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The Folly of the Cross

The Folly of the Cross

Mohammad, the founder of Islam, had intellectual trouble with the cross of Jesus. Yet he wanted to hold onto the fact that Jesus was sent from God—to claim that Jesus was a great prophet, even the Messiah.

So what to do with the Cross? In Mohammad’s logic, prophets of God were not killed with such a horrific death. So in the Quran, Mohammad wrote: “They said in boast we killed Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah, but they killed Him not nor crucified Him. But so it was made to appear to them and those who differ therein are full of doubts. With no certain knowledge, but only conjecture to follow for of a surety they killed Him not. Nay, Allah raised Him up unto Himself.” (Quran, an-Nisa` 4:157-8)

Islam cannot have a prophet die such a horrific death on the Cross. So it is taught that Jesus was in the appearance of one who died on the Cross, or that another person died who was made to look like Jesus. But rather, according to Mohammed, Jesus was beamed up like Elijah; that is, taken directly into Heaven, ascending unto God without tasting death. The Encyclopedia of Islam writes:

“The denial [of the Crucifixion of Jesus], furthermore, is in perfect agreement with the logic of the Qur’an. The Biblical stories reproduced in it (e.g., Job, Moses, Joseph etc.) and the episodes relating to the history of the beginning of Islam demonstrate that it is “God’s practice” (sunnat Allah) to make faith triumph finally over the forces of evil and adversity. “So truly with hardship comes ease”, (XCIV, 5, 6). For Jesus to die on the cross would have meant the triumph of his executioners; but the Quran asserts that they undoubtedly failed: “Assuredly God will defend those who believe”; (EI, XXII, 49). He confounds the plots of the enemies of Christ.” (EI, III, 54)

The New Testament teaches something quite different: Jesus did die on the cross. His executioners did triumph over Him from a worldly perspective. Indeed, in the Crucifixion it appears that even Satan has won and evil has triumphed. Why did God not defend his Christ and confound the plots of the enemies?

Here is God’s Son, the Messiah, the Anointed of God, the One on whom the Holy Spirit descended like a dove from Heaven, of whom God the Father said clearly: “This is My Son whom I love with Him I am well pleased.” And yet, Jesus cried out on the Cross,

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And then He died, breathing His last, His Spirit was given up. Indeed, it does seem that God had forsaken His Anointed. Islam cannot have such a Messiah—indeed the World cannot have such a Messiah. But God demands one.

In what ways do you see the Cross of Christ rejected as folly by our society and others?

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Elijah, the Rescuer of the Righteous

Elijah, the Rescuer of the Righteous

The four Gospels were originally written in the common language of the Roman Empire, Greek. However, Jesus would have spoken the common language used in Israel at the time, Aramaic. While we typically have Jesus words translated to us, in the case of this cry from the Cross we have the original. He said:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

In the Gospel of Matthew, the original Aramaic is also quoted “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”

At least one of the reasons the Gospels provide the saying of Jesus without translation is because when people heard those first words, Eli, Eli, they thought “Oh, He’s calling out to Elijah”. Eli, Eli, sounds like Elijah, Elijah.

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
–Matthew 27:47-49

Indeed, Elijah was the one who was known as the rescuer of the righteous. Elijah was one of the last remaining righteous prophets of God in a season when all of Israel had become corrupt. Not unlike during the days of Jesus, the very administration of the Temple and the Jewish government were all conspiring against the Anointed One of God. Elijah lamented to the Lord:

“I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” –1 Kings 19:14

The kings of Israel were sending their soldiers against the prophet of God. Elijah, though – this is very interesting – Elijah never died.

Elijah was one of the two people we find in Scripture – Enoch being the other one – who was literally transported into the heavenly realms by the chariot Throne of God. In the presence and sight of his successor Elisha, the Lord took him right up into the heavenly realms without death.

Some people who were there underneath the Cross thought that by calling out to Elijah, Jesus was asking God to swoop down with His chariots and rescue Him off the Cross if He truly was a prophet like Elijah.

The people of this world are often looking for some dramatic sign of God’s power and reality before placing faith in him. Yet God chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. In some of the most difficult and dark moments, God does amazing and powerful things. While a dramatic rescue by Elijah would have been a sight to see, it would have completely nullified the victory being won by the Cross.

