Mark 15:37Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Observe how the Son places His spirit into the Father's hands, while also dwelling in the Father’s embrace, and only He can encompass the entirety of Christ. The Lord states, “I am in the Father, and the Father in Me” (John 14:10). He entrusts His spirit to the Father, sitting in the highest place, while simultaneously illuminating the realms below to redeem all. Christ encompasses all, and within Him, everything is united (Col. 3:11), even though He operates individually in each one. The body dies to be resurrected, the spirit is entrusted to the Father, so that the heavenly realms may also be freed from the chains of sin, allowing peace to reign in heaven, which the earth shall also receive.

And having spoken these words, He breathed His last (John 19:30). It was His own action, not taken away involuntarily. Matthew states: He breathed out His spirit (Matt. 27:50). To breathe out is an act of will, while to lose is a result of necessity. This detail follows: With a loud voice (Matt. 27:46, 50; Mark 15:34). These words enhance the depth of the glorious exclamation that He descended into death for our transgressions—why should I shy away from this truth when Christ Himself declared it with such volume? Or does it affirm the God-given testimony of the separation between Divinity and humanity at the moment of Christ's death, as it is written: Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Psalm 21:2; Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). These are the expressions of Man facing death as the divine essence withdraws from Him. The Divine nature is untouched by death and could not surrender to death unless life had first departed, for the Divine essence embodies life.

For as hunger, and thirst, and fatigue were not things proper to the Divinity, but bodily affections; so His saying, Why hast thou forsaken me? was proper to a bodily voice, for the body is never naturally wont to wish to be separated from the life which is joined to it. For although our Saviour Himself said this, He really shewed the weakness of His body; He spoke therefore as man, bearing about with Him my feelings, for when placed in danger we fancy that we are deserted by God.

The profound depth of His moral anguish is highlighted by the fact that He suffered this from those whom God had cherished and nurtured for millennia—the chosen people, upon whom the future hopes rested, destined to be a light amid profound spiritual and moral darkness.

A significant detail indicates the physiological reason behind Christ's death. Uniquely, He passed away on the cross before the criminals beside Him, sparing the Romans the barbaric practice of breaking His legs, leading to an earlier death than typically witnessed. It was not uncommon for those crucified to survive for days, yet Christ surrendered His spirit within six hours (from 3 to 9) after being nailed to the cross, an occurrence that astonished early Christians and was deemed miraculous.

Moreover, an immediate cause of His death was revealed when a soldier pierced His side with a spear to confirm His death, resulting in blood and water pouring forth. This strongly implies that the immediate cause was a rupture of the heart due to extreme emotional distress. It is known that intense joy or sorrow can lead to such a rupture, resulting in blood entering the pericardial sac surrounding the heart. In typical circumstances, this particularity is usually discovered during a post-mortem examination; however, the soldier's spear confirmed it in Christ's case. It is often observed that individuals dying from a ruptured heart may raise their hand towards their chest in a convulsive manner and emit a sharp, anguished cry. Although the Saviour could not make such a gesture due to His hands being nailed, the evangelists clearly recount His final loud cry preceding His immediate death. Therefore, the Saviour of the world truly died from a broken heart.

This heart, overflowing with love, could not bear the shameful blindness of those who, in their wrath, failed to recognize their actions. It could not withstand the overwhelming insanity that drove humanity to inflict the most severe torments upon the One sent to liberate them from death’s grasp, to rescue them from hell's dominion, and guide them towards eternal life and joy. Indeed, the power of evil is immense, leading mankind to violently sever their own lifeline and execute their greatest Benefactor and Deliverer. Witnessing this, not just the compassionate and loving heart of Christ would shatter, but even the very stones of the mountains could crumble. This is evidenced by the darkening of the sun and the quaking of the earth at the moment of Christ's death; even the inanimate creation was moved at this atrocious wickedness.