And Jesus again crying with a loud voice said: "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit." And saying this, bowing down His head, He gave up the ghost. And behold the sun was darkened, and the veil of the Temple was rent in two in the midst from the top even to the bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were rent. And the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints that had slept arose, and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, came into the holy city and appeared to many. - Matthew 27:50-53; Mark 15:37,38; Luke 23:45,46; John 19:31
1. Again, and for the last time, does our dying Lord take His words from the Psalms. The Psalms are His dying prayers. In this last word, from the Thirtieth Psalm, He seems to suggest to us our own thoughts and prayers as we watch Him dying and after He is dead. We may, then, well take it as such. First, we may well imagine, is His own last prayer:
"In Thee. O Lord, have I hoped,
Let Me never be confounded.
In Thy justice deliver and free Me,
Bow down Thine ear to Me.
Be to Me a protecting rock,
A house of refuge to save Me.
For Thou art My strength and My refuge,
And for Thy Name's sake Thou wilt lead Me.
Thou dost nourish Me, and save Me from the snare,
Which they have hidden for Me.
Yea, O Lord, Thou art My protector,
Into Thy hands I commend My spirit."
2. "And saying this, bowing down His head, He gave up the ghost." But we, as we do by the bedside of one who dies before our eyes, carry on our prayer with the same Psalm, one of mingled joy and sorrow. For it goes on:
"But I have hoped in the Lord,
I will be glad and rejoice in Thy mercy.
For Thou hast regarded My lowliness,
Thou hast saved My soul out of distress.
Thou hast not enclosed Me in the hands of the enemy,
Thou hast set My feet in a spacious place.
* * *
I have trusted in Thee, O Lord,
I said: Thou art My God.
My lots are in Thy hand; deliver Me
From the hands of My foes, My persecutors.
Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant;
Save Me in Thy mercy.
Let Me not be confounded, O Lord, for I have called on Thee."
3. The Psalm concludes with that refrain of trust which every holy death-bed inspires, but which must most of all be inspired by this holiest death-bed of all.
"How great is Thy sweetness, O Lord,
Which Thou hast hidden for them that fear Thee;
Which Thou hast wrought for them that hope to Thee,
In the sight of the sons of men
Thou dost shield them with the shield of Thy countenance
From the disturbance of men.
Thou dost protect them in Thy tabernacle
From the contradiction of tongues.
Blessed be the Lord, Who hath shown His great mercy to Me
In a fortified city.
I said in the depression of My mind:
I am cast away before Thine eyes.
Then Thou hast heard the voice of My prayer
When I cried to Thee.
love the Lord, all ye His saints,
Who keep the truth of the Lord.
* * * * *
Do ye manfully, and let your heart be strengthened,
All ye that hope in the Lord."
Summary
1. Our Lord's last prayer: trust in God.
2. Our prayer beside His body: trust in God.
3. With thanksgiving.
- from The Crown of Sorrow, by Archbishop Alban Goodier