Paul writes of the Jewish insistence on signs from God through mighty acts of intervention:

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.  Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. –1 Corinthians 1:21-25

Satan once accused Job only believing in the LORD because of the Lord’s blessing. However, the faithful like Job have continually shown throughout history that they will glorify God even in the midst of the most difficult of circumstances.

Here is the true spirit of Elijah. Elijah never forsook God even when all others had rebelled and worshiped the false god, Baal, and abandoned the Lord and His prophet. Yet, God revealed to Elijah that He always has His faithful people. The Lord said to Elijah, “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:18)

God’s strength is made perfect through your weakness. In the times of seeming abandonment, God is doing His most profound soul work in your life. The very difficulties of the fallen world are all worked into His plan of restoration and redemption. Nothing will be wasted, not even your worst experiences. God is working all things for your good. (Romans 8:28) Even the darkest sufferings caused by your enemies, evil and death, even their worst attacks on you, you will be redeemed to create the character of Christ in you.

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The Lonely Garden of the Father’s Will

The Lonely Garden of the Father’s Will

When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed to His Heavenly Father: “If there be any other way, make it possible.” And yet, Jesus submitted obediently to His Father’s will and took the cup that the Father would have for Him. As Jesus wrestled with the most agonizing submission of His life, all of his disciples failed to support Him. Three times he asked them for support through intercessory prayer.

“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.

Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. –Matthew 26:38-45

Three times his closest friends and confidantes failed Him because of their own weakness and flesh. He desperately pleaded with them to sit with Him, to watch and pray with Him. But, they were overcome by sleep.

At His most desperate hour, Jesus was left to wrestle in agony with the will of His Father—all alone. The feelings of abandonment would be compounded on the Cross when he asked:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The will of God can be a lonely personal fulfillment. There are times where we may even question whether God is with us. If Jesus asked that, so might we. At the end of the Apostle Paul’s life, he was facing the certain moment of his own martyrdom for the sake of the Gospel and the Name of Jesus. Paul discovered the lonely garden of the Father’s will:

At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! –2 Timothy 4:16

Notice the word “all”—“all deserted me.” Faithfulness to God’s call is often a lonely, lonely business. However, Paul lived faithfully on this side of the Cross of his Lord. While his human confidantes and friends abandoned him in his time of need, Paul knew that because of Jesus sufferings of abandonment, He would never abandon His people in their darkest hour. That is why Paul goes on to write:

But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. –2 Timothy 4:17-18

Because Jesus was God forsaken on our behalf, God says to you “I will never leave or forsake you.” Even though we may feel times of distance from the Lord, or moments where the experience of His presence is lacking, He is always with his faithful people. The Cross guarantees this reality. No one put this truth more beautifully than the Apostle Paul:

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus your Lord. Nothing!

The Cross proves it!

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The Lord’s Lament

The Lord’s Lament

Heavenly Father, we bless You and we praise You for the Passion of your Son, Jesus Christ. In it You have given salvation to us, You have made the Way of the Cross the way of eternal life. Help us to pick up our cross and follow in the footsteps of Jesus, that we too might share in His resurrected life, through Jesus Christ Who with You and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns now and forever, Amen.

At noon until about the ninth hour, darkness came over the land. At about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, which is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me”?

In the Gospel of Matthew we only have this one sentence recorded of what Jesus uttered from the cross. Jesus was quoting Psalm 22 which begins with: “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” Did Jesus recite the entire Psalm from the Cross or just this first line? There is no way to know. Interestingly, the last saying from the Cross “It is finished” sounds like the last line of Psalm 22: “He has done it.” Whether Jesus uttered the whole psalm or not, the first line says enough to convey the depth of spiritual lament of the Lord: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”?

The first phrase, My God, reflects again the intimate relationship that God, the Father, has with God, the Son. Earlier on in the Gospel of Matthew 11:25, Jesus offered praise to His Heavenly Father.

“I thank you Father, Lord of Heaven and earth because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father and no one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

Jesus and the Father are One, as John’s Gospel tells us in John 10:30. “No one comes to the Father except through the Son” (John 14:6) No one knows the Father, as Jesus says, unless He reveals the Father to them.

