Anthem: Luke 23:46

Bleach poses an important question in the last song of their self-titled album: What will your anthem be?

"When the glitter fades, it fades so fast -
What really lasts, what will the anthem be?
Did we sing of rock and roll?
Did we sing if sacred souls?
Has the heart and the harmony met pleasingly?

When the flicker fades, it fades so fast
Nothing is left. What will be legacies?
Cause guitars burn you see,
Recollect no memories
Of the lights and the cheers and the human vanity....

Here it is, let the truth be told;
Here it is, we would like to know;
Here it is, what will the anthem be?
What will your anthem be?
What will our anthem be?
What will the anthem be?"

I recently offered a reflection on Luke 23:46, where Jesus offers the last words of "Father, into Your hands I lift my spirit," for a Good Friday service at a local church, and I'll offer here two of the lives that came to mind.

In a time not so long ago, in a place not so far from here, a child grew up saying a nightly prayer with his beloved grandmother: "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. And if I should die before I wake, I ask the Lord my soul to take." But before long, his life changed to one of more awareness and power, and his tune changed to one written by Bon Jovi: "It's my life - it's now or never. I ain't gonna live forever. I just want to live while I'm alive. It's my life. My heart is like an open highway. Like Frankie said, I did it my way. I just want to live while I'm alive. It's my life." He did his best to live while he was alive and died young after losing control of his car after a night at the bar.

In a time much longer ago, in a place much farther away, a Jewish child grew up saying what was then a common bedtime prayer, taken from Psalm 31: "Since you are my rock nad my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me. Into your hands I commit my spirit." And that remained his prayer as his life led Him to an injust and shameful death on a cross, where He remained faithful to his prayer: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."

How can we consider ourselves good when we all adopt the same anthem? How can we consider ourselves good when we, like Adam and Eve, say "It's my life" and pursue enjoyment in ways God forbids that only lead to our despair? How can we consider ourselves good when we, like David, say "It's now or never - I ain't gonna live forever" and override God's commands to avoid something our heart longs for so that we can eventually writhe in grief? How can we consider ourselves good when we, like Judas, say "I just want to live while I'm alive" and betray our Lord for our own "gain" that eventually becomes our destruction. Our anthem so quickly fades into one of selfishness; our hearts so quickly fade into deception; our pleasures so quickly fade into our shame.

Jesus death isn't about working harder to overcome these faults. We aren't sinners because we sin - we sin because we're sinners. Jesus points out that it's not what goes into a person that makes him unclean, but what comes out - that our hearts are unclean and out of them come unclean thoughts and words and actions: "Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean'" (Mark 7:15ff). Shaun Groves expands upon this in "What's Wrong with This World?"

Throw your stones at silver screens,
Faces on magazines -
Burn my rock n roll.
Blame my schools, my ADD,
My mom, my MTV -
Curse my chromosomes.

Put my finger in the chest
Of those who should know best
But made the worst of things.
Baby booms and presidents,
Boy bands and communists -
Everyone but me.

I'm what's wrong with
This world; I'm bent
Warped and wicked -
I am weak.
My heart's twisted,
Torn and tempted.
This world is not what's wrong with me -
I'm what's wrong with this world.

I don't need your help to be this
Devilish and dark -
I confessed I made this mess while
Using just my heart.

And it's from this fallen and broken state, from being unclean before God from the inside out, having adopted to some extent the anthem that it's our life to choose to live as we wish, that we come to a risen savior, who "being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross" (Philippians 4:6-8). We confess, as doubting Thomas', that Jesus is Lord and God who, during all of life, committed his spirit into the Father's hands (Luke 23:46). We rejoice that Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18), that "God exalted [Jesus] to the highest place adn gave him the name that is above every name" (Philippians 4:9), that Jesus is our high priest who can "sympathize with our weaknesses [because he was] tempted in every way, yet was without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).

And it's in the forgiveness bought by Jesus' blood and a righteousness that comes by faith that we too can commit our spirit's unto the Father as living sacrifices that are pleasing and acceptable to Him, coming before His throne not as enemies to be condemned, but sons and daughters to be cherished. What greater love could God have shown for us? If He's for us, who can be against us? May we never lose faith and hope that His ways are better than are ways, His thoughts higher than our thoughts, and His plans are bringing about our good.