The Father's Hands

Bread and Wine Reading: "The Father’s Hands", George Macdonald

Scripture Reading: Luke 23: 44-46
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ Having said this, he breathed his last.

This is the final act. The curtain descends. Jesus has openly and willingly surrendered himself and his life to God. It is easy for us to look to the hero Jesus and this act of selfless surrender. But George Macdonald reminds us that “every highest human act is just a giving back to God of that which [God] first gave to us…Every act of worship is a holding up to God of what God has made us.”

From that standpoint, Macdonald contends that this final act of Jesus, this submission of his life to God, was not just the commending of his spirit at the close of his life, but a summation of everything that he had done in his life. The sacrifice had been being given all along, from that first night in the grotto, through years of rejection, years of sacrifice, until this moment. It was not, then, a final act; it was Jesus’ last prayer. That is what we are called to do—not merely submit in that moment of earthly death, but submit our whole lives, our whole being to God. And what is it that stands in the way of our doing that? Is it selfishness? It is the misconception that our lives are ours to control? Is it fear?

In Thank God It’s Friday, Bishop William Willimon claims that “to have one’s life grabbed, commandeered by a living god, that’s a fearful thing.” After all, those dead gods with which we surround our lives are easier to control! But, he says, “It’s a fearful thing to commend our spirits to God because well, who knows what God will do with our lives?” That is the crux—submitting one’s life to God means that one gives up control, gives up the “plan” that one has laid out for his or her life. Submitting one’s life to God means that one’s life ends. And that is indeed a scary thing. That is what Jesus did. It was finished. His life as he knew it was over. God had other plans. And in the wee hours of the morning just a few days later, God unveiled the New Creation. It was clear: Submitting to God, dying in Christ, means nothing less than life.

And yet we still try to control our lives, try to hold out for the piece of ourselves that we just don’t want to let go. “Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord to thee. But, dear God, if it’s all the same to you, could you leave my ___________ alone?” (I’m thinking that each of us can fill in the blank!) That’s what we want. We want to know that there’s a living God in our lives, but we want God to leave us alone. That’s not the way it works. “Into your hands I commend my spirit”—all of it, the whole thing. And in the wee hours of the morning just a few days later, God will unveil the New Creation. Submitting to God, dying in Christ, means nothing less than life. So, let go already! Your life is waiting!

Discussion Questions:
1.) What does that change about worship to think of it as a “holding up to God of what God has made us”?
2.) What does that mean to you to say that Christ’s submission to God at his death was a summation of his life?
3.) To what things in your life do you still hold on? What stands in the way of surrendering and committing your total self to God?

So go forth toward the Cross, and commend your spirit to God!

Grace and Peace,

Shelli