It was now about the sixth hour and the sun's light failed, so that darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. The veil of the Sanctuary was torn right down the middle. Jesus cried out in a loud voice saying, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. With these words he breathed his last. (Luke 23: 44-46)
From noon until three in the afternoon, it was dark over the whole land. Look at the dark thing we have done! And when Jesus died the temple curtain separating the Most Holy place from the rest, was torn. Jesus is the new sanctuary - the new place of divine encounter. His arms are stretched north and south and east and west converging in the center which is his heart - opened by the spear - a heart to which all of humankind has access.
And there is the great crying out of Jesus before his death. In Luke's Gospel, Jesus quotes Psalm 31:5 ~ Into your hands I commend my spirit. But look, Jesus has added, Father. He is the Son surrendering his life to the Father who receives him in a great embrace of love. I'd die for you, the greatest love says. A mother (or father) putting herself in harms way for the sake of the child.
We remember too when Jesus was asked by the disciples, "How should we pray?" Jesus answered, "When you pray, say, Our Father..." (Matthew 6: 7ff)
