem, the interaction between Jesus and the penitent criminal, and the passionate confession of the centurion at the cross. Even Luke’s depiction of Jesus’ violent death is steeped in inclusivity. Luke’s Jesus, even in death, is different than the Jesus we meet in Mark, Matthew, and John.
“In Luke, we stand with the crowd of the people watching while Jesus is crucified by those who taunt him with mocked pleas that he save himself and others…but Jesus prays for forgiveness for those who have rejected and crucified him. He assures the penitent criminal of blessing in Paradise and dies with the prayer of one who trusts God even in death.” (McCann, Jr. 463).
“Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last.”
See, Luke’s depiction of the final moments of Jesus’ life stands in contrast to the high drama of the other Gospels. This version of Jesus’ death shows us a Jesus, who while grieving, is also calm, in control, and at peace. This is death with as much dignity as is possible for someone being murdered in a public spectacle. And the prayer on Jesus’ lips as he breathes his last breath is directly from Psalm 31.
This Psalm is a prayer of trust. The entirety of the Psalm is a deep prayer about trusting in God and depending on God. Psalm 31 calls upon God as a rock and a fortress- a refuge. The psalmist pleads to not be put to shame, to be hidden from human plots, and to be saved by God’s steadfast love. The Psalmist begs for God to grant deliverance from enemies and persecutors, to silence those who would spread lies, and to be liberated from those schemes.
The use of this psalm makes perfect sense! Jesus was crucified as a result of the schemes of those in power, the plots of those who found him to be dangerous, and the government who persecuted him. Those in power think they are in control, “that they control Jeus’ fate. But in the end, it is Jesus who gives himself into God’s hands.” (Liberto 222). The use of this psalm gives us a picture of a Jesus who is in control of the narrative, even to his last breath.
“Into your hands I commend my spirit” is the fifth verse of this psalm, and “In Jesus' case, this affirmation comes at the moment of death, which is certainly appropriate, but for the psalmist, this affirmation is as much for the living as for the dying.” (McCann, Jr. 800). This is a confidence in God that is grounded in God’s activity and character, this is a deep understanding of who God is and trusting that God will CONTINUE to be God. So it is NOT an accident that Luke uses these words in his account of Jesus’ death. In fact, using this psalm as the final act of his earthly life is an “affirmation of trust in God that anticipates the resurrection. God’s power to redeem will not be thwarted even by death.”(McCann, Jr. 802)
This final moment is one of deep trust and acceptance. Jesus’s words belie a recognition that, “our existence from moment to moment is contingent on forces beyond ourselves” (Epperly). In his most vulnerable moment, and even to his last breath, Jesus shows us that he trusts God. He trusts God more than he trusts the powers that are crucifying him and it is because of that trust that Jesus is able to face death with peace and acceptance.
Jesus’ last word is prescriptive. It is a reminder that we too must trust our lives to God. “To entrust our lives and futures to God, to belong to God in living and dying means ultimately that we derive our identity not from the worthless idols of our culture but from the character of God to whom we entrust ourselves.”(McCann, Jr. 803)
As the Psalmist says:
In you, O Lord, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me.
Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.
You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,
take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my refuge.
Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.
You hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord.
I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have taken heed of my adversities,
and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and body also.
For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away.
I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.
I have passed out of mind like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.
For I hear the whispering of many— terror all around!— as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.
But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.
Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord, for I call on you; let the wicked be put to shame; let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.
Let the lying lips be stilled that speak insolently against the righteous with pride and contempt.
O how abundant is your goodness that you have laid up for those who fear you, and accomplished for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of everyone!
In the shelter of your presence you hide them from human plots; you hold them safe under your shelter from contentious tongues.
Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was beset as a city under siege.
I had said in my alarm, “I am driven far from your sight.” But you heard my supplications when I cried out to you for help.
Love the Lord, all you his saints. The Lord preserves the faithful, but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily.
Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord.