One of the first prayers I learned as a little boy was “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep . . .” It was a prayer I learned from my parents, and I taught it to my son and daughter when they were little. As a child, I found great comfort in placing myself in God’s hands with those words before I fell asleep.

我小时候最早学会的一段祷告文是：“现在我躺下睡觉，求主守护我的灵魂……。”这段祷告文是父母亲教我的，我也在儿女年幼时教他们这样祷告。记得我在孩提时期，每晚透过这样的睡前祷告，将自己交托在上帝手里，我就能安然入睡。

There’s a similar prayer neatly tucked away in the “prayer book” of the Bible, the Psalms. Some biblical scholars suggest that the phrase “Into your hands I commit my spirit” (Psalm 31:5) was a “bedtime” prayer taught to children in Jesus’s day.

在诗篇这祷告的书卷里，也收录了相似的祷告文。有些圣经学者认为，诗篇31篇5节中“我将我的灵魂交在祢手里”这句话，就是在耶稣时代父母教导孩童的睡前祷告文。

You may recognize that prayer as Jesus’s final cry from the cross. But Jesus added one more word to it: Father (Luke 23:46). By praying that word in the moments before His death, Jesus demonstrated His intimate relationship with the Father and pointed believers toward their home with Him (John 14:3).

或许你已察觉到，这句祷告词也是耶稣在十字架上最后的呼喊。只是耶稣另加了：“父啊”（路加福音23章46节）。耶稣在断气之前如此祷告，显明祂与天父之间亲密的关系，也向信徒指出那将来与祂同住的天家（约翰福音14章3节） 。

Jesus died on the cross so we could live in the wonder of a relationship with God as our heavenly Father. How comforting it is to know that because of Jesus’s sacrificial love for us, we can rest in God’s care as His children! We can close our eyes without fear because our Father watches over us and has promised to wake us up to a life with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:14).

耶稣被钉死在十字架上，让你我能奇妙地藉着祂成为天父的儿女。想到耶稣因为爱我们而牺牲，让我们可以得到上帝的眷顾而成为祂的儿女，我们的心中就得安慰。我们可以坦然安睡，因为天父必看顾我们，而且祂也应许会让你我苏醒，与祂同享永恒的生命（帖撒罗尼迦前书4章14节） 。

主耶稣，谢谢祢透过十字架赐给我们赦罪之恩。求祢帮助我们，能远离罪恶并一心跟随祢，直到回归天家。

Luke 23:44-48    NIV

23 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice,“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. 47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” 48 When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.

路加福音 23:44-48

23 那时约有午正，遍地都黑暗了，直到申初， 45 日头变黑了，殿里的幔子从当中裂为两半。 46 耶稣大声喊着说：“父啊，我将我的灵魂交在你手里！”说了这话，气就断了。 47 百夫长看见所成的事，就归荣耀于神，说：“这真是个义人！” 48 聚集观看的众人见了这所成的事，都捶着胸回去了.

INSIGHT

灵粮透视

In Luke’s account of Christ’s death, we see several dramatic events. A seemingly inexplicable darkness was present over the entire earth—not just over Jerusalem where the crucifixion took place (vv. 44–45). Inside the temple in Jerusalem the curtain that separated worshipers from the holy of holies was torn in two, symbolizing that through Christ our access to God has been opened (v. 45). After Christ died, a Roman soldier who had participated in His execution declared, “Surely this was a righteous man” (v. 47). And others watching lamented and beat their breasts (v. 48).The witness in the sky, within the temple, and by people at the foot of the cross demonstrate that this was no ordinary death. It was the death of the loving God-Man who shed His blood to redeem all who would believe in Him.

在路加福音有关基督受死的叙述中，我们可以看到一些颇具戏剧性的事件。当时看似奇妙莫测的黑暗笼罩了全地，不仅仅笼罩耶稣被钉十字架的耶路撒冷（44-45节）。在耶路撒冷的圣殿里，那将敬拜者与至圣所隔开的幔子裂为两半，象征我们能藉由基督直接来到上帝面前（45节）。基督断气之后，有一个参与处决的罗马百夫长宣称：“这真是个义人！”（47节）还有一些围观的人捶胸哀叹（48节）。这些超自然的见证、圣殿内的见证，以及十字架旁众人的见证都表明，这绝非寻常人之死。这是慈爱的神子和人子之死，祂流血拯救一切相信祂的人。

整理：于姊妹