April 18: The Seventh Word: “Father, Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit”
♫ Music:
Day 45 - Friday, April 18
GOOD FRIDAY
Title: The Seventh Word: “Father, Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit”
Scripture: Luke 23:44–49 (NKJV)
Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. 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. So when the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous Man!” And the whole crowd who came together to that sight, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned. But all His acquaintances, and the women who followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
Poetry & Poet:
“Dirge Without Music”
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.
Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost.
The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,—
They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.
Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.
ON THE PASSION AND CREATION
Why, on Good Friday, Dark Friday, was the darkness over all the earth? Why was the sun darkened? The passage radiates creation imagery. The Spirit hovered over the surface of the waters, and now Jesus commits his spirit to the Father. On the first day, God spoke light into being, and on the fourth day spoke the sun, moon, and stars into being as well. But on this particular sixth day, he withheld his speech, withheld their light. Creation blinked, its heart skipped a beat—or two—and recalled with a shudder that first day, or, rather, the formless and void that preceded the first day. And what a shudder, for the earth shook and the rocks were rent (Matthew 27).
For whom was this, but the one by whom “all things were created, in heaven and on earth...all things were created through him and for him” (Col. 1:16). So, in his death throes, the sun, the earth, which hold together in him, which were made through him and for him, went dark and shook, threatened to fall apart altogether, back into the formlessness and void from which they were spoken by the Word into being.
But of course, there is another level, another layer, to this darkness. For all things were created by, though, and for him—but his creating was the work of the Father. The Father created by his Word. So, this darkness, this shaking, is the work of the Father (Is. 52). The silence is that of the Father: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). And it is this harsh light—the light of the Father’s will and work, which radiates around Jesus, casting all else into shadow, but which Jesus himself does not see, for he is turned away from the light, seeing nothing but shadow in Dali’s masterpiece… that is the real light of this scene. For this is the Father’s work, once more through, by and for the Son.
And this is the Father’s work––not to de-create, not to bring the seas back over the land, to put the light out, to return to Gen.1:2. The Father’s work was once more to bring order and goodness to his beautiful creation, to say once more that it was and will be forevermore “very good.” To look from the cross outward not just to the Sea of Galilee and the apostolic mission that the cross entails, but to goodness and beauty of creation which could be re-established, reaffirmed, only in this way.
Prayer:
Father,
You made all things by your Son.
And you remake all things by the same.
Make us new. Make us whole.
Make us, remake us, to walk in your ways.
Amen
Dr. Adam Johnson
Associate Professor of Theology
Torrey Honors College
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Art:
Christ of Saint John of the Cross (overall and detail view)
Salvador Dalí
1951
Oil on canvas
205 x 116 cm
Kelvingrove Art Gallery
Glasgow, Scotland
Christ of Saint John of the Cross is a painting by surrealist artist Salvador Dalí depicting Jesus on the cross in a darkened sky floating over a body of water. Although it is a depiction of the crucifixion, it is devoid of nails, blood, or a crown of thorns, because Dalí was convinced that these features would mar his depiction of Christ. The painting is known as the Christ of Saint John of the Cross, because its design was based on a drawing by the sixteenth-century Spanish friar John of the Cross. Dalí painted a hyperrealistic Christ and the cross directly from above, looking down on the clouds and earth below. It is a heavenly perspective, as if God the Father was looking down on the sacrifice of His Son. Further, the composition is based on a triangle—formed by Christ's arms and Christ's head—which can be seen as a reference to the Trinity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_of_Saint_John_of_the_Cross
https://artincontext.org/christ-of-saint-john-of-the-cross-by-salvador-dali/
https://www.english.op.org/godzdogz/art-of-the-redemption-4-christ-of-st-john-of-the-cross-by-salvador-dali/
About the Artist:
Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) was one of the most prominent painters of surrealism. Born in Spain, he studied at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. His work was influenced by cubism and Dada, though his skill at detailed hyperrealistic painting is often attributed to his study of Renaissance masters. After being disinherited by his family, Dalí lived in many different places in Spain and the United States, but ultimately enjoyed great success worldwide in a variety of art forms. He became a devout Catholic after World War II, and he combined classic Christian themes and imagery with surrealist techniques and philosophy.
