WEBVTT 00:00:05.290 --> 00:00:08.029 Hey, welcome back. Here we are, another week, 00:00:08.050 --> 00:00:12.169 another episode of the Semi -Seminarium. This 00:00:12.169 --> 00:00:17.129 week we take a look at Jesus' final words uttered 00:00:17.129 --> 00:00:20.609 on the cross on the day of his crucifixion when 00:00:20.609 --> 00:00:25.230 he asked, My God, my God, why have you forsaken 00:00:25.230 --> 00:00:29.910 me? In the answer, we find the depth of God's 00:00:29.910 --> 00:00:34.259 love for us. and the value of the sacrifice he 00:00:34.259 --> 00:00:37.920 made for our redemption. I'll see you on the 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:45.859 other side. Why is there so much pain in the 00:00:45.859 --> 00:00:49.560 world, so much divorce and abuse? Why do so many 00:00:49.560 --> 00:00:52.640 good people die young? Sometimes I just don't 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:57.179 understand why. Why all of the pain? Why all 00:00:57.179 --> 00:00:59.600 of the heartache? Do you ever ask these questions? 00:01:00.409 --> 00:01:03.609 Here's another one. Why does God answer some 00:01:03.609 --> 00:01:07.469 prayers and not others? Why? Why do I feel alone 00:01:07.469 --> 00:01:11.870 sometimes? God says he's near, and a lot of times 00:01:11.870 --> 00:01:15.310 I feel him near, but sometimes he feels like 00:01:15.310 --> 00:01:18.769 he's far away. So many questions in life that 00:01:18.769 --> 00:01:21.329 just don't have clean answers. Do you ever feel 00:01:21.329 --> 00:01:24.629 like that? I wonder if you've ever felt like 00:01:24.629 --> 00:01:27.209 Jesus might have felt on that cross when he cried 00:01:27.209 --> 00:01:33.209 out, my God, my God. Why? Today I would like 00:01:33.209 --> 00:01:36.469 us to meditate in this time together when he 00:01:36.469 --> 00:01:39.909 asked his heavenly father why. I'll pick up the 00:01:39.909 --> 00:01:44.950 story where I just read there. Matthew 27 verses 00:01:44.950 --> 00:01:48.950 45 and 46. This is what the Bible says. From 00:01:48.950 --> 00:01:52.650 the sixth hour until the ninth hour, darkness 00:01:52.650 --> 00:01:55.629 came over all of the land. Now, when was this? 00:01:55.689 --> 00:01:59.799 From the sixth hour to the ninth hour. From 6 00:01:59.799 --> 00:02:03.900 to 6, from the 6th hour of the beginning of the 00:02:03.900 --> 00:02:08.460 day would be noon. Right now. The time of daylight. 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:14.080 The Bible says that in this time, darkness spread 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:17.199 over all of the land. Now, why did that happen? 00:02:18.060 --> 00:02:20.879 I can't tell you exactly, but I can tell you 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:24.039 that we know that Jesus on that cross became 00:02:24.039 --> 00:02:29.240 sin. And when he became sin for us, His heavenly 00:02:29.240 --> 00:02:33.319 Father turned away from him. And when his Father 00:02:33.319 --> 00:02:37.080 withdrew his presence, the world became dark. 00:02:38.340 --> 00:02:42.479 Verse 46, some of the loneliest words in the 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:45.280 whole of Scripture. The Bible says, about the 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:49.659 ninth hour, 3 p .m., Jesus cried out in a loud 00:02:49.659 --> 00:02:53.819 voice, Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani? Which means, 00:02:53.900 --> 00:02:59.770 my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? A lot 00:02:59.770 --> 00:03:01.469 of times there are things that happen in life 00:03:01.469 --> 00:03:03.949 that just don't seem to have a good reason why. 00:03:04.330 --> 00:03:07.650 Why do good people die young? Why does God answer 00:03:07.650 --> 00:03:10.409 some prayers and not others? According at least 00:03:10.409 --> 00:03:13.530 to the way we think he should. Why do some people 00:03:13.530 --> 00:03:16.150 have the greatest desire in their life to get 00:03:16.150 --> 00:03:18.330 married, to spend their life sharing Christ with 00:03:18.330 --> 00:03:21.710 someone? They pray and they still go to bed alone 00:03:21.710 --> 00:03:25.830 at night. Why? Isn't there more to life than 00:03:25.830 --> 00:03:36.909 that? It's interesting to me as we examine the 00:03:36.909 --> 00:03:39.909 words of Jesus on the cross, here's what we'll 00:03:39.909 --> 00:03:44.990 notice as we look at his life as a whole. We 00:03:44.990 --> 00:03:47.830 know that from the moment Jesus was born, his 00:03:47.830 --> 00:03:51.870 spiritual enemy, Satan, had attacked Jesus often 00:03:51.870 --> 00:03:56.030 through other people. Even when Jesus was a little 00:03:56.030 --> 00:03:59.490 baby, Herod sought to have him killed. Jesus 00:03:59.490 --> 00:04:02.409 in his hometown was known as a prophet without 00:04:02.409 --> 00:04:06.409 honor. Some guys one time had Jesus on the edge 00:04:06.409 --> 00:04:09.469 of a cliff and wanted to push him over. People 00:04:09.469 --> 00:04:12.689 called Jesus a heretic, called him a fanatic, 00:04:12.830 --> 00:04:15.509 said that he was demon -possessed, that he was 00:04:15.509 --> 00:04:18.670 a drunk, that he was a glutton. said that Jesus 00:04:18.670 --> 00:04:21.189 would hang out with the wrong kind of people. 00:04:21.250 --> 00:04:25.709 Jesus was not one of us. He was from the wrong 00:04:25.709 --> 00:04:29.889 side of the tracks. He was falsely accused. He 00:04:29.889 --> 00:04:33.250 was tortured, beaten, taken to the cross. And 00:04:33.250 --> 00:04:35.829 what is interesting to me is that when Jesus 00:04:35.829 --> 00:04:39.730 suffered all of that at the hands of man, he 00:04:39.730 --> 00:04:44.800 never once complained. In fact, The very first 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:47.259 words that I could find in the whole of the four 00:04:47.259 --> 00:04:50.279 gospel accounts of him uttering anything that 00:04:50.279 --> 00:04:53.639 even resembles a complaint was when he became 00:04:53.639 --> 00:04:57.420 sin for us, the world became dark, the Father 00:04:57.420 --> 00:05:01.240 withdrew his presence and turned, and Jesus cried 00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:06.360 out, My God, my God, why? See, it's very easy 00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:09.339 for us to have faith when the sun is shining, 00:05:09.500 --> 00:05:13.579 but it's a completely another story. To have 00:05:13.579 --> 00:05:16.420 real faith when darkness sets in in the world 00:05:16.420 --> 00:05:20.560 around us. What's incredible to me about Jesus 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:24.420 is that the only thing that he needed to endure 00:05:24.420 --> 00:05:27.740 that physical pain or the emotional pain that 00:05:27.740 --> 00:05:30.980 he experienced or the relational pain that he 00:05:30.980 --> 00:05:33.939 must have had, the only thing that he needed 00:05:33.939 --> 00:05:36.899 was the presence of the Father. That was it. 00:05:37.019 --> 00:05:39.980 The only time he complained was when the Father 00:05:39.980 --> 00:05:44.620 had withdrew his presence. And the same is true 00:05:44.620 --> 00:05:48.759 for us. You see, we only see part of the story. 00:05:49.259 --> 00:05:53.620 We only see our part. There's the Father's perspective 00:05:53.620 --> 00:05:57.819 in our story, which is much, much bigger. That's 00:05:57.819 --> 00:06:00.019 why I like the way that the Apostle Paul put 00:06:00.019 --> 00:06:02.399 it in his first letter to the Corinthian church, 00:06:02.579 --> 00:06:05.639 the 13th chapter of that letter, verses 9 and 00:06:05.639 --> 00:06:09.600 12. He showed us... On this side of eternity 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:12.319 that we only see part of the story. He says this. 00:06:12.519 --> 00:06:17.639 He says, for we know now in part. And now we 00:06:17.639 --> 00:06:22.139 see but a poor reflection in a mirror. Then we 00:06:22.139 --> 00:06:26.639 will see face to face. He said, now on this side 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:31.620 of eternity, I know in part. Then I shall know 00:06:31.620 --> 00:06:36.569 fully, even as I am fully known. See, we only 00:06:36.569 --> 00:06:40.550 see our part of the story. You think about Jesus 00:06:40.550 --> 00:06:43.629 dying on the cross, and you can imagine the different 00:06:43.629 --> 00:06:46.310 perspectives to that story. You could see the 00:06:46.310 --> 00:06:51.370 crowd who at one time cried out, crucify, crucify. 00:06:51.990 --> 00:06:54.870 The crowd must have been looking on at this event 00:06:54.870 --> 00:06:57.670 thinking, we have done the right thing. We have 00:06:57.670 --> 00:07:01.769 ridden the world of another heretic. You think 00:07:01.769 --> 00:07:05.870 of his disciples' part. They're part of the story. 