Day 45 – Torn

Mischievious Meabh (JH)

From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink… Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last… Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!” Many women were also there, looking on from a distance. (Matthew 27: 45-48, 50, 54-55).

 

That cry of Jesus is ours. He is crying the cry of the world. “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” the old spiritual asks. Yes, we were – because Jesus was there, in our humanity, in our sin, in the terrible dislocation of it all. God is calling to God from the farthest reaches of a God-lost world. To make that cry takes him to his very last breath. That cry means there is nowhere where God is not. Now, like the women, we must stand and watch and wait. It is out of our hands. It is out of the hands of Jesus, too. It is abandoned into the hands of God.

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

 For Reflection

Imagine yourself standing at the foot of the cross of Jesus. Is there anything you want to say or ask?

 Remember in Prayer

Those separated from loved ones this past year, through illness, death or distance; those who feel distant from God at this time; those who cry out for comfort because of loneliness, pain, anxiety.