“Into Your Hands I Commend My Spirit”

“Father Into Thy Hands I Commend My Spirit” Sermon

A sermon reflection on the meaning of Jesus’ last words, “Father Into Your Hands I Commend My Spirit,” its Psalm 31 connection, and how we can find the same comfort Jesus found in our own suffering.

Scripture Passage

This is the final reading of the last words of Jesus found in Luke 23:44-46 (NRSV).

44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last.

Know that the comfort Jesus found on the cross is the same comfort he leaves with you. The comfort is this: To know that your sure promise in times of suffering is that your soul is entrusted to the God of Truth, your protector and deliverer.

1. Introduction

As we remember Good Friday, we are remembering what Jesus went through on the cross and what words he said. Each of Jesus’ 7 last words is important and is recorded for our benefit and instruction.

Jesus’ final words are, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” We’re going to look at these words and what they meant for Jesus, and then what they mean for us today. We’ll explore the “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” meaning.

2. First, what does “into your hands I commend my spirit” mean for Jesus?

2.1 Jesus on the Cross

I want to paint again for you the picture of Jesus hanging on the cross in his final moments. He has been beaten, whipped, forced to carry his own cross. And, he has had a nail driven through his right hand, and his left, and through his feet. He is dripping both sweat and blood. And he must push up on the nail with his feet, just to gasp for a breath. Finally in a loud voice, he cries out to God, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Then he breathes his last breath. Then he is dead.

2.2 Jesus’ last words

Let’s look at his last words: What did Jesus mean when he said, he commends his spirit?

Jesus was entrusting into his own Father’s hands his spirit for protection as he was about to begin his journey through death.

2.3 Did “Father in your hands I commend my spirit” mean something special?

Did these words mean something special? The answer is Yes.

Not only because they are his final words. But also because these words are a direct quotation of a Hebrew psalm attributed to King David. Jesus takes these words of David and makes them his own as he cries out for his last time.

Jesus knows that he is about to die, to enter death and be among the dead for 3 days. And these are the words that he deliberately quotes and brings to mind in his followers.

Let’s read Psalm 31:1-5.

1 In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge;
Let me never be ashamed;
In Your righteousness deliver me.
2 Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly;
Be to me a rock of strength,
A stronghold to save me.
3 For You are my rock and my fortress;
For Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me.
4 You will pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me,
For You are my strength.
5 Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have ransomed me, O LORD, God of truth.

2.4 Why has Jesus quoted Psalm 31?

What is Psalm 31’s meaning?

Psalm 31 is the “into your hands I commit my spirit” psalm. 

Jesus wants, even in his last words, to teach his followers to know the comfort he has found in these dying moments. He is comforted that he can say, “into your hands I commit my spirit.”

Jesus emphasizes two sides of God in this psalm. Psalm 31 is important for these two reasons.

One, that God is his protector.

He uses the words refuge, rock, strength, stronghold, and fortress; (repeating rock and strength each twice;) Jesus knows that it is only in God that he will find this protection for what he is about to face.

Two, he emphasizes God’s promises for what he can do for him:

God will deliver him, rescue him quickly, save him. He will lead him and guide him, will pull him out of the net which they have secretly laid for him. These are the promises which Jesus holds onto, knowing that he will be among the dead until the third day. He knows that God will do these things for him, will deliver him, because he has promised them to him, just as God promised these to David.

Because Jesus knows the promises of who God is and what God can do for him, it is “father, into your hands” that Jesus commits his spirit. By saying “I commend my spirit” in Luke 23, he means the same as “I commit my spirit” in Psalm 31.

He knows that his spirit is safe in God’s hands. He knows that God has ransomed him, has paid the price to rescue him from punishment and the grave. Jesus knows that it will be accomplished because the Lord is the God of truth. And God will not go back on his promise.

2.5. What is Jesus’ comfort? 

So what is Jesus’ comfort? It is God’s promises.

These words comfort Jesus in his last moments on the cross. They help him face what is next, because he knows God is his refuge in whom he is protected. But God is also his deliverer who will rescue him from the throes of death.

In the first place, we’ve looked at: What did these final words mean to Jesus? These words meant that Jesus had found comfort in facing death because of God’s promises to him. Jesus’ comfort was this: that, “into your hands father,” his soul was entrusted to the God of Truth, his protector and deliverer.

3. Second, we’re going to look at what Jesus’ final words, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,” mean for us today.

