During this time of Lent, I will be sharing with you what I’ve read and reflected on The Last Seven Words of Jesus on the Cross. Please, feel free to share your thought with us about these last words of our Saviour.
“My God, my God, why have you deserted me?” (Mark 15:34)
Jesus never committed a sin. He had done nothing wrong and He was dying hanging on a cross in disgrace. He was in excruciating pain. He was bleeding profusely. His lips were parched with thirst. He was in a struggle between life and death. This is not fair. For Jesus no cause-and-effect principle was applied. Jesus, feeling that He was in a helpless situation cried: “Why my God? But why?”
Jesus despaired because He was one of us: fully human being. No one cared anymore. His followers had left him. He was seeing no hope. What could justify the reason why He had to undergo this tragedy? No reason. No known cause. It was unjust.
We all experience despair. We all experience a break-up from God. All this is because of our sin. From the moment that we dissented and tried to be the masters of our own life, we were estranged from God. We created a wide chasm between us and God and we could not reach across this chasm and touch God. Our sin has contributed to the disorder that marred the perfection of creation. Our sin has contributed to the introduction of sickness, hatred, selfishness, injustice, death… and when we realize the situation in which the world is in, we despair. We cannot see a solution to all these problems and distortions. We search for ways to make things better, but we realize that the world cannot make itself perfect. Because of our sin and therefore estrangement from God, we feel despair… we feel hopelessness… we feel that we will never be able to find God, and this scares us.
But there is hope. We have the possibility of finding God, because the Man on the cross has bridged the chasm for us. He who is God extended his hand so that we could reach across the chasm and touch Him.
Like us in moments of despair, He cries: “My God, why have you forsaken me?” His voice is the echo of our voice. His cry is our cry. He is showing us that He, as God, understands the torment we experience when we are estranged from Him. He, our God, understands us.
Like us, Jesus experienced the anguish, the agony, the torment that all of us experience in life. He wraps his arm around the shoulders of a father desperate for a job to feed his family. He sits by the bed of and watch over a young woman dying of cancer.
We all experience loneliness, neglect and hopelessness. We all look around us and feel that life is unfair because there is too much selfishness, injustice and sin. He stands by the side of each and every one of us throughout every experience of life that we go through, comforting us, encouraging us, assuring us that He knows what we are going through and that we are not alone. He is with us.
Jesus, who is without sin, has suffered and died for our sin. He has bridged the chasm that we created between us and God. Through Him God is telling us: “I gave you my only Son to suffer and die for your sins and I want you to know that I love you. Nothing will separate Me from you especially when you turn to Me and ask for mercy and forgiveness.
“You live because I love you. And you are forever mine.”
“My God, my God, why have you deserted me?” (Mark 15:34)
Jesus never committed a sin. He had done nothing wrong and He was dying hanging on a cross in disgrace. He was in excruciating pain. He was bleeding profusely. His lips were parched with thirst. He was in a struggle between life and death. This is not fair. For Jesus no cause-and-effect principle was applied. Jesus, feeling that He was in a helpless situation cried: “Why my God? But why?”
Jesus despaired because He was one of us: fully human being. No one cared anymore. His followers had left him. He was seeing no hope. What could justify the reason why He had to undergo this tragedy? No reason. No known cause. It was unjust.
We all experience despair. We all experience a break-up from God. All this is because of our sin. From the moment that we dissented and tried to be the masters of our own life, we were estranged from God. We created a wide chasm between us and God and we could not reach across this chasm and touch God. Our sin has contributed to the disorder that marred the perfection of creation. Our sin has contributed to the introduction of sickness, hatred, selfishness, injustice, death… and when we realize the situation in which the world is in, we despair. We cannot see a solution to all these problems and distortions. We search for ways to make things better, but we realize that the world cannot make itself perfect. Because of our sin and therefore estrangement from God, we feel despair… we feel hopelessness… we feel that we will never be able to find God, and this scares us.
But there is hope. We have the possibility of finding God, because the Man on the cross has bridged the chasm for us. He who is God extended his hand so that we could reach across the chasm and touch Him.
Like us in moments of despair, He cries: “My God, why have you forsaken me?” His voice is the echo of our voice. His cry is our cry. He is showing us that He, as God, understands the torment we experience when we are estranged from Him. He, our God, understands us.
Like us, Jesus experienced the anguish, the agony, the torment that all of us experience in life. He wraps his arm around the shoulders of a father desperate for a job to feed his family. He sits by the bed of and watch over a young woman dying of cancer.
We all experience loneliness, neglect and hopelessness. We all look around us and feel that life is unfair because there is too much selfishness, injustice and sin. He stands by the side of each and every one of us throughout every experience of life that we go through, comforting us, encouraging us, assuring us that He knows what we are going through and that we are not alone. He is with us.
Jesus, who is without sin, has suffered and died for our sin. He has bridged the chasm that we created between us and God. Through Him God is telling us: “I gave you my only Son to suffer and die for your sins and I want you to know that I love you. Nothing will separate Me from you especially when you turn to Me and ask for mercy and forgiveness.
“You live because I love you. And you are forever mine.”
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