00:07:05.949 --> 00:07:08.550 They must be thinking, what were we thinking? 00:07:09.529 --> 00:07:12.129 Well, wait a minute. We left our homes. We left 00:07:12.129 --> 00:07:14.949 our families. We gave up all of our possessions. 00:07:15.110 --> 00:07:18.089 We honored this guy. We followed him around. 00:07:18.310 --> 00:07:22.389 We did everything Jesus said, and now he's dying? 00:07:24.610 --> 00:07:28.110 The story can't end this way for us. Did we do 00:07:28.110 --> 00:07:33.370 all of this for nothing? And then we look at 00:07:33.370 --> 00:07:36.430 Jesus' part of the story. And although I don't 00:07:36.430 --> 00:07:42.529 fully understand why he asked why, I know that 00:07:42.529 --> 00:07:45.430 he is fulfilling a prophecy, which is the very 00:07:45.430 --> 00:07:49.149 first verse of the 22nd Psalm when he cried out, 00:07:49.209 --> 00:07:55.009 My God, my God, why? And then you think of God's 00:07:55.009 --> 00:07:59.550 part of the story, where God's heart in this 00:07:59.550 --> 00:08:03.620 moment must be breaking. And he turned away with 00:08:03.620 --> 00:08:08.360 the most sacrificing, selfless act of love that 00:08:08.360 --> 00:08:12.600 we could ever imagine. As he loved you and he 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:17.600 loved me so much that he allowed his son to suffer 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:22.100 for you and for me in our place. Let's look for 00:08:22.100 --> 00:08:26.259 just a moment at the insight that God gives us 00:08:26.259 --> 00:08:29.079 in his part of the story. Sometimes through scripture 00:08:29.079 --> 00:08:33.429 he gives it. Sometimes we won't see God's part, 00:08:33.549 --> 00:08:36.990 God's perspective until eternity. But in this 00:08:36.990 --> 00:08:39.590 case, in this particular story, we get to see 00:08:39.590 --> 00:08:42.250 part of God's perspective, the Father's part 00:08:42.250 --> 00:08:45.450 of the story. Jesus said, my God, my God, why? 00:08:45.750 --> 00:08:50.210 We see two reasons why. Number one, the Father 00:08:50.210 --> 00:08:54.950 forsook Jesus because he had become sin. Why 00:08:54.950 --> 00:08:57.620 did God forsake him? Because Jesus had become 00:08:57.620 --> 00:09:01.620 sin for us. In Paul's second letter to the folks 00:09:01.620 --> 00:09:04.480 in Corinth, in the fifth chapter of that letter, 00:09:04.620 --> 00:09:08.960 he says this, God made him who had no sin, Jesus, 00:09:09.240 --> 00:09:16.080 to be sin for us. So that in Christ, we might 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:19.840 become the righteousness of God. God hates sin. 00:09:20.059 --> 00:09:24.860 And wherever God finds sin, sin must be judged. 00:09:25.799 --> 00:09:29.179 Jesus became sin for us and died on the cross 00:09:29.179 --> 00:09:35.440 in our place. Now, why did God look on? Well, 00:09:35.580 --> 00:09:38.980 in Habakkuk, the first verse, the Old Testament 00:09:38.980 --> 00:09:42.860 prophet, the 13th verse, it says this. God's 00:09:42.860 --> 00:09:48.399 eyes are too pure to look upon evil. He, God, 00:09:48.539 --> 00:09:53.299 cannot tolerate wrong. When Jesus became sin, 00:09:53.539 --> 00:09:57.960 hatred, murder, adultery, rape, jealousy, envy, 00:09:58.220 --> 00:10:02.159 lying, when Jesus became this, God's eyes were 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:06.080 too pure to look upon sin. Therefore, he had 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:10.820 to turn away. God is so holy and so full of love 00:10:10.820 --> 00:10:15.159 that from his perspective, when the world asks 00:10:15.159 --> 00:10:19.360 why, he says, I'll tell you why. It was done 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:24.129 for you. Never forget the father's perspective. 00:10:24.529 --> 00:10:28.330 The second thing that we can see as Jesus cried 00:10:28.330 --> 00:10:31.909 out, my God, my God, why? Number two, we see 00:10:31.909 --> 00:10:36.450 that the son was forsaken so that we may be forgiven. 00:10:38.230 --> 00:10:41.929 Jesus became sin and died with sin and was buried 00:10:41.929 --> 00:10:46.600 in a grave. Three days later, God raised him 00:10:46.600 --> 00:10:50.059 from death, clearly displaying that death and 00:10:50.059 --> 00:10:53.100 sin and hell and the grave had been defeated 00:10:53.100 --> 00:10:56.799 by the son of the living God. This is exactly 00:10:56.799 --> 00:10:59.899 what scripture says in Peter's first epistle. 