Jon Tyson, pastor of the Church of the City New York, says Jesus’ final words on the cross are a challenge to believers to relinquish control and trust in God. He says it’s a particularly difficult lesson for Christians to internalize today, given the breakdown of trust at so many levels—relationally, politically, institutionally. Yet Jesus felt that dismantling the idol of control and demonstrating trust in God was the most important lesson He could impart before His death.
“What is it that Jesus wants to leave in our minds on earth—the Son of God, what is it He wants to leave us with?” Tyson asks. “And these are the words we hear: ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ Jesus’ final act was an act of trust. An act of surrender to His father. This is the declaration He wants to leave. In the garden, Adam believed the lie, ‘You can’t trust God.’ And here is Jesus’ final words, trusting, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’
“Now the reason I think this carries particular weight for us, the kinds of modern people that we are, is that it’s very very hard for us to genuinely surrender and to entrust ourselves to other people. Isn’t it? We’ve basically had a nuclear meltdown of trust in our society.”
Watch the video to hear Tyson’s full sermon.
