Hey, welcome back. Here we are, another week,
another episode of the Semi -Seminarium. This
week we take a look at Jesus' final words uttered
on the cross on the day of his crucifixion when
he asked, My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me? In the answer, we find the depth of God's
love for us. and the value of the sacrifice he
made for our redemption. I'll see you on the
other side. Why is there so much pain in the
world, so much divorce and abuse? Why do so many
good people die young? Sometimes I just don't
understand why. Why all of the pain? Why all
of the heartache? Do you ever ask these questions?
Here's another one. Why does God answer some
prayers and not others? Why? Why do I feel alone
sometimes? God says he's near, and a lot of times
I feel him near, but sometimes he feels like
he's far away. So many questions in life that
just don't have clean answers. Do you ever feel
like that? I wonder if you've ever felt like
Jesus might have felt on that cross when he cried
out, my God, my God. Why? Today I would like
us to meditate in this time together when he
asked his heavenly father why. I'll pick up the
story where I just read there. Matthew 27 verses
45 and 46. This is what the Bible says. From
the sixth hour until the ninth hour, darkness
came over all of the land. Now, when was this?
From the sixth hour to the ninth hour. From 6
to 6, from the 6th hour of the beginning of the
day would be noon. Right now. The time of daylight.
The Bible says that in this time, darkness spread
over all of the land. Now, why did that happen?
I can't tell you exactly, but I can tell you
that we know that Jesus on that cross became
sin. And when he became sin for us, His heavenly
Father turned away from him. And when his Father
withdrew his presence, the world became dark.
Verse 46, some of the loneliest words in the
whole of Scripture. The Bible says, about the
ninth hour, 3 p .m., Jesus cried out in a loud
voice, Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani? Which means,
my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? A lot
of times there are things that happen in life
that just don't seem to have a good reason why.
Why do good people die young? Why does God answer
some prayers and not others? According at least
to the way we think he should. Why do some people
have the greatest desire in their life to get
married, to spend their life sharing Christ with
someone? They pray and they still go to bed alone
at night. Why? Isn't there more to life than
that? It's interesting to me as we examine the
words of Jesus on the cross, here's what we'll
notice as we look at his life as a whole. We
know that from the moment Jesus was born, his
spiritual enemy, Satan, had attacked Jesus often
through other people. Even when Jesus was a little
baby, Herod sought to have him killed. Jesus
in his hometown was known as a prophet without
honor. Some guys one time had Jesus on the edge
of a cliff and wanted to push him over. People
called Jesus a heretic, called him a fanatic,
said that he was demon -possessed, that he was
a drunk, that he was a glutton. said that Jesus
would hang out with the wrong kind of people.
Jesus was not one of us. He was from the wrong
side of the tracks. He was falsely accused. He
was tortured, beaten, taken to the cross. And
what is interesting to me is that when Jesus
suffered all of that at the hands of man, he
never once complained. In fact, The very first
words that I could find in the whole of the four
gospel accounts of him uttering anything that
even resembles a complaint was when he became
sin for us, the world became dark, the Father
withdrew his presence and turned, and Jesus cried
out, My God, my God, why? See, it's very easy
for us to have faith when the sun is shining,
but it's a completely another story. To have
real faith when darkness sets in in the world
around us. What's incredible to me about Jesus
is that the only thing that he needed to endure
that physical pain or the emotional pain that
he experienced or the relational pain that he
must have had, the only thing that he needed
was the presence of the Father. That was it.
The only time he complained was when the Father
had withdrew his presence. And the same is true
for us. You see, we only see part of the story.
We only see our part. There's the Father's perspective
in our story, which is much, much bigger. That's
why I like the way that the Apostle Paul put
it in his first letter to the Corinthian church,
the 13th chapter of that letter, verses 9 and
12. He showed us... On this side of eternity
that we only see part of the story. He says this.
He says, for we know now in part. And now we
see but a poor reflection in a mirror. Then we
will see face to face. He said, now on this side
of eternity, I know in part. Then I shall know
fully, even as I am fully known. See, we only
see our part of the story. You think about Jesus
dying on the cross, and you can imagine the different
perspectives to that story. You could see the
crowd who at one time cried out, crucify, crucify.
The crowd must have been looking on at this event
thinking, we have done the right thing. We have
ridden the world of another heretic. You think
of his disciples' part. They're part of the story.
They must be thinking, what were we thinking?
Well, wait a minute. We left our homes. We left
our families. We gave up all of our possessions.
We honored this guy. We followed him around.
We did everything Jesus said, and now he's dying?
The story can't end this way for us. Did we do
all of this for nothing? And then we look at
Jesus' part of the story. And although I don't
fully understand why he asked why, I know that
he is fulfilling a prophecy, which is the very
first verse of the 22nd Psalm when he cried out,
My God, my God, why? And then you think of God's
part of the story, where God's heart in this
moment must be breaking. And he turned away with
the most sacrificing, selfless act of love that
we could ever imagine. As he loved you and he
loved me so much that he allowed his son to suffer
for you and for me in our place. Let's look for
just a moment at the insight that God gives us
in his part of the story. Sometimes through scripture
he gives it. Sometimes we won't see God's part,
God's perspective until eternity. But in this
case, in this particular story, we get to see
part of God's perspective, the Father's part
of the story. Jesus said, my God, my God, why?