There’s a very intimate love that is between the Father and the Son and yet, here on the Cross, Jesus cries out to his Heavenly Father,

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The cry reveals the abandonment of the Son from the Father. We are on the precipice of a Trinitarian mystery so we must be careful not to over-speak. How can the Father and the Son be one and yet there be this moment of abandonment of the Son by the Father? Can there possibly be a tear in the fabric of the relationship of the three divine Persons of the Trinity?

The words of Scripture often strain the limits of our ability to understand and comprehend. In a real and mysterious way, the Father forsook the Son. The spiritual agony of that moment is verbalized in Jesus’ prayer of lament from the Cross.

If Jesus prayed such honest prayers, then surely we are faithful in following His example. God knows our struggles. The incarnation shows us that Jesus became like us in every way, even to the point of death.

Some struggle with the thought of uttering honest prayers to God as if it is inappropriate or a sign of lack of faith. On the contrary, the Scriptures are filled with prayers of complaint, lament, and even anger voiced in prayer to God.

God wants your heart, not a façade. He knows when you are struggling. Through the indwelling Spirit He has placed in your heart, He hears the groans which words cannot express. (Romans 8:26-27) God already knows what you are feeling and how you are hurting. Go to Him with your most difficult questions, sorrows and struggles. Engage Him with your secret pain and your heart’s cry. Jesus did. He shows us the way to pray even in the midst of our darkest hours.

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ABANDONMENT: My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

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?” And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” –Matthew 27:45-47

The Problem of Evil

The most vexing question humans have ever asked is related to the origin of evil. It is often phrased as a logical conundrum:

If God is Loving and Good, all Powerful, and all Knowing, how is it possible that Evil exists. Why would God allow, or worse, create it in the first place?

Many solve this logical seeming contradiction by denying the sovereignty of God over His creation. Others deny God’s intervention in the created world, preferring instead to embrace a God whose creation is out of His ultimate control or some impersonal forces of light and darkness. Many secular-minded people have just given up on belief in God, period.

The problem of evil is a problem because there really is no good answer to the question of the origin of evil. We will forever be both intellectually and emotionally dissatisfied with answers when we contemplate human suffering, disease, natural disasters, tyrannical rulers, human holocausts and the like.

So when Jesus asks,

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

He is asking the universal unanswered question of human suffering: “Why?”

Whenever you or I ask that question the answers never seem to satisfy.

As a Chaplain at the St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, I ministered to a man sitting by the bedside of his wife who lay in a coma. He was grieving deeply. He shared that as he sat there he often had people who would come in and tell him what he called Platitudes. The examples he gave were: “Perhaps God is teaching you something.” or “This experience will help you grow.” “Maybe a greater good will come from this tragedy.” or “God must have needed her more.”

This man then said something I will never forget. He said, “Platitudes never make the person hearing them feel better, only the people uttering them.” That is so true. Much of the human suffering that we experience in life makes absolutely no sense. We are really uncomfortable with that! So we make up reasons to solve the emotional and intellectual gap in our minds and hearts caused by evil.

The cry of Jesus from the Cross teaches us that the problem of suffering does not make sense at all! It leaves us with a huge hole of an unanswered question: “Why?!?” There is no good answer. Jesus affirms our human limitations in that from the Cross.

Do you know someone in your life who is struggling? How do you minister to them in the midst of their pain? One thing you can do is be an intercessor with their heart’s questions. Rather than giving them pious platitudes to make you feel more comfortable, sit with them in the mystery of their problems.

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Thirsty for Living Water

Thirsty for Living Water

In the Gospel of John, we see the idea of thirsting way before Jesus utters those words –that word– “I thirst.”

When Jesus went to a well that is called Jacob’s well, a Samaritan woman was there. The text tells us that He sat down by the well and that He was tired as one would imagine. He was also thirsty because He asked a woman for a cup of water. When the Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”

The disciples had gone into town to buy food; that is not what he wanted. He wanted something to drink. When they came with the food, He told them: “I don’t need that, because I have food to eat that you don’t know about.” They wondered: who brought Him the food?

No, what Jesus wanted was something to drink. He asked the Samaritan woman for this drink and she was surprised by it. She said, “You’re a Jew and I’m a Samaritan woman? How can you ask me for a drink?” For she knew that Jews did not associate with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and Who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.”

