Good Friday—Tre
Ore 2013.3.29
7th Word,
“Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.”
Delivered at St
Paul's LC, Williamsburg, IA
The
Spirit of the Son / is in the hands of the Father.
“Father,
into Thy hands I commit my Spirit.”
The
Spirit of the Son // is in the hands of the Father.
Into
the hands of the all-merciful God, the Son dares to put His Spirit.
What
else does a man have? Naked a man comes to earth. So also with the
Son of Man.
A
man only has his body, his mind, and his spirit. These three /
that's it. So also with the Son of Man.
As
a man dies, we take his body and place into the ground, or, in the
case of the Son of Man, into a tomb.
There,
in the dust of the earth, a man's body begins to rot. It wastes away
and the worms come and...well, you know.
As
for his mind, in most cases, as you know from watching loved ones in
their last hours, the mind slowly fades away. It doesn't rot away
like the body does, rather it just fails.
What
is left? The spirit. A man's spirit is the only thing that will
really last.
“Father,
into Thy hands I commit my Spirit.”
Where
is your spirit? Are you holding out on God? Have you come to
trust in God, the Father, to the extent that you will give to Him the
only thing that you really have, that will last. Repent. You are,
all of you, really only naked before God, with just your spirit.
There is really only one decision. Will you keep it, or will you
commend it to God, will you give up, the only thing that you can
really call your own?
It
is the last Word that Jesus spoke from the cross. So, be assured, O
devout Christian, of this, this one last act of redemption on your
behalf: that the Spirit of the Son / is in the hands of the Father.
And
/ where else would It be. That's where It was from eternity, that is
where It was throughout Jesus' earthly life, that is where It is now.
Although,
to be precise about it, the Spirit of the Son is not an “It”, but
rather / a “He”. And just as Jesus is the Holy One of
God, so also we should not just say the “Spirit” of the Son, but
rather, / the Holy Spirit of the Son. For He is holy.
And
/ to be a bit more precise, this Holy Spirit of the Son is not
just regular old “holy”, but He / is most holy.
Now
the distinction between a holy thing, and a most holy thing,
is that a most holy thing has the power in itself to make
other things holy.
And
so He has. Dearly beloved, you are a new creation in Baptism.
“For [in Baptism] you did not receive the spirit
of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit
of adoption as sons.” In other words“because you are
sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying, 'Abba! Father!'”
Do
you get that: your decision / doesn't really matter. God has
done something to you (given something to you, that precedes your
earthly life, that precedes any earthly life, in fact, you
have this gift of the most Holy Spirit from before the foundation of
the world). Let me repeat that, just so you are clear: You / have
the Spirit of the Son, the very life-giving Spirit of the Son which
is now in the hands of the Father.
And
what does this mean? This means that this “most Holy Spirit of
Jesus” is in you, / and / He is the hands of the
Father / not two places at once, but one and the same Spirit, in one
and the same location. Just as the Father now has your new Spirit in
His hands, so He has your whole heart, mind, body and soul in His
hands. This is the work of God. See, Jesus said so / in fact, it
was the last thing that Jesus said (even after it was all
finished). /
See
how much he shares with you / everything that He has that will last
for all eternity. Now you / will last for all eternity. See how
much He loves you.
In
the name of +Jesus. Amen.
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