Coming Out of the Shadows (3/12/2023)

Jesus and His Final Words: Lived Out - Come Out of the Shadows (Mark 15:33-36, Psalm 22)

There are two challenges to consider with this statement of Christ. First, we are most uncomfortable with the idea that God really abandoned Jesus. How is that possible? The Father and the Son are one. The Trinity is one. The great ancient declaration is that our God is One! Let us not move from this too quickly. In Jesus, upon Jesus, or Jesus himself became our sin. God is separate from sin, is He not? Is not the context of darkness (v33), an indicator that He who is the Light - is now experiencing something new, afresh? Something, uniquely dark. The bystanders are watching for something spectacular to happen.

The other challenge is that we too quickly recognize that Jesus was quoting Psalm 22. The way in which Hebrews referenced scripture was to quote the first line. Everyone then knew the total passage. Psalm 22 begins with the heaviness of abandonment, but it quickly turns to confidence in God's deliverance and praise to the Glory of God. Like believers who move too quickly from the darkness of Good Friday to shout the praise of Easter morning - so too we shouldn't just dismiss this as a scripture quote, as if Jesus was saying, "It's all good."

The truth lies somewhere in the middle. What Jesus is feeling here, is not unlike what he felt when he stood at the tomb of his beloved friend, Lazarus. John 11:33-40. There, in Jesus, we too feel what he felt. He felt grief, anger, troubled. The feelings were right. But he doesn't just act on feelings - he steps into faith. "Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believe?" Isn't that what the bystanders wanted to see?

In our own brokenness, grief, sorrow, pain, and anger - at the condition of this world/or the reality of our lives - the feelings are right. But step into faith. Jesus invites us that wherever we find ourselves; to step into the life and promise of what he has done. He does not leave us abandoned as orphans - he invites us to step out of the shadows. By faith, we truly can experience something glorious - even in this dark moment - especially in this dark moment.