Luke 23:44 - Meaning and Application

In these verses we see three things.

First, Christ’s death is made more striking by the signs that happened around it. Only two are mentioned here, though we saw them before as well. One was the darkening of the sun at noon. It was about the sixth hour, which is twelve o’clock at midday, and darkness covered the whole land until the ninth hour. The sun was eclipsed, and the air was heavily clouded too, so the darkness was very thick. It lasted three hours, not three days like the darkness in Egypt.

The other sign was the tearing of the temple veil. The first wonder was in the heavens, and this one was in the temple, for both are God’s houses. When God’s Son was treated so shamefully, those places, as it were, showed their grief. By the tearing of the veil, God showed that the ceremonial law, the system of temple rules and sacrifices, was being removed. It had been a wall that kept Jews and Gentiles apart, and it also stood in the way of free access to God. Now we can come boldly to the throne of grace.

Second, Christ’s death is explained by the words he spoke as he gave up his spirit, as in (Luke 23:46). Jesus had cried out with a loud voice when he said, “Why have you forsaken me?” as Matthew and Mark tell us. It seems he also spoke these words loudly, to show his earnestness and so everyone could hear: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” He took this from his father David in (Psalm 31:5). Christ did not need words put into his mouth, but he chose David’s words to show that the Spirit of Christ was speaking through the Old Testament prophets, and that he came to fulfill Scripture. He died with Scripture on his lips, and he teaches us to use Scripture when we pray to God.

In this prayer he calls God Father. When he complained of being forsaken, he cried, “My God, my God.” But now, since the deep agony was over, he says, “Father.” As he gave up his life and soul for us, he called God Father for our sake, so that through him we might receive the adoption of sons, that is, be received as God’s children. He also speaks here in a way that is special to him as Mediator, his saving role between God and people. He was about to offer his soul for our sin, to give his life as a ransom for many, and through the eternal Spirit to offer himself, as in (Isaiah 53:10), (Matthew 20:28), and (Hebrews 9:14). He was both priest and sacrifice. Our souls had been forfeited by sin, and his soul had to go to redeem them.

The price had to be paid to God, the one offended by sin, because he had agreed to make full satisfaction to him. So in these words Christ offered the sacrifice. He, as it were, laid his hand on the head of it and handed it over. The word means, “I place it, I pay it into your hands.” He is saying, “Father, receive my life and soul in the place of the lives and souls of the sinners I die for.” The good will of the one making the offering was necessary for the offering to be accepted. Here Christ shows his willing heart, just as he did when the plan was first set before him: “I have come to do your will,” by which will we are made holy, or set apart for God, as in (Hebrews 10:9), (Hebrews 10:10).

Christ also shows his trust in his Father for his resurrection, when his soul and body would be joined again. He commits his spirit into his Father’s hand to be received into paradise and given back on the third day. This shows that our Lord Jesus had not only a true body, but also a reasonable soul, a real human soul that existed apart from the body for a time. In this he was made like his brothers. He placed that soul in his Father’s hand and left it in his care, confident that it would not stay in hades, the unseen state of the dead, long enough for his body to see corruption.

Christ has also given us an example here. He has, so to speak, set apart David’s words for dying believers to use. In death, our main concern should be for our souls. We cannot provide better for them than by committing them now to God as Father, so his Spirit and grace may sanctify and guide them, and then, at death, by committing them to him to be made fully holy and happy. We show that we are willing to die, that we believe in life after this, and that we desire it, when we say, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

Third, Christ’s death made a strong impression on those who watched him. The centurion, the officer in charge of the guard, was deeply moved by what he saw, as in (Luke 23:47). He was a Roman, a Gentile, a stranger to Israel’s hopes, and yet he glorified God. He had never seen such signs of divine power, and so he praised God as Almighty. He also gave a clear witness to the innocent sufferer: “Surely this was a righteous man, and was killed unjustly.” The way God showed his power in honor of Jesus was strong proof of his innocence. In Matthew and Mark, the centurion’s witness goes further: “Truly this was the Son of God.” But here that means the same thing, because if he was a righteous man, then he truly was what he said he was, the Son of God. And if his own claim had been false, he could not have been a righteous man.

The people who stood by, and had no stake in the matter, were also affected, as (Luke 23:48) says. All the crowd that had come together to watch, seeing what happened, went away serious for a time, whatever they were like when they arrived. They beat their breasts and returned. For the moment, they felt the weight of what had been done. They thought it was a wicked thing to put him to death, and they could not help fearing that God would punish their nation for it. These may well have been some of the same people who had cried, “Crucify him,” and had mocked him when he was nailed to the cross. But now the darkness, the earthquake, and the unusual way he died frightened them. Their mouths were shut, and their consciences were stirred. In remorse, like the tax collector, they struck their breasts, beating on their own hearts in anger at themselves. Some think this was a first step toward the good work later done in them, when they were “cut to the heart” in (Acts 2:37).

Still, it seems the feeling did not last long. They beat their breasts and went home. They did not show any more respect to Christ, and they did not ask more about him. We have reason to fear that soon they forgot all about it. In the same way, many people who see Christ clearly set before them crucified in the word and sacraments are affected for a moment, but it does not last. They beat their breasts and return.

They see Christ’s face, as it were, in the mirror of his ordinances, and admire him. Yet they go away and quickly forget what he is like, and why they have every reason to love him.

His own friends and followers were forced to keep their distance. Even so, they came as near as they dared to see what was happening (Luke 23:49). All who knew him, and whom he knew, stood far off. They were afraid that if they came too close, people would treat them as his supporters. This was part of his suffering, just as it was for Job (Job 19:13). Job said, “He has put my brothers far from me, and my acquaintances are fully estranged from me.” See also (Psalm 88:18).

The women who had followed him from Galilee were watching these things. They did not know what to make of them, and they were not ready enough to see them as sure signs of his resurrection. In this way, Christ was set as a sign that would be opposed, just as Simeon had foretold, so that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed (Luke 2:34-35).