Seventh Statement: The Death of Tenderness.

And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit" (Luke 23:46).

Jesus began and ended his seven statements with the phrase "Father," which was the beginning and the end of his prayer.

How beautiful it is that the Evangelist Luke, who presented Jesus as the Son of Man, is the only one to mention these two statements. Christ is the Son of Man and the eternal Son of love, who was also the Son forsaken by men in the hours of light and the Son forsaken by God in the hours of darkness.

No one was born like his miraculous birth, and no one lived a life so sublime and completely free of sin. Yet even in his death, he was unique and unparalleled. It appears that these statements left a deep impression on the centurion's heart, so he said, "Truly, this man was righteous."

"People are destined to die once, but here Christ is the one with power over death. He surrenders his human soul of his own free will and places it in the hands of God his Father" (John 10:18).

Oh, how comforting it is that Christ came to taste death for everyone, by God's grace, and to destroy through death the one who has the power of death—that is, Satan. But how wonderful it is that he calls everyone to be born again through faith in him, to know and learn how to live at all times as he lived, and even at the hour of death, to die like him, with confidence and serenity in the certainty of faith.

By Brother/ Makram Mashreqi