The Good News for the Day, March 29, 2024
Good Friday (40)
…aware that everything was now finished—to fulfill the Scripture —Jesus said, “I’m thirsty.” A jar was there, filled with ordinary wine. So, they put a sponge soaked in the wine on a sprig of a medicine-plant and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had accepted the wine, he said, “It’s done.” His head falling over, he handed on the spirit. (The Gospel of John)
The last words of this passage have a profound meaning. On the one hand, they are the same words used in relation to Judas Iscariot for betrayal – he “handed over” Jesus to the authorities – betrayal. On the other hand, the words also suggest giving a gift and he enters a repentant and prayerful realization of mine:
Jesus “handed over”—yes a betrayal caused it, a sense of loss, failure and hurt on His part to his Whole Self, to his outlook and hopes—Judas betrayed! Depression, perhaps even a human sense of guilt accompanied the dying Jesus.
But Jesus “handed over” this lifetime of effort, this sense of failure, this faith that had sustained him through that, this love he still felt for Judas, for the Romans who nailed him, for his mother and her faithfulness – these were all part of his “spirit.”
This mortal life – so much like yours and mine – he handed over to the Father, to posterity, to you and me – as a gift, as an understanding, as a oneness of his divinity with this wounded human lifetime.
We will come to die.
We will not bring our wealth or success; we will not bring our fame or academic degrees. We will bring our whole life – the day-to-day loving and sharing in the divine care for the human race that fills our days.
We will bring the joy of doing a good job competently in whatever field we are. We will bring the affection and bonds we have created over our lifetime. We will bring our spirit of kindness and forgiveness that we have done our best through the years. We will bring the moments of helping and healing when we were 25 years old and somebody needed our help and we turned them around. And, surely, we will bring our times of depression, our failures to love and be loved for whatever reasons, and our sense of incompleteness, unfinished business, and things we could’ve done better.
Jesus hands this life – as on a platter – to the Father, a gift to be distributed for thousands of years to millions of people – an influence of the kind of person He was.
When we come to die, it is our joy – our intense joy – to give such a gift to our father. Like Jesus we do not want to die. But like Jesus we give our spirit – this bag of contradictions – to God to do with as God wills – not as you and I will. Jesus left no writings, no last will and testament but – here – he left you and me his spirit. With this phrase, He calls us to leave to God and posterity the kind of person we have been—we too will be Giving Our Lifetime-Spirit.
jorisheise 