00:10:59.980 --> 00:11:02.580 In the second chapter of that letter, Peter says 00:11:02.580 --> 00:11:06.320 this, speaking of Jesus. He himself bore our 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:09.559 sins in his body on the tree so that we might 00:11:09.559 --> 00:11:12.940 die to sins and live for righteousness. And by 00:11:12.940 --> 00:11:17.100 his wounds, by his suffering, by his stripes, 00:11:17.320 --> 00:11:22.799 another version says, we have been healed. My 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:27.440 God, my God, why? God would say, I did this out 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:33.169 of love for you. If you're asking why. If you're 00:11:33.169 --> 00:11:36.570 hurting and you don't understand, please never 00:11:36.570 --> 00:11:41.029 forget the father's perspective. There's a story 00:11:41.029 --> 00:11:45.370 of a dad who the love of his life was his wife 00:11:45.370 --> 00:11:48.870 and his 8 -year -old son. And this 8 -year -old 00:11:48.870 --> 00:11:51.950 boy idolized his father. His dad had a job that 00:11:51.950 --> 00:11:55.149 he loved. He operated a drawbridge and he did 00:11:55.149 --> 00:11:58.769 that job with great integrity and accuracy. And 00:11:58.769 --> 00:12:01.980 he knew that his job was very important. Because 00:12:01.980 --> 00:12:04.139 many times a day he would raise the drawbridge 00:12:04.139 --> 00:12:08.139 up, throw a lever at just the right time so that 00:12:08.139 --> 00:12:10.559 ships could pass through, and at other times 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:13.799 he would drop and lower the drawbridge so the 00:12:13.799 --> 00:12:16.539 train could pass over. And his communication 00:12:16.539 --> 00:12:20.259 had to be accurate and precise to make sure everything 00:12:20.259 --> 00:12:24.000 was done just right. And one day his eight -year 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:26.360 -old son came with the father and said, Hey, 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:28.899 I just want to spend the day with you and watch 00:12:28.899 --> 00:12:31.700 what you do, Daddy. And the boy was having a 00:12:31.700 --> 00:12:34.299 blast, and the father was having a blast. And 00:12:34.299 --> 00:12:36.440 late in the day, as he was making probably his 00:12:36.440 --> 00:12:40.200 13th or 14th successful transition, a train was 00:12:40.200 --> 00:12:42.080 coming, and he knew it was coming, and he looked 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:45.019 for his son. As hard as he looked, he couldn't 00:12:45.019 --> 00:12:48.460 find his son anywhere. Somehow his son had wandered 00:12:48.460 --> 00:12:51.919 off. He was afraid to throw that switch because 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:54.720 there were just so many dangerous places on that 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:58.090 bridge. Without knowing where his son was, he 00:12:58.090 --> 00:13:01.450 started to cry out, son, where are you? Where 00:13:01.450 --> 00:13:04.529 are you? And finally, the son cried out, daddy, 00:13:04.610 --> 00:13:07.210 I'm right here. And the son had somehow wandered 00:13:07.210 --> 00:13:09.929 down around the huge gear shift that operated 00:13:09.929 --> 00:13:13.070 the bridge. The father realized that he had the 00:13:13.070 --> 00:13:15.809 number one most important decision that he'll 00:13:15.809 --> 00:13:18.990 ever have to make in his life. With moments to 00:13:18.990 --> 00:13:20.629 make his decision, he could either throw the 00:13:20.629 --> 00:13:24.549 switch, putting his son at a very, very serious 00:13:24.549 --> 00:13:27.909 danger. possibly being killed, where he could 00:13:27.909 --> 00:13:30.990 save his own son's life and let hundreds of passengers 00:13:30.990 --> 00:13:35.710 on the train fall to a certain death. In a split 00:13:35.710 --> 00:13:38.690 second, the father made the most sacrificial 00:13:38.690 --> 00:13:41.570 decision the father could ever make. He threw 00:13:41.570 --> 00:13:44.830 the switch. He watched the gears start to turn 00:13:44.830 --> 00:13:47.649 as his son was quickly caught in those gears 00:13:47.649 --> 00:13:50.389 and turned with panic and fear to look at his 00:13:50.389 --> 00:13:56.000 father as to say, why? Father couldn't bear to 