We see two reasons why. Number one, the Father
forsook Jesus because he had become sin. Why
did God forsake him? Because Jesus had become
sin for us. In Paul's second letter to the folks
in Corinth, in the fifth chapter of that letter,
he says this, God made him who had no sin, Jesus,
to be sin for us. So that in Christ, we might
become the righteousness of God. God hates sin.
And wherever God finds sin, sin must be judged.
Jesus became sin for us and died on the cross
in our place. Now, why did God look on? Well,
in Habakkuk, the first verse, the Old Testament
prophet, the 13th verse, it says this. God's
eyes are too pure to look upon evil. He, God,
cannot tolerate wrong. When Jesus became sin,
hatred, murder, adultery, rape, jealousy, envy,
lying, when Jesus became this, God's eyes were
too pure to look upon sin. Therefore, he had
to turn away. God is so holy and so full of love
that from his perspective, when the world asks
why, he says, I'll tell you why. It was done
for you. Never forget the father's perspective.
The second thing that we can see as Jesus cried
out, my God, my God, why? Number two, we see
that the son was forsaken so that we may be forgiven.
Jesus became sin and died with sin and was buried
in a grave. Three days later, God raised him
from death, clearly displaying that death and
sin and hell and the grave had been defeated
by the son of the living God. This is exactly
what scripture says in Peter's first epistle.
In the second chapter of that letter, Peter says
this, speaking of Jesus. He himself bore our
sins in his body on the tree so that we might
die to sins and live for righteousness. And by
his wounds, by his suffering, by his stripes,
another version says, we have been healed. My
God, my God, why? God would say, I did this out
of love for you. If you're asking why. If you're
hurting and you don't understand, please never
forget the father's perspective. There's a story
of a dad who the love of his life was his wife
and his 8 -year -old son. And this 8 -year -old
boy idolized his father. His dad had a job that
he loved. He operated a drawbridge and he did
that job with great integrity and accuracy. And
he knew that his job was very important. Because
many times a day he would raise the drawbridge
up, throw a lever at just the right time so that
ships could pass through, and at other times
he would drop and lower the drawbridge so the
train could pass over. And his communication
had to be accurate and precise to make sure everything
was done just right. And one day his eight -year
-old son came with the father and said, Hey,
I just want to spend the day with you and watch
what you do, Daddy. And the boy was having a
blast, and the father was having a blast. And
late in the day, as he was making probably his
13th or 14th successful transition, a train was
coming, and he knew it was coming, and he looked
for his son. As hard as he looked, he couldn't
find his son anywhere. Somehow his son had wandered
off. He was afraid to throw that switch because
there were just so many dangerous places on that
bridge. Without knowing where his son was, he
started to cry out, son, where are you? Where
are you? And finally, the son cried out, daddy,
I'm right here. And the son had somehow wandered
down around the huge gear shift that operated
the bridge. The father realized that he had the
number one most important decision that he'll
ever have to make in his life. With moments to
make his decision, he could either throw the
switch, putting his son at a very, very serious
danger. possibly being killed, where he could
save his own son's life and let hundreds of passengers
on the train fall to a certain death. In a split
second, the father made the most sacrificial
decision the father could ever make. He threw
the switch. He watched the gears start to turn
as his son was quickly caught in those gears
and turned with panic and fear to look at his
father as to say, why? Father couldn't bear to
look, turned away. The son screamed out in pain
and the father's heart was breaking. Watching
as the drawbridge successfully closed and that
passenger train traveled by. And as the father
was crying out in the darkest moment of his life,
he watched the passengers on the train traveling
by completely oblivious to what the father had
just done for them. Some of the men were sitting
back reading the newspaper. Some of the ladies
were talking to each other. Some of the passengers
were just playing cards, and the father looked
on, knowing that he had just given the life of
his son, and these people were unaware and didn't
care. Can you imagine, for a moment, what the
father feels like when we live our lives without
taking notice of the most sacrificial, loving
gift that anyone could ever give? For God so
loved the world that he gave his one and only
son, that whosoever believes in him should not
perish, but have eternal life. Some may say in
the middle of pain, God is nowhere. Others who
draw close to him will say, no, no, no, you don't
understand. In the middle of our pain, God is
now and here. And in the presence of a good God.
That's all we really need. Please join me in
prayer. This Good Friday, we join our voices
to the words of Jesus on the cross and the cry
of all who are abandoned, My God, why have you
forsaken me? Before we race in quickly with the
triumphant answer or the desire to set things
right, we need to stand alongside this ancient
cry of dereliction. So today we place ourselves
with all those who cry out for food and justice,
for work and healing, for hope and love, for
faith and for meaning. We hear their pain and
the pain of Jesus Christ. And because we know
that in two days we will be back here celebrating
and singing, do not let us, God, deny the suffering
of Christ and of this world. Not in this moment.
Oh God, oh God, we cry out to you. Do not forsake
us. Amen. Well, there you have it. I hope that
illustration was as illustrative to you as it
was to me about God's love for us. Listen, if
you like The Semi -Seminarian, I was wondering
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other folks. Anyway, I hope that you have a wonderful
week. And until then, friend, be blessed and
be a blessing.