"My God, my God, why have you foresaken me?"
0 Amens
Story of preacher on Good Friday… It’s Friday but Sunday's comin'. A crucial statement today is Jesus’ cry:
My God, my God why have you forsaken me?
At the cross we have sight and sound brought to the fore. The sight is the darkness.
The sound is this cry of dereliction from Jesus. Some questions to consider this morning:
What’s the meaning of the darkness?
It is clearly an interruption – in the middle of the day, between 12noon and 3pm (6th and 9th hrs) all over the land. But what does it mean?One clue is found in the 9th of the 10 plagues in Egypt, Ex 10:22 where there is total darkness for 3 days. v. 21 says the darkness can be felt. On the cross on Good Friday, there were 3 hrs of blackness.
If you’ve ever experienced darkness during the usual hrs of sunlight, you’ll know how scary it can be. It’s a strange sensation; all the joy and joking of a sunny day, gives way to fear and trembling; feeling cold and alone. We can imagine, that all jeering and laughter would stop at Calvary, and there would be an eerie disquiet; people now shrouded in uncanny darkness, only broken by the groans of the victims. It was clearly something supernatural. But what did it mean?
Someone has suggested that at Calvary it speaks of all nature in protest against the injustice being done to the Son of God. After all, says that writer, Matthew goes on to describe the earthquake and the graves giving up the dead. He says "nature shook in sympathy with the indescribable sufferings of the Son of God"
But I’m not sure if nature was protesting like that. Might it not be a sign that God was angry; his judgement is falling on Jesus. The Bible often links sin with darkness. Jesus says so in Jn 3:19f (P. 750)This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of the light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed
And that’s so true; crime, heavy drinking, immorality often take place under the cover of darkness.
I think the biggest clue is in Amos 8:9 (P.649) In that day (the day of judgement) declares the Sovereign Lord, I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight. Amos goes on to say it will be a time of mourning for an only son. This darkness at Calvary is therefore a sign of God’s displeasure; his judgment on the land and its people.
But its more than that; it’s a judgement falling on the Lord Jesus How do we know that? Cos of the cry.
What’s the meaning of the cry?
We have it in Aramaic and in English - put like that for emphasis. And it’s a shocking utterance. Was Jesus – God the Son - forsaken by God the Father – not called father here but just GOD. And with the word you– WHY? YOU FORSAKEN ME?
Never have father and son been separated like that – together in all eternity, and then in full relationship while Jesus was on earth. Was this a true abandonment, or did Jesus just feel it? Was the pain and agony just too much for him? Was he losing confidence in his Father’s plan; was the terrible isolation, AS IF his Father had left him? I don’t think so. Up to now everything had been leading towards this moment; this ghastly moment of forsakenness on the cross. The Lord Jesus knew the score, he had struggled with it in the garden of Gethsemane, but he agreed to go ahead with the plan.
Others suggest that he is just reciting Psalm 22, to bring him some comfort in his agony. He has become so faint and delirious, all he can do is to repeat scripture he memorized earlier. But the Bible accounts give no evidence that he lost control of his mind. In fact the opposite was true; he knew exactly what was happening, and he was doing his Father’s will, as prophesied. Right to the end he was in control, even dismissing his Spirit, 50 he gave up his spirit – at his time, voluntarily, willingly.
A lady is all alone with just her husband. When he dies, and she walks away, returning home on her own, she is now without family, without friends. The house is cold and empty. She is forsaken.
A child discovers that his parents have been killed in a road accident. He has no siblings, no uncles & aunts. He is forsaken. He longs for a friendly face to come along, a warm hand to reach out to him.
To be forsaken by those we love is a fearful experience. But what if we were forsaken by the God we knew, and in our hour of deepest need.
