SERMON AT ST JOHN'S CATHEDRAL OBAN
Murdoch MacKenzie
Good Friday 2005
Luke 23:46 ‘Then Jesus crying with a loud voice, said: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
St John adds: ‘And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.’ (John 19:30)
Many things in life are uncertain. But there is nothing uncertain about death. It comes to each of us. And the question is: ‘Are we ready for it?’ During the American Civil War there was a battle at Cold Harbour where many of General Grant’s men fell. One soldier wrote in his bloodstained diary: ‘ June 3rd. Cold Harbour. I died today.’ What an experience to write about in your diary !
And Jesus also knew he was about to die. And he died with a prayer on his lips, the words of Psalm 31 and verse 5 : ‘Into your hands I commit my spirit.’ This was the prayer that every Jewish mother taught her children to say last thing at night. The Jewish equivalent of: ‘This night I lay me down to sleep and pray the Lord my soul to keep.’
But Jesus made it even more meaningful because he added the word ‘Father’. Even on the cross Jesus died like a child falling asleep in his Father’s arms. He had come from the Father and was going to the Father. There was no longer any cry of desolation here. His last words were like his first words: ‘Father forgive’ ‘Father into your hands.’
Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. The word ‘bowed’ actually means ‘laid down’. It was a deliberate act reminding us that he once said: ‘ The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.’ (John 10:11) He had also said: ‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests. But the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.’ And the Greek word ‘klino’ used here for ‘to lay’ his head, is the same word used by St John when he wrote ‘ he laid down his head and gave up his spirit.’ It’s the word from which we derive our word ‘recline’.
You see at the end of the day the Son of man had somewhere to lay his head. It was a cross. The cross of Calvary. There he reclined. But that was not all. He had somewhere else – the hands of God. He had come home. ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’
And the Roman centurion and the crowd standing by, were deeply moved. His death had done what the other parts of his life had not done. It had broken the hardest hearts. The centurion gasped and said: ‘Certainly this man was innocent.’ Or as recorded by Mark ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’ Already Jesus’ saying was coming true: ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ (John 12:32) The magnet of the cross had begun its work, even as he breathed his last. And to God’s Name be the praise and the glory.
Amen.
Murdoch MacKenzie
St John adds: ‘And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.’ (John 19:30)
Many things in life are uncertain. But there is nothing uncertain about death. It comes to each of us. And the question is: ‘Are we ready for it?’ During the American Civil War there was a battle at Cold Harbour where many of General Grant’s men fell. One soldier wrote in his bloodstained diary: ‘ June 3rd. Cold Harbour. I died today.’ What an experience to write about in your diary !
And Jesus also knew he was about to die. And he died with a prayer on his lips, the words of Psalm 31 and verse 5 : ‘Into your hands I commit my spirit.’ This was the prayer that every Jewish mother taught her children to say last thing at night. The Jewish equivalent of: ‘This night I lay me down to sleep and pray the Lord my soul to keep.’
But Jesus made it even more meaningful because he added the word ‘Father’. Even on the cross Jesus died like a child falling asleep in his Father’s arms. He had come from the Father and was going to the Father. There was no longer any cry of desolation here. His last words were like his first words: ‘Father forgive’ ‘Father into your hands.’
Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. The word ‘bowed’ actually means ‘laid down’. It was a deliberate act reminding us that he once said: ‘ The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.’ (John 10:11) He had also said: ‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests. But the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.’ And the Greek word ‘klino’ used here for ‘to lay’ his head, is the same word used by St John when he wrote ‘ he laid down his head and gave up his spirit.’ It’s the word from which we derive our word ‘recline’.
You see at the end of the day the Son of man had somewhere to lay his head. It was a cross. The cross of Calvary. There he reclined. But that was not all. He had somewhere else – the hands of God. He had come home. ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’
And the Roman centurion and the crowd standing by, were deeply moved. His death had done what the other parts of his life had not done. It had broken the hardest hearts. The centurion gasped and said: ‘Certainly this man was innocent.’ Or as recorded by Mark ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’ Already Jesus’ saying was coming true: ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ (John 12:32) The magnet of the cross had begun its work, even as he breathed his last. And to God’s Name be the praise and the glory.
Amen.
Murdoch MacKenzie