The woman said: “Sir, you have to nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well and drank from it himself as did his sons and flocks and herds?”

And Jesus answered:

“Look, I’m not talking about the water that’s in this well. I’m talking about another kind of water. Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.”

The question that I want to ask you is whether you thirst? What are you thirsty for? Do you thirst for more out of life than what this world has to offer? Do you thirst in the midst of its struggles?

Jesus shared our earthly thirsts for the water from the wells of this world. The One who got tired and needed a drink of water from the Samaritan woman has a drink to offer us that is not a cup of wrath, but a cup of mercy and grace and eternal life.

It is a cup which, if we will thirst for it and long for it, Jesus promises that we will never thirst again It is Living Water. A little bit further on in John 6:35, we find Jesus picking up the theme of Living Water again. He says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” Never be thirsty! Do you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins on the Cross? Have you put your faith in Him as your Lord? Have you confessed with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that He raised you from the dead?

Jesus promises that whoever believes in Him will never thirst. A little bit further on, He picks up the theme one more time. In John 7:37, on the last and greatest day of the Feast of Preparation He announces with a loud voice: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” Whoever believes in Him as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within Him. Jesus clarifies His words: by this He meant the Spirit Whom those who believed in Him were to receive. “Whoever is thirsty, let him come to me.”

“I thirst.” Do you know what? I thirst. I thirst for what God is promising here. I thirst for it for our church, I thirst for it for my family. I want it personally. I want eternal life. I want to be filled up, so full that it overflows from my life out to other people’s lives. Do you thirst like that? Do you say “I thirst?” Say it out loud to the Lord in a prayer from distress, or longing:

I thirst. I thirst. I thirst for you Jesus. The Sacred Scriptures speak about thirsting for righteousness, thirsting for His holiness, thirsting to know Him, thirsting and desiring with all of our being to be like Him, to be faithful to Him, to somehow obtain eternal life. “I thirst.”

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Take this Cup

Take this Cup

On the night before Jesus passion, Jesus entered into the Garden of Gethsemane located on the Mount of Olives overlooking the city of Jerusalem and the Temple of the Lord. A “gethsemane” was a massive stone press used to crush the olives harvested on the hillside in order to extract olive oil. So, the Garden of Gethsemane was a place of crushing, only that night it would be the Son of God who would be crushed under the pressure. Jesus entered into a time of deep prayer and interaction with God the Father. Here is how the scene is described in Luke’s gospel:

And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”  And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. –Luke 22:39-44

“Father, if you are willing remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” What is the cup of which Jesus is praying? It is none other than the cup of divine judgment.

He thirsted not for it; and yet from this point He surrendered to fulfilling the Father’s will.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; 
he has put him to grief
–Isaiah 53:10

In distress and grief, Jesus cries:

I thirst.

From the Cross, Jesus thirsts for a cup to drink. The cup that completes the Father’s will. He thirsted for His own death, for only in His death would the sins of the world be forgiven. The Lord’s will for His Son was to bear the judgment for the sins of the world on His body and in His flesh.

…when his soul makes an offering for guilt –Isaiah 53:11

In drinking the cup of judgment, Jesus’ soul makes an offering for guilt, redemption accomplished. In drinking the cup of God’s wrath, He drank it to its dregs. He drank it till it was dry. In this moment, He thirsted for God’s wrath and His judgment to be borne on His body, so that we would not have to drink the cup of God’s judgment and wrath. Think about that. He drained the cup–empty–on the Cross so that we would not have to drink it.

More than that, though, Jesus thirsted not only for His death and to finish the work of the Cross, but He thirsted for the life that God had in front of Him. God the Father promised that though His soul was to suffer death in a crushing judgment for the sin of humanity, that though He must die, He would be raised from the dead; He would see the light of life:




…he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; 
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong… –Isaiah 53:10-12

The prophet Isaiah revealed over four hundred years before the coming of the Messiah that even though the Messiah would suffer death, on the other side of that “crushing” would be life, victory and divided spoils. The writer of Hebrews again says it was for the joy that was set before Him that He endured the Cross. Jesus thirsted for the three days that would come after this, the empty tomb, the resurrected life. He longed to see it.

