Second Commandment:
You shall not misuse the Name of the Lord
Your God
Bible Narrative:
Luke 23:46
Jesus: bitterly
betrayed. Judas and we use our mouth to cut that dastardly deal for some
cash! Jesus: disappointingly denied. Peter and we use our mouth to curse and swear
in order to lie! “I swear to God I don’t know this
Jesus! I’ll be damned if I’m one of His
followers!” Jesus: appallingly abandoned. By the rest of His disciples and all the rest
of us! “Let’s high tail it out of
here! We could be arrested too! We can’t be seen with Him anymore! It’s just too risky!” With friends like that who needs … …
… enemies?
Well, they show up too! In spades!
Hurling insults! Mocking! Sneering!
“He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the
Chosen One.” “If you are the king of the
Jews, save yourself.” “Aren’t you the
Christ? Save yourself and us!”[1] All these are huge satanic temptations! “Think
about yourself for a change Jesus! Good
grief! Go ahead! Hop off the cross! You don’t deserve this! You don’t need to suffer like this! Show these people that you really are the
Christ! That you truly are who you say
you are! Save yourself!”
His enemies desperately looked for a way to lay
their hands on Him![2] Jesus predicted that He would be given over /
betrayed / handed over to the “hands” of sinful men![3] Well, their hands, our hands, get what we all
want! Judas’ treason! Hands over Jesus to His enemies! He is given into the hands of sinful
men! Our hands. Clenched.
Tightened. Opened. Shaken.
Too many to count! With their
hands, with our hands, we all slap, beat, pummel, flog, and pierce Him and pin
Him with hammer and spikes!
In the midst of His enemies, the evil powers of
death, Satan, and sin and horrific suffering – in the midst of bearing the sin
of the world – facing death -- suffering its damnation – (and this is the finale
of Luke’s passion narrative) -- Jesus PLACES HIMSELF … INTO … HIS FATHER’S … HANDS! “Father, into your hands I commit my
spirit.” Incredible trust! Faith!
He Prays! Calls
upon not just some generic god – but to God the Father – His Father and our
Father! Calls upon Him by Name! In every
trouble! He was always going off and
praying to His Father during His life. “Did
you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”[4] When
everything heats up and He’s in Gethsemane he prays: “Father, if you are willing take this cup
from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”[5] As He hangs on the cross between two
terrorists He prays: “Father,
forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”[6]
Now, Holy One Jesus, in the midst of utter agony and
the most immense trouble – facing death and damnation as THE SINNER by bearing
all sin for the sake of sinners – He prays to His Father at the placed named
Skull! “Father, into your hands I commit
my spirit.”
That’s Psalm 31:5.
Jesus probably prayed the entire psalm of which we are only given a
snippet.
This may have been the very first prayer Jesus
learned as a boy. Taught to Him by
Mary. It was the “Now I Lay Me Down to
Sleep Prayer” of all Hebrew families. The
prayer that flows from faith! Prayer
that relies on God the Father for all help!
For everything! Even at the
moment of death!
Jesus dies with prayer on His lips: “Father, into your hands I commit my
spirit.” Even then He uses God’s
name properly. He looks to His Father
for all help in every need. For all
consolation! For all deliverance!
After all Jesus learned another prayer from the
Psalter: “Call upon me in the day of
trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me,” (Psalm
50:15)! From such a promise Jesus
lives! And dies! His unwavering trust in His Father continues
in the moment of His death for sinners.
And for you! And for your
salvation – the salvation He earned, won and accomplished in His bitter
suffering and death on Good Friday.
His death for you has born fruit in your life. You are baptized into His death – the only
death that counts against all your sin, death, and hell! Faith in Jesus leads to the proper use of
your mouth: calling upon the Father in
every trouble -- praise and thanksgiving.
And that’s every day. Every morning
and evening. In the evening, right
before you go to bed, which is a rehearsal for lying down to die, you too pray
like Jesus. You pray the Now I Lay Me
Down To Sleep prayer of Psalm 31:5: “into your hands, Father, I commend myself,
my body and soul and all things” in the sure and certain hope that
because of Jesus, death doesn’t have the final word. Jesus does!
He defeated death! He rose from
the grave. And He will raise your body
on the Last Day.
More on that this Sunday! Until then, a blessed Good Friday!
In the Name of Jesus.
