"_Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit_."
Here our Lord enters upon the extremity of His humiliation. Death must
have been repulsive to Him. If the failure of heart and flesh, the cold
sweat, the physical collapse, the last parting, the solitude and
separation of the grave are all repelling and painful to us, _how much
more to Him_!
And, indeed, the picture which Christ presents to the outward eye in these
last moments is unquestionably one of deep humiliation. The disordered
garments--stained with blood and dirt, the distended limbs, the bleeding
wound in His side, the face smeared with bloody sweat and dust, the torn
brow and hair, and the swollen features, must have combined with all the
horrible surroundings to make one of the most gruesome sights that ever
man saw. And it was at this moment, _in His extremity_, that He says:
"Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit." "Father, I have done all
that I can do; now I leave Myself and the rest to Thee."
Here is a beautiful message--the great message about Death. This is, in
fact, the one way to meet the shivering spectre with peace and joy.
But the great lesson of this last word from the cross of Jesus is the
lesson of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob: _that faith in the Father is
the inner strength and secret of all true service_. It was, in a very
wonderful and real sense, by _faith_ that He wrought His wonders, by
faith He suffered, by faith He prayed for His murderers, by faith He died,
by faith He made His atonement for the sins of the world. The faith that
not one iota of the Father's will could fail of its purpose.
Oh, dear comrade and friend, here is the crowning lesson of His life and
death alike--"_Have faith in God_." Will you learn of Him? In
_your_ extremity of grief or sorrow--if you are called to sorrow--will
you not trust Him, and say, "Father, into Thy hands I commend my
bereaved and bleeding heart"? In your extremity of poverty--if you are
called to poverty--Oh, cry out to Him, "Father, into Thy hands I commend
my home, my dear ones." In your extremity of shame and
humiliation--arising, maybe, from the injustice or neglect of others--let
your heart say in humble faith, "Father, into Thy hands I commend my
reputation, my honour, my all." In your extremity of weakness and
pain--if you are called to suffer weakness or pain--cry out in faith,
"Father, into Thy hands I commend this my poor worn and weary frame."
In your extremity of loneliness and heart-separation from all you love
for Christ's sake, if that be the path you tread, will you not say to
your Lord, "Father, into Thy hands I commend my future, my life; lead
Thou me on."
Yes, depend upon it, _faith is the great lesson of the cross_. By
faith the world was made; by faith the world was redeemed. If we are truly
conformed to His death, we also must go forward in faith with the great
work of bringing that redemption home to the hearts of men; and all we aim
at, all we do, all we suffer, must be sought for, done, and suffered in
that personal, simple faith in our Father and God which Jesus manifested
on His cross, in that hour when all human aid failed Him, and when He
cried in the language of a little child, "_Father, into Thy hands I
commend My spirit_."