Good Friday Reflections- Are We Forsaken?

Passage from the Book of Psalms: 22: 1-5

            My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

These are difficult times. In just the past month, it feels like the world has shifted and changed so much. People dying of an unknown disease. Businesses are shutting down and people are told to stay at home, isolated from their loved ones. People are being laid off and forced into unemployment. New protocols are being invited every day in the healthcare field to protect our patients and staff. There seems to be so much uncertainty and fear in the air and the one question that I keep wondering is…when will all this be over? And to disappointment, all the experts and leaders do not know when these trials will conclude.

It’s terrifying being in difficult times and not sure when those difficulties will end. In many ways, this is how Jesus’ disciples and family felt as they watched their teacher and savior, hung up on the Cross to die. We now are blessed to know that Jesus would be victorious over death but let’s imagine how those disciples must have felt, sitting either at the foot of the Cross or across the field, seeing the person they love and cherish die. All their hard work they done, all the amazing acts of ministry they did across the country, was about to be over. And imagine how you might feel, hearing your teacher, the person you love dearly, utter the words, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

If I heard my savior say those words, I too would wonder, “Are we forsaken? Has God forsaken us?”

During times of stress, grief, anxiety, and fear can make a person wonder if they feel forsaken by those they love. Be it from God or from their human loved ones. I know in my past, I have felt that forsaken feeling of isolation. And it’s even easy to feel forsaken when we are called to “self-isolate” from others. Being physically separated from our physical communities.

There is no shame in uttering the words, “why have you forsaken me?” For we see Jesus himself say those very words before he drew his last breath.

However, it is important to know that Jesus was not just sharing his own grief and pain upon the Cross. He was also trusting in God’s presence during his torment.

Jesus as a devout Jewish man who studied all the psalms like all the other Jewish children of his time. As such, he would be very familiar with the 22^nd Psalm, in which the Psalmist laments her torment and feelings of being forsaken. The psalmist shares all her grief and pains that she has endured, much like Jesus is doing on the Cross. But then the Psalmist starts to make a shift in her lament. She then states God will deliver her and is with her.

Despite all the Psalmist has been through, the Psalmist is going to be okay because God is with her. God is with us. Jesus, as he is dying on the Cross, is saying the exact same thing. 

God is with us in these times of uncertainty. 

God is with us in these moments of anxiety, fear, and unbearable stress.

God is with us always. And through God's presence, we will be restored.

So as we contemplate Jesus' last moments on the Cross, may we remember that Jesus as he spoke the 22nd psalm was lamenting his pain yet also trusting in God's presence to restore him in the days ahead. 

May we hold on to hope that God's presence will never forsake us and through God, we will be restored in the days ahead.

Blessings be upon you all.