Matthew 27:50 -- And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
Mark 15:37 -- And Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed His last.
Luke 23:46 -- And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Having said this, He breathed His last.
John 19:30 -- So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished." And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
The bible is unique among literature. It is an anthology that took over fifteen hundred years to write, contains the work of 40 writers from three continents, and was written in three languages. An anthology with these attributes would certainly contain divergent messages and many inconsistencies, but the bible does not. How is this possible?
The writers of the four Gospels quoted above also differed greatly. Luke and John were disciples from a Jewish heritage who had walked in the dust of the Lord's footsteps for several years. Mark was a scribe who got much of what he wrote through Peter's recollection, and Luke was a gentile physician. Although three were Jewish, their cultures extended from Galilee to Jerusalem, making them as disparate as Americans from Brooklyn and New Orleans. The thread that kept their accounts unified is named Holy Spirit. By His inspiration all wrote.
Four left us witness accounts. The only one we know was close enough to hear Jesus' words was John (see John 19:26-27) whom He assigned, immediately prior to His own death, the job of caring for His mother, Mary, who was also present. John was an eyewitness. The others may have been in the group of followers watching from a distance (Luke 23:49), but we aren't clearly informed. Only John informs of of the Lord's final words, It is finished. Maybe only John stood near enough to hear them. While the accounts differ in details, they never conflict.
Three recall His loud cry. I wonder if it was startling to see the man who had commanded the wind to quiet, the demons to flee, and the dead to live cry out like one of us. He was like one of us, fully human, and he was nothing like us at all, fully God.
Two saw Him breath His last breath. I wonder if, until that moment, the were expecting Him to instead suddenly free Himself, heal Himself, lower Himself from the cross and begin to reign as King of the Jews.
One spirit was yielded or given up -- His spirit. Yielding and giving reflect intended decisions. Diminishing the focus on His final breath, and rather refocusing on His decision to let that breath be final, a decision that rescinded his physicality and returned Him to spirituality. Death is often imposed by sickness, or accident or bad human intention or error. This was imposed by a loving Father, watching one child suffer as He saved millions of others. For me, that One saved this one. One Holy God saved one unholy Steve. And while His Spirit was yielded, that decision yielded for humanity the constant presence of Holy Spirit.
As we enjoy our Easter traditions, remember that Emmanuel, God with us, initiated Easter not for family dinners, chocolate rabbits or Easter egg hunts but as the day of the final Passover sacrifice of the lamb of God so that Holy Grace can reign over darkness, and to initiate a new exchange, Holy Grace for human faith, joining the hearts of heaven to the hearts of humanity forever.
Happy Easter.
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