3.1 Entrusting Our Souls to God

In the New Testament, in Acts (7:59), when Stephen is being stoned to death, he says, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” And then in Peter’s first letter (1 Peter 4) to Christians undergoing persecution, he writes that we share in the sufferings of Christ. But rejoice because God’s spirit rests on us. Then he encourages these sufferers “to entrust their souls to a faithful Creator.” We are to entrust our souls to God, just as Jesus did.

3.2 We receive the same comfort Jesus received

So the same comfort that Jesus has received in his darkest moment is the comfort that he gives to later believers. We are to entrust our souls to the God of truth, the faithful creator, who is our refuge and strength, and also our deliverer.

3.3 How does this comfort us?

How does this comfort us? We saw that Jesus himself was the ultimate sufferer dying this way on the cross; but even Jesus needed the security, the protection, the refuge of God. Now, our suffering may never look like his, but we do endure suffering. In fact the way of the cross is suffering.

We will be called to suffer, whether through the death of a parent, or a child, through heartbreak over the breakup of a relationship or a marriage, through loneliness, a cancer diagnosis, or even through aging.

But we know that Christ has suffered too. He has entered into our sufferings and he has taught us to commit our spirits into his father’s hands, just as he did. The same words that gave him ultimate comfort before entering death can also give us comfort as we endure our sufferings.

3.4 But how do we make this our personal comfort?

But how do we make this our personal comfort? Just as Jesus made David’s words his own, so too must we make these words our own. We must read this psalm, pray these words, speak them to ourselves—sometimes over and over again. We must meditate on them, believe the words of this psalm as true for ourselves. Then share them with others who are suffering. Remind ourselves who is this God of truth, this faithful Creator. And ultimately, then we will find comfort in these words.

Our spirit must be entrusted to God because he alone is able to protect, to lead and guide us. We can say “Lord into your hands,” or “into your hands Lord,” knowing we are committing our lives into his hands.

Now, this doesn’t mean that our suffering will be any less intense. It only means that our spirits can find rest and peace in knowing these promises of God. We do well to remember that Jesus’ rescue was from the grave, so we can’t expect ours to be any more easy or uncomplicated. But, we must live in light of the truth that these words of Ps 31 were a comfort to Jesus in the last moment of his life and that it was important for him to teach us even then to find the same comfort in them.

4. Conclusion

In conclusion, it is only when we see Jesus as he truly is: hanging up there on the cross, crying out and breathing his last breath, for our sake and for our own ransom and redemption, that we can truly understand the depth of his love for us. We see the comfort he found in entrusting his soul to God. And we learn to do the same with our own.

Know that the comfort Jesus found on the cross is the same comfort he leaves with you. The comfort is this: To know that your sure promise in times of suffering is that your soul is entrusted to the God of Truth, your protector and deliverer. Your comfort is to know that your sure promise in times of suffering is that your soul is entrusted to the God of Truth, your protector and deliverer. Amen.

-This Father Into Thy Hands I Commend My Spirit sermon sermon was preached on Good Friday, April 2, 2010 at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Dallas, Texas

5. Summary

To recap, we learned what Jesus’ last words, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” means:

1. The comfort Jesus found on the cross is the same comfort he leaves with you.
2. For us today, Jesus’ last words mean that we have a sure promise in times of suffering that our soul is entrusted to the God of Truth, our Protector and Deliverer.

Now that we know what Jesus’ last words meant to him and what they mean for us, we can live truly knowing our own souls are protected, just as Jesus’ was.

Did you know those words are meant for you too? Did you find this helpful?

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Other Helpful Resources

• Finding Someone to Trust in the Midst of Pain (Good Friday)
• Jesus’ 7 Last Words: Remembering Good Friday (Good Friday)
• Mary, the Mother of Jesus- The Unexpected Ending (Holy Week, Good Friday, Easter)
• Why I Decided to Join the Episcopal Church (Easter Vigil)
• Visualizing New Life in Christ (Easter)
• Spring, Easter, and New Life (Easter)
• What is Ascension Day? A Simple Way to Get Peace in Your Life (Ascension Day)
• What is Pentecost? Strength for Life’s Trials (Pentecost)
• Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?
• More Sermons by Keeley

Study Resources Used

For your reference, I used the following resources in the development of this Father Into Your Hands sermon meditation:

• A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd Edition
• Novum Testamentum Graece: Nestle-Aland (Greek Edition)

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