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bible, books, christian, christianity, cross, crucifixion, death, Easter, Good Friday, James Montgomery Boice, Jesus, religion, scripture
Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. (Luke 23:46)
Commenting on this passage James Montgomery Boice points out that…
From very early in the history of the church, preachers have noted that Jesus’ last words show that he was in total control of the situation, as he had been in every moment of his life. For these are not the words of an exhausted man, as if Jesus merely died from dehydration, loss of blood, shock, extreme fatigue, or suffocation. Not at all. They record a deliberate act of dismissing his spirit.
There was Jesus, hanging on a cross, betrayed and condemned by cowards and liars, but hanging there nevertheless by his own choice, in his own time. He had been sovereign over every moment of his life, and he was now sovereign over the exact moment of his death.
Even though we are not like Jesus in that regard, we can still learn a great deal from his example. Boice astutely observes that with his last breath, Jesus was quoting Psalm 31:5. The final paragraphs of Boice’s commentary are penetrating.
This shows what Jesus was doing on the cross, particularly in these last moments. He was reflecting on Scripture… Four of the seven last words were from the Old Testament. Only Jesus’ direct addresses to God on behalf of the soldiers, to the dying thief, and to his mother and the beloved disciple were not. This means that Jesus was filling his mind and strengthening his spirit not by trying to keep a stiff upper lip or look for a silver lining, as we might say, but by an act of deliberately remembering and consciously clinging to the great prophecies and promises of God. If Jesus did that, don’t you think you should do it too? And not only when you come to die.
You need to fill your head with Scripture and think of your life in terms of the promises of Scripture now. If you do not do it now, how will you ever find strength to do it when you come to die? You must live by Scripture, committing your spirit into the hands of God day by day if you are to yield your spirit into God’s loving hands trustingly at the last.
To live well, and to die well, we must saturate our hearts and minds with the word of God.
- All above excerpts by James Montgomery Boice are taken from Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter, (pp. 99-100)
Great words, great exhortations. Thank you.
Thanks Barry! This is a theme that I keep hearing over and over. I will put it on the plate soon.
By the way, have you ever considered putting the full post in your feed?
It is a nice gesture to those who read your stuff by RSS Feed.
Love you brother!
Thanks for the advice, David. I’d never even thought about that. I changed the setting. Let me know if it displays the full text when I post again.
Jesus said plainly that no one took his life from him, but that he gave it freely. He also said he had the power to take it again.
Jesus has the Word of God on his mind. That might come as a surprise to a few people, but it shouldn’t. “The Word became flesh…” I think there’s a more powerful lesson to be learned than being ready to quote scipture. Even while they are nailing him to the cross, Jesus prays the prayer of intercession. “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” In the moments before his iminant death, he is concern is for those who are killing him. Wow. Washing feet doesn’t seem like such a big thing now.
Great thoughts. We must always remember that our Lord chose the path He trod to be obedient to the will of His Father, to save us from ourselves.
The hour of His deep pain and despair as a man was the hour of His great victory as our Lord and Savior.
Religion as we know it is disappearing from the landscape. Christians have nothing new to offer except the same old quotes from scripture and other sources as if these things were divine.
There’s no shortage of made up stories coming from these sources and those who purport to understand and explain them.
Look around. You are now the minority and shrinking everyday.
A belief system that does now grow, evolve and re-invent itself is doomed to disappear.
How many times can you eat the same meal?
Dr. Moe,
Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment. I can understand your frustration with religion. I don’t care much for most of what passes for “religion” myself, but I am a devoted follower of Jesus Christ.
It probably goes without saying that we look at the world from radically different points of view. I’ve investigated a lot of so-called new ideas and found that most are nothing more than tired and worn-out old ideas that have been repackaged and marketed to a new audience. They’re without substance. They don’t satisfy, and therefore must evolve.
H.G. Wells was, in his day, a progressive thinker. G. K. Chesterton once said of his friend Wells: “I think he thought that the object of opening the mind is simply opening the mind. Whereas I am incurably convinced that the object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.”
I’ve opened my mind and shut it again on something solid. I’ve eaten the only meal that ever nourished my soul and genuinely satisfied the deepest hunger of my heart.