Jesus called out, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. Luke: 23:46

It was over. The debt for the sin of the whole world was paid in blood and sweat and tears and love. Imagine the sweet relief Jesus felt as He let go of this earthly life, knowing the His Father was waiting for Him with open arms. He was going home. His great heart beat its last beat, and He was gone from us.

I wonder how many people were still there at the end. It was so painful to watch and it lasted a long time!! But Mother Mary still stood watching and suffering with Him. Others were there, too. His disciple, John, some other women who, according to the Gospels, had come with Jesus from Galilee. But there is no record of what they said.

There was also a centurion there, one of the soldiers who had executed Him. He was a Roman soldier of significance who had authority over 100 soldiers, and, after Jesus’ death, his is the only voice recorded for us in the gospels. “When Jesus died, the centurion said,

“Surely this man was the Son of God!”

It was not the life of Jesus which converted the centurion, it was His death.<

Richard Guilardetz wrote:

“Jesus’ truest identity was not disclosed in the miraculous deeds He performed… To grasp who Jesus was, what His life was really about, one had to encounter Him on the cross. Then the unfathomable love of God was revealed in suffering, vulnerable, forgiving love.”

There was another man there of which the scriptures speak. His name was Joseph and he was from the city of Arimathea. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a righteous man, and a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Jews. As a man of influence he showed great courage by going to Pilate and requesting Jesus’ body for burial. Pilate granted it.

So, it happened that, probably after sunset, Joseph took down the broken, bloody body of the Savior of the world. The Church has long imagined that He was put in the lap of His mother, Mary. It is a scene of wrenching sorrow to contemplate. She was with Him at the end as she had been at His beginning. They then took the body and buried it in a borrowed tomb. I wonder if His Blessed Mother thought about the fact that He was born in a borrowed stable, and was buried in a borrowed tomb.

What are some messages we need to learn in these events? Henri Matisse, the famous painter from the late 1800s, had crippling arthritis in his later years. It was terribly painful for him to hold a paintbrush, but he insisted on doing it anyway, famously saying, “Pain passes, but beauty remains.” How true- for Jesus and for us.

Jesus’ physical pain had passed. His body was/is gone, but the beauty of His Spirit remains in each of us when we love and serve and forgive.

And, in those who love Him, and those who serve Him, and those who seek to please Him, a new “Body of Christ,” as St. Paul coined it, remains. Joseph of Arimthea and Mary, and John and soon others like Peter and all the rest, picked up the pieces of Jesus’ ministry, preaching, teaching and baptizing. In that way Jesus, through His Holy indwelling Spirit began to build what He had established before His physical departure, His Church. We, today, are the beneficiaries of that work. As they took Him down from the cross, it is now our responsibility to carry Him forward as He has been given to us. We know now what those at the cross could not yet see: The death of Jesus was not the final episode. Easter showed them (and us) that out of suffering and death comes resurrection. Hallelujah!

Lord Jesus, help me realize that when they took You down from the cross, they laid You (figuratively) in my lap, too. Now it is my responsibility and my privilege to carry you in my heart and mind, and, like Mother Mary, to “give birth” to you in my world! Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. Amen