He yearned and thirsted for resurrected life as He was agonizing in death on the Cross.

It was for the joy and abundance of life that was set before Him that He endured the scorn of the Cross all the way to its bitter end. That’s why the writer of Hebrews encourages us to thirst for the resurrection so that we too might endure suffering and temptation – no matter what.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
—Hebrews 12:1-4

Whatever suffering is brought before us, whatever trials, whatever tribulations, we must thirst for the joy that is set before us in the resurrected and eternal life so that we can persevere in faith and in faithfulness all the way to the end.

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Can you drink this Cup?

Can you drink this Cup?

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” –Matthew 20:20-22

Jesus said to them “You don’t know what you’re asking. Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”

Now, what cup do James and John have in mind? Why, the cup of victory, the cup of reward, the cup of prestige, power and position; basically, the cup that says: vindication in this life. Our enemies will be vanquished! The Messiah will triumph over them. We will put Him up on top. Yes, Jesus, we can drink that cup of victory! Absolutely, we can drink that cup!

Jesus said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” –Matthew 20:23

Who in fact drank the cup alongside Jesus on His right and left? Two bandits were crucified with Him on His right and His left. As Jesus indicated later on in their lives James and John would also suffer for the Gospel. Indeed, they would share in the cup of Jesus Christ through their death as martyrs for the faith, but that is not the way that they first envisioned.

The Apostles originally believed that they would be drinking the cup of victory, but the significance of Jesus’ death means that there will be no earthly vindication and no victory in this life. This age has been judged by God, the Father.

Those who would set themselves up as conquering kings in this age will be brought low and humbled in the Kingdom of God. Faithful Christians have been continually surprised when the powers and governments of this world let them down by corruption. Even the institutions of the Church become corrupted as people seek position, power and prestige as methods for propagating their own worldly agendas.

No, this age and all its governances and institutions must incur the judgment and wrath of God. That is the cup which Jesus is asking God the Father “…if it be possible for it to be passed from me, not my will, but Yours.” – the cup of judgment. Jesus would go on to teach James and John:

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” –Matthew 20:25-28

The people of this world look to authority, law and power to solve the problems of the day. They fight for prominence and position. Even those who claim the name of Christ can often be no different than James and John. The world says, “It’s push come to shove!”, “It’s who you know!” and “Claw your way to the top!” Jesus taught the Way of the Kingdom; God’s Kingdom subversively transforms society through humility, love and self-sacrificial service.

Jesus’ way to greatness is paradoxical and true: the first will be last, and the last will be first. Consider that the greatest leaders our world has ever known have more often than not been the most humble. Humble does not mean wishy-washy, it is true to the character of Christ. The most powerful people to shape the world for good are the tireless and selfless servants of others.

Who are the people in your life that inspire you the most? Have you been seeking the world’s path to greatness or the kingdom of God’s path? How can you emulate the humility of Jesus in your daily life today by serving rather than seeking to be served?

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The Reality of Human Suffering

The Reality of Human Suffering

The saying “I thirst” reveals the physical suffering that Jesus underwent as a human being. Isaiah chapter 53:3 describes the Messiah as a suffering servant. In Isaiah 53:3 it says “He was despised and rejected by men. He was a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering.” In suffering death by crucifixion, Jesus underwent the most intense suffering that human beings have ever conjured up to inflict upon another person. Nothing is more painful, or more agonizing or more prolonged, than the suffering of a death by crucifixion.

Some have speculated that the wine mixed with myrrh that was offered to him by the Roman soldier was the kindness of a sedative to dull the pain. Other interpreters see it as a bitter and mocking response to compound his thirst with sour wine. Regardless, the saying and what followed with the offer of gall reveal that Jesus underwent deep distress and suffering.

Jesus was fully a human being, a man, who understands what it feels like to be in pain, to be hungry, to have your friends betray you, to have your friends deny you, to have yourself carried away by a perversion of justice. He understands what it feels like to be tortured, to be mocked, to be spit on.

I thirst

Jesus understands what it feels like to be sick and to suffer and experience pain. He was a man of sorrows and familiar with sufferings. In this life on earth, there are certainly sufferings. People sin against us, do they not? Confidantes say things that hurt us. Intimate and close friends betray us.

