Jesus Has Died

The Spirit Comes
The Pledge of God's Presence

Resurrection Guaranteed

Matthew 27:45-50  The Message

^45-46 From noon to three, the whole earth was dark. Around mid-afternoon Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
^47-49 Some bystanders who heard him said, “He’s calling for Elijah.” One of them ran and got a sponge soaked in sour wine and lifted it on a stick so he could drink. The others joked, “Don’t be in such a hurry. Let’s see if Elijah comes and saves him.”
⁵⁰ But Jesus, again crying out loudly, breathed his last.

For Reflection

 Proof!  Why do some people need existential proof?  Why do some people seem to want to ignore rather than to accept the mystery that was and is God and Jesus?  What could have been pain worse than being nailed to a cross to die?  For Christ,  as for all of us, the pain of separation from God is the most destructive.  To have known God intimately and then to have void where God had been is especially painful.

As we live through our time in the last days, it would be well to remember Christ's lament from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me," in the context of His resurrection.  God did not abandon Christ.  God will not abandon us.

Pray

prayers of intercession for those who feel abandoned.  Pray that they will find comfort in the Gospel.  Pray that you will remember the resurrection and find hope in living.