Daily Devotion for April 11, 2006

To Jerusalem with the ComPassionate Christ
Day 42

My God, My God

 

Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.  At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.  And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" - which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  Mark 15: 33-34

 

It was the sixth hour from the dawn, about mid day, when darkness descended upon the earth, lasting until the ninth hour. Some have conjectured that this was an eclipse, but it seems unlikely. The Hebrew calendar is a lunar one; that is, it is determined by the stages of the moon. At Passover, the moon is full; it is not possible for a full moon to cause an eclipse. So what happened? We do not know, but it was no coincidence. We might suppose that the hand of God, which sets and sustains the natural ordering of our world, was overruled by the love of God. There may not have been a lunar eclipse, but the darkness of sin moved between Father and Son, casting its long shadow upon the earth. What happened? God broke in.

 

At the ninth hour, at just about the time of the sacrifice in the temple, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani." ‘Eloi’ is the Aramaic version of ‘Eli’, which means ‘My God.’ The whole is a direct quotation from Psalm 22. Even in death, Jesus depended upon the promises of the Word, and upon the God who made them.

 

To those unfamiliar with the source of His words, it may have sounded like Jesus was suffering from doubt in His last moments. "Why have You forsaken Me?" It sounded as though Jesus was hurling questions and accusations at the One He had once called Father. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus’ quote from Psalm 22:1 was to bring one’s attention to the bigger picture.  Even though Jesus appeared to be forsaken by His Father, HE WAS NOT!  When one reads on in Psalm 22, verse 24, For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. 

 

Jesus recognized His forsakenness as the result of His sacrifice. A holy God could have nothing to do with the sin His Son now bore. As He died, Jesus suffered the rending of His relationship with the Godhead; His agony must have been more than we can comprehend. Yet love cried out, as only a Messiah could; and it did not cry in vain.  GOD HAD NOT FORSAKEN HIS SON – and because of that – neither does He forsake us! 

 

Prayer
Father, because of Your Son, and what He went through for me, I am not forsaken but embraced by Your outstretched arms on the cross.  No Greater Love!  Amen

 

---

 Did someone send you this Devotion? Would you like to receive future ones directly? Click here to subscribe.

Tim Hetzner - President - Lutheran Church Charities
		333 W. Lake Street, Addison, Illinois 60101
		(866) 455-6466 • Fax: (866) 451-1476
		Web Site: lcc.LutheranChurchCharities.org
		E-Mail: TimHetzner@LutheranChurchCharities.org
At the end of the day. . . Making A Difference In People's Lives and In God's Kingdom