Luke 23:44-46 44And it was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45because the sun disappeared; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. 46And crying out with a loud voice, Jesus said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, he expired.
Luke’s account continues to be brief and to the point, leaving out some of the details found in the other Gospel accounts of Jesus’ death on the cross. The sixth hour in the Roman clock was noon. Two vivid, unnatural events took place around 3 pm. The darkening of the sky vividly represented the encroaching death that awaited Jesus. Darkness for three hours was not natural. People have wondered about how the land became dark. The theory of a solar eclipse has the problem of it being the time of Passover when there would have been a full moon. The typical answer is dark storm clouds that covered the light of the sun. No matter how the sun was covered, the darkness was symbolic for what was about to happen. A dark day is often referred to as gloomy and depressing. The darkness puts a certain sense of impending ill upon some people. Even nature itself was mourning how people had rejected the Messiah and King. The darkness of the sky was symbolic of the darkness of the spiritual darkness that covered the hardened hearts of the Jews.
The tearing of the temple veil was also beyond imagination. The curtain separated the most holy place in the temple and marked its entrance. The high priest would enter the holy of holies through this curtain once a year on the day of atonement. Matthew 27:51 indicates that this was due to an earthquake. Luke does not reflect on the symbolism of this or the darkness but leaves it up to the reader to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Knowing a bit of biblical theology from books like Hebrews suggests that the tearing of this curtain brought an end to the separation between sinful humanity and the holy God. Jesus provides access to God by making people holy. Because of Jesus, the one and only Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5), we can come to God and experience forgiveness and receive eternal life.
Verse 46 shook all of eternity. The last words of Jesus were full of faith and confidence in the Father’s ability to bring life from death. Each part of his statement is significant. Father showed the intimate relationship of Jesus to God. Jesus always addressed God as Father in his prayers (10:21; 22:42; 23:34 ) and taught his disciples to do the same. This address is deeply personal and relational. God is not to be approached as an abstract power or entity but as family, like the closeness of a parent. We must honor God as the Almighty Creator of the universe and should not treat God as a casual “buddy.” Yet in this honor there is also closeness, friendship, and intimacy.
Into your hands shows Jesus’ confidence that God the Father was in control of the situation. Jesus’ death was God’s plan of salvation for humanity. I commit my spirit hints at what happens at death. Our spirits go to God. The spirit represents the essence of a person. We do not need to fear death because the one who gives life will preserve that life beyond death.
With these last words, Jesus breathed his last breath. His last breath was used to show his confidence in God his Father. Jesus was not killed but died on purpose. Many of the things he had experienced in the last 24 hours ruined his physical body, but his spirit and purpose never wavered. He faced the certain death on a Roman cross with confidence in the Father’s will. He set the example for all his disciples in how we can face even the greatest challenges before. We can have confidence because he had confidence. We can have hope because he had hope. We can have victory because he had victory even to his last breath.
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