Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last." And when He had said this, He breathed His last. (Luke 23:46, ESV)
The following is an excerpt from the sermon delivered by Johannes Bugenhagen at the funeral of Martin Luther. This was part of a recent morning devotion and is worth sharing with the whole congregation.
Dear friends, so that you might also have a short report about our dearly beloved father, Dr. Martin’s, blessed parting, I will give it. When he noticed that his hour had come, he prayed thusly:
"O my heavenly Father, one God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, God of all comfort, I thank you that you have revealed to me your dear Son, Jesus Christ, in whom I believe, whom I have preached and confessed, whom I have loved and praised, whom the loathsome pope and all the godless revile, persecute, and blaspheme. I implore you, my Lord Jesus Christ, let my little soul be commended to you. O heavenly Father, although I must leave this body and be snatched away from this life, I am, nevertheless, certain that I will remain with you eternally and that no one can tear me out of your hands."
And then he said three times:
"Into your hands I commend my spirit. You have redeemed me, you faithful God."
Also, John 3:
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that all who believe in him will not be lost but have eternal life."
Then he folded his hands and gave up his spirit to Christ in grand silence. Therefore, we should also justly rejoice with him, as much as we are able to do so in our grief. (https://deovivendiperchristum.wordpress.com/2014/03/09/johannes-bugenhagen-1485-1558-sermon-at-the-funeral-of-martin-luther/)
When your time on earth is up, when you reach the end of your life, will you, like Jesus, like Martin Luther, commend your spirit into the hands of your Father? Will you trust in God as your Lord and Savior until the end or is your true faith in something else, someone else? If you were to lose everything tomorrow, your house, your family, your friends, your savings, your health, would you despair or would you, like Job, declare "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." (Job 1:21, NIV)?
These are tough questions. It’s easy to proclaim your faith when things are going well, but a completely different thing when times become rough, when your world seems to be caving in on you. However, the answers to these questions are tremendously important, are truly the only thing that matters. Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and are you prepared to cling to that faith until the end?
As I am writing this article, I just received a phone call from my younger brother Kent who lives in the same town as my older brother Rusty. As most of you probably know, my older brother has been suffering from ALS and Kent called to inform me that Rusty’s primary caregiver had indicated that Rusty’s end was coming very soon, perhaps within the next 24 hours. Joanne and I had already planned to go to Kansas this weekend for what I had envisioned as a final farewell to Rusty. However, we may be too late. He may be gone before we get there.
Rusty has been a lifelong Missouri Synod Lutheran and, although his illness has, in the last year or so, prevented him from attending in person, he has been a regular attendee at the Our Redeemer Lutheran services broadcast over the Internet. Therefore, my hope and prayer, since we cannot see into the hearts of others, is that he, like Jesus, like Martin Luther, in his final hours, commends his spirit into God’s hands.
In whom or in what do you trust? My fervent hope and prayer is that, the answer for all of you, is in our Lord and Savior and that, when your time comes to leave this earth, you can pray like Martin Luther prayed, "Into your hands I commend my spirit".