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/dali-salvador/
https://www.biography.com/artist/salvador-dali
About the Music: “Into Thy Hands I Commend My Spirit” from the album Carr: Seven Last Words From The Cross
Lyrics:
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
I commend my spirit.
Into thy hands.
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
Into thy hands, I commend my spirit.
Thy will be done.
Father, forgive them,
For they know not what they do.
Into thy hands I commend my spirit.
About the Composer:
Paul Carr (b. 1961) is a British composer. Though he studied voice and piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, as a composer he is largely self-taught. Over the years Carr has written chamber music, concertos, and orchestral pieces, but is perhaps best known for his choral music. In 2011, Classic FM championed Carr’s recording of his Requiem for an Angel, helping to make the piece his most frequently performed work, with over thirty-five performances to date worldwide. His commissions have included a setting of Seven Last Words from the Cross, which premiered at Bath Abbey in 2013. It has since been performed by various choirs in the United Kingdom, as well gaining additional performances in the United States during Easter. Carr is presently working on a commission based on artist Piero della Francesca’s painting The Flagellation of Christ.
https://www.paulcarrcomposer.com/biography
About the Performers: Chorus Angelorum, William Dazeley (soloist) and The Bath Philharmonia
Chorus Angelorum began in 2001 as a Renaissance and early music vocal group. Though they are committed to the music of that period, they have expanded their musical horizons to include the music of the baroque and Romantic periods, as well as early twentieth-century pieces, early American composers, and even contemporary and popular styles. The founder of Chorus Angelorum is Rick Smith. Having had a very successful career as a church musician, professional choral director, singer, and composer, Smith envisioned and organized the ensemble in 2001. Currently, musical arranger Mike Davis and Rick Smith share the conducting duties, as well as performing and writing pieces for Chorus Angelorum’s performance repertoire.
https://chorusangelorumstpete.com/
William Dazeley is a British operatic baritone who studied at Jesus College, Cambridge, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. His operatic roles include many of the starring roles in well-known operas. William appears frequently in concert alongside renowned orchestras and conductors, including the CBSO, Berlin Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Philippe Herreweghe, John Eliot Gardiner, and Leonard Slatkin, and is regularly invited to sing at international festivals with such noted accompanists as Graham Johnson, Iain Burnside, Sholto Kynoch, and Malcolm Martineau.
https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/a.asp?a=A2915
The Bath Philharmonia is one of the leading professional orchestras in the UK. Bath Philharmonia performs concerts of outstanding artistic quality with soloists from a national and international platform. Led by music director Jason Thornton, they have over twenty years experience of bringing people together musically to share their core values of excellence, togetherness, inclusivity, sustainability, and enjoyment. Over the past two seasons, the Bath Phil Creative Learning Team has delivered over twenty projects involving over one thousand participants (in thirteen schools and six social care settings), and given twenty-five performances to an audience of over eight thousand people.
https://www.bathphil.co.uk/about
About the Poetry and Poet:
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted feminist in New York City during the roaring twenties. Millay won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her poem "Ballad of the Harp-Weaver"—she was the first woman and second person to win the award. In 1943, Millay was the sixth person and the second woman to be awarded the Frost Medal for her lifetime contribution to American poetry. Millay was highly regarded during much of her lifetime, with the prominent literary critic Edmund Wilson calling her "one of the only poets writing in English in our time who have attained to anything like the stature of great literary figures.'' By the 1930s, her critical reputation began to decline, as modernist critics dismissed her work for its use of traditional poetic forms and subject matter. However, the rise of feminist literary criticism in the 1960s and 1970s revived an interest in Millay's works.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edna_St._Vincent_Millay
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/edna-st-vincent-millay
About the Devotion Writer:
Dr. Adam Johnson
Associate Professor of Theology
Torrey Honors College
Biola University
Adam Johnson is a theologian and a professor for the Torrey Honors College who focuses on the doctrine of the atonement, exploring the many ways in which the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ affect the reconciliation of all things to God. His most recent book is The Reconciling Wisdom of God: Reframing the Doctrine of the Atonement. He and his wife, Katrina, have been married nineteen years and have three sons. They love camping and exploring America’s national parks.