That’s where Jesus is, and he finds himself cast out from God’s presence – the door is soundly locked. Yes, Jesus had known previously what it was to be abandoned by people; his fellow Nazarenes drove him out of town and wanted to push him down the cliff (Lk 4:29); the city of Jerusalem wanted nothing to do with him – he wept at their indifference. Even at the trial his nearest disciples, ran away. But God his Father was with him. Well, up till now. Now he was all alone, desolate, abandoned. WHY WHY WHY?
Why forsaken now?
Martin Luther struggled with this cry. He fasted and spoke to no-one. For several hours he did not move, and then he got up from his chair and walked around the room. He was heard saying to himself:
"God forsaken of God. Who can understand that?"
Well if Luther struggles, we can only wade in the shallows. The key is to understand sacrifice, and substitution. This is Jesus standing in for us; being our sin-bearer.
But to see how it works, we must be quite clear on the character of God: He is holy – spotless, absolutely pure. He is also just, perfectly fair, ruthlessly so. In his love he is holy and just.
We must also realise that Jesus is not dying as a martyr for a cause, nor as an example for us to follow. In both cases he could not rescue anyone else. He is standing in for us, for where we should be. He both represents and substitutes for us. As Isaiah prophesied: He was pierced for OUR transgressions, he was crushed for OUR iniquities. Or in Paul’s language: God made him who had no sin, to be sin for us
Sin is so loathsome to God; he must turn away from it. Just as the scapegoat in Lev 16 was abandoned into the wilderness, once the priest confessed the sins of the people on its head, so Jesus our scapegoat – was abandoned to a place of dereliction. It was the cry of sinking without any possibility of support.
What do we learn?
The fabulous nature of love.
This is love, not that we loved God, says John, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins
No one had seen love like this before – nor since. How greatly God must love us to give up his son to this appalling anguish and shame.
The enormity of sin.
If ever we think that a little wrong hardly matters, turn again to the cross. Here is the end result of all those trivial wrongdoings. This is the price which must be paid to redeem us from our sin.
A great warning.
There lies beneath its shadow but on the further side
The darkness of an awful grave that gapes both deep and wide
And there between us stands the cross two arms outstretched to save
A watchman set to guard the way from that eternal grave.
Cos Jesus suffered like this, we may never have to, nor might we ever know such agony. That’s how Bad Friday becomes Good Friday. It’s Friday…. but Sunday's comin'
~~ end
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we bow before you today, overwhelmed at your love for us. Lost and rebellious, determined not to follow you because of our stubbornness, we find ourselves drawn to Jesus, drawn to the cross. Thank you so much for this cross; the barrier that prevents us heading headlong into hell. Were it not for the cross we would not be here today. Indeed, were it not for the cross we could never be forgiven today. But that’s the deal; God forsaken of God, so that we might never have to be.Help us to cling to that cross, to take hold of its eternal benefits, to love you for the cross. May we never move from the cross, may we constantly look to the cross. This is our hope and our trust. We bless you heavenly father for sending your son to be the saviour of the World, and by faith, to be OUR Saviour. Please accept us on the basis of Jesus’ remarkable work for us we pray. Amen
A preacher was speaking on Good Friday
Jesus has been unjustly charged and condemned to die.
"It was Friday; it was Friday and my Jesus was dead on the cross. He said
The religious and political tyrants have stopped His rebellous message.
But that was Friday and Sunday’s comin’!"
"It was Friday and Mary was cryin’ her eyes out. The disciples were runnin’ in every direction, like sheep without a Shepherd, but that was Friday. Sunday’s comin’!"
He has been brutally beaten, stripped, and nailed to a cross. It's Friday, but Sunday's comin'
So the Sermon continued, building in volume and power all the time." It was Friday. The cynics were lookin’ at the world and saying; you can’t change anything. But those cynics didn’t know it was Friday. Sunday’s comin’!"
The sermon reached such an excitement that when the preacher delivered the final, "It’s Friday!" …and the whole congregation roared back, "BUT SUNDAY’S COMIN’!"
Comments:
Login to post comments