Four
“My God, my God! Why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46; Mark 15:34)
There was a time, in my young adulthood, in which I didn’t bother with church; didn’t go to church. I was too busy – husband, house, two children, working. The same old excuses we hear all the time. And I was one of them.
There was much ado about a book – it was such an ado, I decided I’d better buy it and see for myself what it was all about. The book was ‘3:16 The Numbers of Hope’, written by Max Lucado. It was an easy read and kind of Evangelical and I wondered what the big deal was. And then, in the book, Lucado writes of Jesus on the cross. He is discussing the quote that opens this blog today. He wrote, ” Why would Jesus, the Son of God, cry out Why have you forsaken me?” He answered his own question with this: So that we wouldn’t have to. I read that and it was like a shot to my heart. There is no embellishment, no hyperbole,no exaggeration when I tell you I fell apart. I cried so hard, I was sobbing. I could barely catch my breath. My husband walked into the room and was concerned about me and I couldn’t answer him. All I could do was cry.
“So that we wouldn’t have to.” Do you understand? It is only because of Jesus that we have this relationship with the Father. We could die and go to nothing. We could face our hardest day and without Jesus, we’d be facing it alone. Jesus tells us, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”.
Jesus, the New Covenant, fulfilled all of the Old Covenant and His cry to God is the fulfillment of the Psalm 22; it’s Jesus’ psalm; it’s got Jesus written all over it. Read it again if it’s been awhile since you last read it.
My God, my God! Why hast thou forsaken me?
So that we wouldn’t have to cry the same thing.
Words on the Word 