Fourth Sunday of Lent: Behold Your Son; Into Your Hands

Sermon

Fourth Sunday of Lent 2024

Behold, Your Son;

Into Your hands I Commit My Spirit

 

Today is the fourth Sunday of the season in the Church calendar called ‘Lent.’ During this season we’ve been focusing attention on the seven last words of Jesus as He hung dying on Calvary’s cross. Each statement gives us insight into His heart as He hung on that cross.

I started this series focusing on the Lord’s cry to the Father: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Then we turned our attention to His promise to the thief hanging next to Him: “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43). Last week we looked at two more of His last words. First, “I thirst.” And then, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”

Today we turn our attention to two more of His last words. The first is: “Woman, behold your son” – and to John, Jesus said, “Behold, your mother.” The second word we look at today is, “Father, into your hands I commit My spirit.’  Next week we’ll finish this series with the final words of the Lord just before He breathed His last: “It is finished.”

My text today comes from two gospels, John 19:16-18, 23-27 and Luke 23:44-46. First, here is John:

So [Pilate] then handed Him over to them to be crucified. They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between . . . Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; this was to fulfill the Scripture: “They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.”

 . . . . But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

Luke records these final words: (Luke 23:44-46) “It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last. 

For the sake of time, I did not read the entire context of the Lord’s crucifixion either in John’s account or Luke’s. But what I did read I did to help us make application to these specific last words of Christ on that cross. First, I want us to look at what the Lord said to His mother.

Aside from the excruciating physical pain that Jesus had to endure until He decided to give up His spirit, I want us to think a while of the emotional trauma – the emotional despair that he also endured as he looked over the crowd and didn’t see his brothers and sisters standing at the foot of the cross, if for no other reason than to comfort their mother, Mary.

 

I will not get into a discussion now about whether Jesus’ brothers and sisters were related by blood through Mary and Joseph, or if they were his cousins or other close relatives. The Greek word used throughout the New Testament when referring to Jesus’ kin can be translated as either biological siblings or as cousins.

 

I will not take a detour from this message to discuss that subject, but you have in your handout some scriptural references germane to the question so you can review them at your leisure: Matthew 12:46-49; 13:55; John 2:12; 7:5; Acts 1:14; and 1 Corinthians 9:5. These texts are only some of the examples in the New Testament wherein Jesus’ ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ are mentioned.

 

What I want to do, instead, is focus on what the Lord said specifically to His mother ‘Woman, behold your son” – meaning by the context, the disciple John standing next to her. And then what the Lord said to John, “Behold, your mother.”

 

I want to focus on those words AND make an application of what He said to them both as it applies to those here at Ashwood Meadows who have family – children, or grandchildren, or siblings, or nieces and nephews who pretty much ignore you or neglect you, even in the midst of your own hurting heart.

 

Jesus knows – from personal experience – your heartache. Our Lord suffered the SAME emotional trauma that you suffer as you suffer the rejection and neglect of your beloved children, grandchildren, or brothers and sisters, and so forth, who do not take time to be with you – perhaps especially in your most lonely days.

But there is something else about this text that I want us to see: As the Lord directed John to take care of His mother, Mary, so we can expect the Lord to move on our behalf to receive care and love from others – even if not related by blood.

 

Please don’t misunderstand me. I know the love and care from others is just not the same as the love and care from family. But I’m here to tell you, based on the promises of God's word, that He will NOT leave you alone. You can trust him to bring others alongside. I’ll get to that point in a moment.

 

But before I get to that point, I must first remind us all – ALL of us – that although it’s hard to do the right things under such circumstances, we MUST nevertheless respond as Jesus commands us to respond, and that is to pray for those who continually hurt you: Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.”

 

It's hard to do that – to ask God to forgive them – when you’re so hurt, isn’t it? It’s hard for ME to do that. But no one who correctly interprets Scripture or who knows the history of God's people from Genesis through Revelation ever said following Christ was easy.

 

I said a moment ago that the Lord will move on your behalf when members of our own family reject or neglect us. God will bring into our lives a ‘John.’ He will bring someone to come alongside in our times of need. Someone to offer us a listening ear. Someone to encourage us to ‘keep the faith,’” to lay our burdens again and again at the feet of Jesus – and leave them there.

 

And, oh, by the way – don’t think for a moment that God would not use YOU to be like a John to someone else. We are ALL called upon by God to be like a John in the lives of others.

 

It's called ‘hospitality.’ And it is a very, very important privilege that God gives us to exercise. Listen to what He tells us through St Paul (Romans 12:10-13): “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.”

