“Father, Into Your Hands…”
As we journey through the final days of Lent, we are called to deeper surrender – letting go of our own desires and willingly embracing the cross. In his final moments, after enduring betrayal, unjust trials, horrific torture, and mockery, Jesus cried out “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). These last words were more than just words – they were the pinnacle of his total self-emptying for our sake.
To reach those final words, Jesus walked a step-by-step path of profound surrender. First, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he yielded his own will: “Not my will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Next, before the high priest, he surrendered his divine status, not clinging to equality with God (Philippians 2:6). He then embraced his innocence being condemned as a criminal at his unjust trial.
During the brutality that followed, Jesus gave over his body to be scourged until his back was laid into the bone. He suffered ruthless blows by the soldiers until his face was swollen and disfigured beyond recognition. As huge nails were driven through his wrists and feet, he endured overwhelming agony. Yet through it all, he remained strangely silent, like “a lamb led to the slaughter.” Hanging on the cross, darkness covered the land as the Son of God bore the sins of the world. It was then, in his final breaths, that he uttered his last words of total surrender, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
These last words reveal the very heart of Christianity – the path we too must follow of humility, obedience, and self-surrender into the hands of the Father. It’s not a path we can walk on our own power, but one he makes possible by uniting us to his passion, death, and resurrection through baptism. As we reflect on Jesus’ final words this Lent, we can ask ourselves: What areas of my life am I still clinging to rather than fully surrendering to God? Do I try to keep my faith at a distance like the crowds, or draw near like the disciples?
May we follow Jesus’ example to its deepest lengths, yielding all to the Father’s hands. For as Jesus showed, it is precisely through the surrender of selfishness that we find our truest selves as God’s beloved children. The approaching Holy Week is an invitation to die to ourselves so that we may rise with Christ to new life. Just as Jesus surrendered all, we too must let go in order to embrace the fullness of grace and resurrection joy. (Media Team)