I post my Good Friday reflection, written for our community Good Friday service.
And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’”(Luke 23:46)
This is an economic season where we are aggressively tightening our belts. Governments, businesses, churches, families and individuals are literally having to make choices about what is valuable to them. A nice and diplomatic way to express this is that we are simplifying our lives. We are living more simply; some by circumstance and some by choice. It’s in seasons like this (season of economic downturn or in a season of Lent) that we discover what’s really important and invaluable. We become intentional about what we cannot and will not live without.
And now we come to the moment when the Word made flesh surrenders the most precious thing he possessed: his spirit. That part of his being by which he could communicate and receive communications and communion from His Father. I know there’s no empirical proof stating that this was the most precious thing he had; except this what Jesus gave up last. And if ever there was a person who knew what was and is precious and valuable, it was our Savior.
In western Christianity we have an unfortunate tendency to treat the mind as the primary interface point with God. And while it’s absolutely true and valid that we are called to love God with all our minds, it is not the mind which communicates with God. Paul is quite insistent in the eighth chapter of Romans that the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. The Spirit doesn’t testify or commune with our minds, but with our spirits the things of God. And our mind is the handmaid of our spirits.
The significance of this shouldn’t be lost on anyone who has been following Jesus today - on the via dolorosa, up the hill to Golgotha, where we stand watching the Son of Man, stripped naked, wounded practically beyond recognition, publically suffering before a watching world. We watch as the world strips the lamb of God of his clothing, his earthly dignity and comforts. We took everything that could be taken from him.
And what could not be taken from Him, Jesus gave up. John 10 17“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
We follow Jesus all the way through to the end. We try to see what He sees, go where he goes and value what He values. And we, with the help of the Spirit feel ourselves making choices about what’s important. What do we give up next? And next? And what do we give up last? What do we refuse to surrender because we can’t - because we won’t live without it? What would make all other aspects of our human cognizance, intelligence, rationality and consciousness meaningless? Jesus models for us the answer: it is the loss of ability to directly commune with your heavenly Father. Jesus’ ministry began with words of Father’s approval - You are my Son, upon whom my favor rests - and Father’s words of approval had sustained Him even up to this very moment. Jesus himself said that he only did what he saw his Father doing and only said what he heard his Father saying. And since he had done everything He saw his Father doing and said everything He’d heard his Father saying with the utmost finality, there was nothing more to be done - nothing more to be said. So he no longer needed His spirit to serve the needs of his body, his soul, his mind. So Jesus surrendered the last aspect of his human being necessary to accomplish what he came here to do.
As we here in the twenty-first century learn what’s really important and valuable, and as our mission unfolds toward it’s climax, let’s be about our Father’s business. Let’s get rid of and give up everything not essential to our personal or corporate assignments. And let’s jealously and zealously nurture and guard that which we cannot and must not live without and only surrender when we have done and said all that our Father sent us here to do and say. And then we can with great faith and assurance say, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’”
This is an economic season where we are aggressively tightening our belts. Governments, businesses, churches, families and individuals are literally having to make choices about what is valuable to them. A nice and diplomatic way to express this is that we are simplifying our lives. We are living more simply; some by circumstance and some by choice. It’s in seasons like this (season of economic downturn or in a season of Lent) that we discover what’s really important and invaluable. We become intentional about what we cannot and will not live without.
And now we come to the moment when the Word made flesh surrenders the most precious thing he possessed: his spirit. That part of his being by which he could communicate and receive communications and communion from His Father. I know there’s no empirical proof stating that this was the most precious thing he had; except this what Jesus gave up last. And if ever there was a person who knew what was and is precious and valuable, it was our Savior.
In western Christianity we have an unfortunate tendency to treat the mind as the primary interface point with God. And while it’s absolutely true and valid that we are called to love God with all our minds, it is not the mind which communicates with God. Paul is quite insistent in the eighth chapter of Romans that the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. The Spirit doesn’t testify or commune with our minds, but with our spirits the things of God. And our mind is the handmaid of our spirits.
The significance of this shouldn’t be lost on anyone who has been following Jesus today - on the via dolorosa, up the hill to Golgotha, where we stand watching the Son of Man, stripped naked, wounded practically beyond recognition, publically suffering before a watching world. We watch as the world strips the lamb of God of his clothing, his earthly dignity and comforts. We took everything that could be taken from him.
And what could not be taken from Him, Jesus gave up. John 10 17“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
We follow Jesus all the way through to the end. We try to see what He sees, go where he goes and value what He values. And we, with the help of the Spirit feel ourselves making choices about what’s important. What do we give up next? And next? And what do we give up last? What do we refuse to surrender because we can’t - because we won’t live without it? What would make all other aspects of our human cognizance, intelligence, rationality and consciousness meaningless? Jesus models for us the answer: it is the loss of ability to directly commune with your heavenly Father. Jesus’ ministry began with words of Father’s approval - You are my Son, upon whom my favor rests - and Father’s words of approval had sustained Him even up to this very moment. Jesus himself said that he only did what he saw his Father doing and only said what he heard his Father saying. And since he had done everything He saw his Father doing and said everything He’d heard his Father saying with the utmost finality, there was nothing more to be done - nothing more to be said. So he no longer needed His spirit to serve the needs of his body, his soul, his mind. So Jesus surrendered the last aspect of his human being necessary to accomplish what he came here to do.
As we here in the twenty-first century learn what’s really important and valuable, and as our mission unfolds toward it’s climax, let’s be about our Father’s business. Let’s get rid of and give up everything not essential to our personal or corporate assignments. And let’s jealously and zealously nurture and guard that which we cannot and must not live without and only surrender when we have done and said all that our Father sent us here to do and say. And then we can with great faith and assurance say, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’”
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