 

The Greek word for hospitality means, literally, the ‘love of strangers.’ And everyone here at Ashwood Meadows: Take note. YOU are the face NOT ONLY of Ashwood Meadows, but you ALSO are the face of the Christian community here at Ashwood.

 

Come alongside the strangers. Come alongside those who’ve been here for a long time or a short time – and God will USE YOU. Think of it! The Creator of the universe will use YOU to encourage and strengthen and comfort those here in this community – even though YOU yourself might need comforting.

But there is something else about this call to hospitality that we had better not overlook. Listen to what everyone in this room will one day hear from the lips of our eternal Judge. We will all hear either the inevitable blessing or the inevitable curse:

 

(Matthew 25:35-46) “For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

 

And now the warning:

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

The Lord’s final word about the care of His mother was spoken to an apostle because His own family were not there to comfort her as her Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit Himself, hung dying.

Ashwood Meadows – I KNOW many of you are fleshing out the words of Jesus by being kind to others, by caring for others. I know you are because I see it and I hear about it. But now I encourage you to excel still more. There are lots of lonely people here. You know them. And even if you ARE them, I encourage you to practice being like John to everyone here at Ashwood, but perhaps especially to your spiritual family here.

 

What is it the Lord once told a crowd? Listen to Mark 3:31-35 “Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him. A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” Answering them, He said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?”  Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

 

Let scripture remind us every time we forget this truth: We are each related to Jesus AND to each other by our faith in His atoning blood.

And now, let’s turn our attention to the next word Jesus spoke just before He gave up His Spirit: “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.” Herein is yet another Messianic Psalm from which Jesus quoted and to which He attempted to draw the attention of the Pharisees and theologians at the foot of the cross:

 

(Psalm 31:1-2, 4-5, 9-10, 12-15) “In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge; Let me never be ashamed; In Your righteousness deliver me. Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly . . . You will pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, For You are my strength. Into Your hand I commit my spirit . . . Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; My eye is wasted away from grief, my soul and my body also. For my life is spent with sorrow and my years with sighing . . . I am forgotten as a dead man, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the slander of many, terror is on every side; While they took counsel together against me, they schemed to take away my life. But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord, I say, “You are my God.” My times are in Your hand.”

 

As God the Son committed His mother into the care of his beloved disciple, now God the Son commits Himself into the hands of his beloved Father – even (and this is important) – even after His Father had forsaken Him.

 

You will remember that sermon of a few weeks ago – “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” And you will also remember WHY God the Father turned His back on His only begotten Son – because on that cross Jesus BECAME our sin.

 

Does the commitment of our Lord to His Father – even AFTER the Father had forsaken Him . . . does this remind you of what Job said in the middle of his profound anguish of soul and body? “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.”  And then in 19:25-27, Job declared: “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. “Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; Whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another.”

When the Holy Spirit enables us to understand, in the depths of our souls, the absolute love that our utterly sovereign God has toward us, when the Holy Spirit enables us to finally understand Who it is we serve and to Whom we belong, then it is much easier to commit ourselves to our Creator/Lover/Savior/God despite whatever pain and heartache and loneliness and rejection we might suffer.

 

And THAT is the application of this particular text for us in this room: “Into Your hands I commit my spirit.” THAT is the proverbial elephant in the room. We all know it’s there, but few want to see it or talk about it.

 

But we’ve got to do both: See it and talk about it, because some of us live in chronic pain – some of it nearly debilitating pain. Some of us are terribly lonely. I talked to a person just last week who said she’d be happy if she were dead.

 

Some of us here are frightened of the future. Some still wonder – after all these years of serving Him – they still wonder if God really does care about them. Oh, the list of fears and heartaches and sorrows would fill a library.  And THAT is why what Jesus said to the Father after He turned His back on Him – that is why what Jesus said is so valuable for study and reflection.

 

When Jesus committed Himself to His Father – even though His Father had forsaken Him – when the Lord committed Himself to His Father, He gave us an example to follow in His steps. That means, despite how life has turned out for us, and despite how things might yet turn out for us – we have the Lord Jesus’ example (and we have Job’s example) – to commit ourselves into the gracious, merciful, and loving hands of our Creator, Savior, God, and Redeemer.

 

We can NEVER be wrong to do such a thing. Or illogical. Or inappropriate.

 

I will close this message this way: Christian, please – Trust in your Lord and Savior with all your heart. Trust Him to love you, to feel your heartache, and to bring someone alongside to encourage and comfort you. And in all circumstances, even in the midst of your doubts and fear and confusions – keep committing yourself into His loving embrace. He will never turn away anyone who comes to Him for mercy.

 

Never.