00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:00.600 look, turned away. The son screamed out in pain 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:05.100 and the father's heart was breaking. Watching 00:14:05.100 --> 00:14:08.480 as the drawbridge successfully closed and that 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:12.340 passenger train traveled by. And as the father 00:14:12.340 --> 00:14:15.279 was crying out in the darkest moment of his life, 00:14:15.379 --> 00:14:18.440 he watched the passengers on the train traveling 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:21.580 by completely oblivious to what the father had 00:14:21.580 --> 00:14:24.659 just done for them. Some of the men were sitting 00:14:24.659 --> 00:14:27.220 back reading the newspaper. Some of the ladies 00:14:27.220 --> 00:14:29.299 were talking to each other. Some of the passengers 00:14:29.299 --> 00:14:31.899 were just playing cards, and the father looked 00:14:31.899 --> 00:14:34.860 on, knowing that he had just given the life of 00:14:34.860 --> 00:14:38.360 his son, and these people were unaware and didn't 00:14:38.360 --> 00:14:42.980 care. Can you imagine, for a moment, what the 00:14:42.980 --> 00:14:46.700 father feels like when we live our lives without 00:14:46.700 --> 00:14:50.019 taking notice of the most sacrificial, loving 00:14:50.019 --> 00:14:53.830 gift that anyone could ever give? For God so 00:14:53.830 --> 00:14:57.830 loved the world that he gave his one and only 00:14:57.830 --> 00:15:01.690 son, that whosoever believes in him should not 00:15:01.690 --> 00:15:06.750 perish, but have eternal life. Some may say in 00:15:06.750 --> 00:15:10.809 the middle of pain, God is nowhere. Others who 00:15:10.809 --> 00:15:12.850 draw close to him will say, no, no, no, you don't 00:15:12.850 --> 00:15:16.509 understand. In the middle of our pain, God is 00:15:16.509 --> 00:15:20.330 now and here. And in the presence of a good God. 00:15:21.419 --> 00:15:24.539 That's all we really need. Please join me in 00:15:24.539 --> 00:15:28.779 prayer. This Good Friday, we join our voices 00:15:28.779 --> 00:15:31.759 to the words of Jesus on the cross and the cry 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:33.940 of all who are abandoned, My God, why have you 00:15:33.940 --> 00:15:38.080 forsaken me? Before we race in quickly with the 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:41.019 triumphant answer or the desire to set things 00:15:41.019 --> 00:15:44.460 right, we need to stand alongside this ancient 00:15:44.460 --> 00:15:49.980 cry of dereliction. So today we place ourselves 00:15:49.980 --> 00:15:53.879 with all those who cry out for food and justice, 00:15:54.179 --> 00:15:58.940 for work and healing, for hope and love, for 00:15:58.940 --> 00:16:02.840 faith and for meaning. We hear their pain and 00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:06.019 the pain of Jesus Christ. And because we know 00:16:06.019 --> 00:16:09.840 that in two days we will be back here celebrating 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:14.320 and singing, do not let us, God, deny the suffering 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:18.220 of Christ and of this world. Not in this moment. 00:16:19.799 --> 00:16:25.000 Oh God, oh God, we cry out to you. Do not forsake 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:34.360 us. Amen. Well, there you have it. I hope that 00:16:34.360 --> 00:16:38.360 illustration was as illustrative to you as it 00:16:38.360 --> 00:16:42.139 was to me about God's love for us. Listen, if 00:16:42.139 --> 00:16:44.200 you like The Semi -Seminarian, I was wondering 00:16:44.200 --> 00:16:46.580 if you could take a second and do us a favor. 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:48.960 However it is that you listen to podcasts, if 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:51.580 you could subscribe to the podcast, that can 00:16:51.580 --> 00:16:54.279 help you know when new episodes come out. Also, 00:16:54.379 --> 00:16:57.600 if you could take the time to rate and review 00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:00.840 the podcast, that helps us get the word out to 00:17:00.840 --> 00:17:05.470 other folks. Anyway, I hope that you have a wonderful 00:17:05.470 --> 00:17:10.329 week. And until then, friend, be blessed and 00:17:10.329 --> 00:17:11.190 be a blessing.