A glimmering of thought

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:45-46)

I am glad Jesus cried out to God as He did, saying, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Because I think every one of us who lives long enough will go through a time when our hearts say the same. When we lose someone we love to death or a broken relationship—when we get a terrible diagnosis—when we’ve had a year full of evil stacked on evil stacked on yet more evil, and we just can’t take it anymore. Then we cry out to God in our darkness, because we have nobody else to cry out to.

Jesus knows our darkness, because He shared it. He, too, knows what it is like to pray and get no answer, to feel the absence of God just as strongly as we’ve ever felt His presence. He knows it as we know it—by experiencing it. And He gave words to it, the words of Psalm 22.

This comforts me, because if Jesus could say those things, it cannot be wrong for me to say them, too. If He can have those feelings, I can have them. And even when I’m in the darkest time of my life, I know that God Himself—God incarnate as a human being, has been here before me. He is with me now, even when I cannot see or sense Him. And He will not let me fall.

WE PRAY: In my darkness, Lord, speak for me and stay with me. Amen.

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And He said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43)

I wonder about this man. Had he ever met Jesus before, in the days when they were both free? Did that meeting plant the seed of faith, which blossomed only while he was dying? Or was it just what he’d seen from Jesus while they were both hanging from a cross that impressed him?

Whatever it was, it worked. And it gives me hope for some people I care about in my own life—people who are broken, lost, and seem to have no interest in God. If Jesus could save the criminal hanging next to Him, then He can reach the people I’m concerned about, too. Nobody is out of His reach.

And nobody is out of His love. For Jesus is going out of His way to rescue anyone He can get His hands on, even as He Himself is dying. This man will be the first to walk into the kingdom of God with Jesus, going home to the Father—the first of the billions saved by Jesus through His death and resurrection. But he won’t be the last.

WE PRAY: Lord, I’m worried about _______. Please reach this person I care about with Your mercy and new life. Amen.

And those who passed by derided Him, wagging their heads and saying … “Save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked Him, saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God; let God deliver Him now, if He desires Him. For He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” (Matthew 27:39-43)

I wonder if it was a temptation for Jesus, to do what they were saying—to come down from the cross in the hopes that they would in fact believe in Him. Oh, He knew they were mocking Him. But He faced that temptation through every step of His ministry, to get people to believe through acts of power instead of weakness—to gather followers through miracles and promises of earthly victories. And this is more of the same. Should He use His power as the Son of God to save Himself through a miracle? Or go through with God’s plan, suffering, dying, and trusting that God the Father would raise Him up from the dead?

We know what Jesus chose. And He goes on choosing it in our lives as well—all the times when we beg God to do miracles for us, and He replies instead, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9b).

WE PRAY: Lord Jesus, when You insist on having me muddle through my life the hard way, instead of doing miracles for me, help me to trust You. Amen.
 

Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with Him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on His right and one on His left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:32-34a)

They put the two criminals on either side of Jesus. Given all the references to Jesus as the King of the Jews, I suspect they were trying to make this look like a royal court—Jesus in the most important place, with His courtiers on either side. And all those who came to look at Him would play the role of people appearing before a king’s throne—come to pay their respects or to ask for something.

Of course this was meant to be a horrible joke. It was another way of abusing Jesus—and there was probably some anti-Jewish feeling too, not surprising coming from the Roman soldiers. But what they didn’t realize was that in fact they had set up a true throne room—where Jesus reigns as our King and Savior.

See it in your mind—Jesus with a cross for a throne. His crown is of thorns, and His courtiers are thieves. He has a nail through His hand, instead of a scepter in it. And His royal robes? His own blood—shed to cover our sin and shame, and to make us His own forever.

WE PRAY: Lord, You died and rose again for me. Help me to live as Yours, in love for You. Amen.

And there followed Him … women who were mourning and lamenting for Him. But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:27-31)

It amazes me that Jesus was still able to think about someone else’s trouble, even on the way to the cross. He sees these women weeping for Him, and He is concerned for them. Jesus knows that roughly 40 years after His death, the city of Jerusalem will fall to Roman soldiers—and that after three years of civil war, hunger, torture, and fire. And those who are willing to harm the innocent Son of God will certainly not spare the women and children who are still alive at that time.

Jesus has left instructions for His followers—they will not be caught by surprise when the city falls (see Luke 21:20-24). But for these women, He can do nothing except to suffer and die for them—and pray that they too will believe in Him and be saved.

And that is what He does—carrying the whole weight of human evil to the cross. There He uses His own body and blood to destroy the power of evil, killing it through His own death. And when He rises to life again three days later, He gives life, joy, and peace to all of us who trust Him.

WE PRAY: Lord, thank You that You are always concerned for us. Amen.

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before Him. And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head and put a reed in His right hand. And kneeling before Him, they mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on Him and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the robe and put His own clothes on Him and led Him away to crucify Him. (Matthew 27:27-31)

It must have been terrifying. Imagine 600 men, set free to abuse Jesus as badly as they wish—as long as He stays alive for the cross. And that allows a lot. Mocking, stripping, and spitting. Jamming a crown of thorns down on His head. Hitting Him over the head with a stick. And the noise! The worst of humanity, set free to abuse this innocent Man, with no one to stop them.

Jesus could have stopped them. At any time, He had the power to call the whole thing off, and He knew it (see Matthew 26:53).

But He did not, and He would not, because His mind was on us. On everyone who has ever suffered abuse, who has been beaten or harmed or mocked or sent to death unjustly, by the same powers of evil that Jesus faced now—the powers He would destroy through His death and resurrection. And His mind was also on those who did such evil, for He came to die for them, too—to redeem, forgive, and remake them new in the image of the One who loves us.

WE PRAY: Thank You, Lord, for enduring for me. Amen.

From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this Man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered Him over to them to be crucified. (John 19:12-16)

What a horrifying thing to admit. For these are God’s chosen people, the descendants of Israel—and God is supposed to be their King. But now, faced with Jesus, God come in the flesh, they won’t have Him. They will do anything rather than receive Him as Messiah and King—anything, up to and including crucifying Him. They would rather have Caesar—because Caesar, they think, will not threaten their position. (They learned otherwise about 40 years later, when Jerusalem fell to Titus and Vespasian.)

But we face this same choice too, don’t we? We can put our trust in earthly powers—in politicians, in rich men, in those who command troops and weapons. Or we can put our trust in Jesus, who shelters those who trust in Him by laying down His own life for us—and who rises from the dead to give us everlasting life in His kingdom.

When the chief priests and the officers saw [Jesus], they cried out, “Crucify Him, crucify Him! … [Jesus] ought to die because He has made Himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this statement, he … said to Jesus, … “You will not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You and authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over Me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered Me over to you has the greater sin.” (John 19:6a, 7b-8a, 10b-11)

By this point, Pilate has lost control of the trial. He knows Jesus is innocent, but he still can’t set Him free. And Jesus Himself is behaving like a judge—explaining to Pilate that what he is doing is sin, yes—but not as bad as Judas’ sin, because Pilate at least has his divinely appointed office as judge to hide behind.

Pilate finds himself on trial—just as the Council did, just as Herod and Judas himself did. And the deciding question is the same: What will you do with Jesus—this innocent Man, this Son of God?

We know what they did. And we too had a hand in it, because it was our sins, our guilt, that sent Jesus to the cross. Because He loves us, He took our death, and gave us a share in His own resurrection. And as a result, God looks at us and says, “Not guilty.” He sees us in His Son Jesus—covered in His innocence, forever forgiven, newborn children of God.

WE PRAY: Thank You, Lord, for taking our judgment. Amen.