Sometimes others hurt us intentionally out of spite and out of a sinful and evil heart. At other times our loved ones wound us without intending us harm but merely because they too are wounded and finite human beings. Sometimes we suffer and we hurt, and we grieve the loss of our friends. We grieve the loss of control of our bodies. We suffer to the point of even death at times. All of us at one point in our life will suffer to the point of death. Jesus bore our sufferings. Isaiah says: “Surely he took our infirmities and carried our sorrows.” (53:4)

There’s nothing that you can go through in this life that Jesus has not gone through and will not go through with you. If you are in the midst of a challenging time in your life, in the midst of a time of suffering, of pain, of hurt, maybe it’s at the hands of another person or maybe it’s because your body is falling apart. Perhaps it is for some other reason, injustice; whatever your pain, Jesus understands—He has been there before and is with you now.

The writer of Hebrews describes Jesus as a high priest, but not like the other high priests. He is a high priest who is able to sympathize with us in our weakness, as the writer of Hebrew says. In Hebrews 2:14, the writer says:

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity that by in his death he might destroy he who holds power over death—that is the devil. For this reason, (verse 17) he had to be made like his brothers in every way.”

Jesus had to be made fully human, completely and fully human even in pain and weakness. He shared with us in all of the pains and all of the weakensses with which human beings struggle.

He was made like His brothers in every way. Why? In order that He might become a merciful and a faithful high priest in the service of God, that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because He Himself suffered, He is able to help those who also are tempted and are suffering. The writer of Hebrews would go on to say in Chapter four, verse 15, “…but we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are and yet was without sin” and because of that, we can do something that is quite incredible—approach the Throne of Grace for help!

Let us then approach the Throne of Grace with confidence so that we too can receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Are you going through a time of need right now? Do you need Jesus to help you? He sympathizes with you in your sufferings. He is your great high priest who has shares in your sufferings and will abundantly and lovingly help you through the sharing in this trial time. Boldly approach the Throne of Grace, today!

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Fulfillment of Scriptures

Fulfillment of Scriptures

There are two scripture passages specifically that relate to Jesus’ cry, “I thirst.” Psalm 22 begins with one of the other seven last words from the Cross: “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

These words are the lament written by King David 1,000 years before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Somewhat further on in Psalm 22 is an incredibly specific description of Crucifixion when it says: “they have pierced my hands and feet.” The Psalm describes the dividing up and casting lots for His clothing, and then for our focus verse 14 & 15 prophetically:

I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
 my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.

Another Psalm that also relates to this (and perhaps Jesus had this one in mind as well), is Psalm 69, verse 21: “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.”

Jesus knew that every single thing that He was doing all along the way was for fulfillment of one Scripture passage after another. Every moment, every word spoken would happen as an intentional submission to the Word of God. Nothing was out of His control.

Some would try to claim responsibility and therefore power over Jesus – Judas for example – but Jesus said: “Let Scripture be fulfilled!” (Mark 14:49)

In the Gospel of John, Pilate says: “Don’t you know I have the power to free you?” Jesus replies: “You don’t have any power over me. I will complete the work that the Father has given Me to do.”

Jesus perfectly fulfilled the Scriptures in His life. He completely and faithfully fulfilled all the Old Testament laws in life, and in His death so that He might establish the promise in His covenant. Everything about him was prophesized and proclaimed in the Scriptures before He was ever born.

All of our lives are to be ordered in accordance with the prophetic teaching of the Scriptures. If we are to be a people who follow the Son of God Who gave up his life for us, if we are to be His disciples, we must fulfill the Scriptures. We do this not only in our lives, but in the things which we give up for the sake of His Way found in the Scriptures.

Not all of the things that are written in the Scriptures are easy to apply to our lives. Some of the Scriptures challenge us in ways of which our culture embraces and permits, but the Scriptures say, “All things are lawful for me…but not all things are helpful.” (1 Cor. 6:12)

The Scriptures call us to higher ethics than we would ever call ourselves. Jesus addressed the cultural standards of His day when He said “You have heard that it is said…but I say….” The laws and standards of society would never call us to the character of Christ. Our righteousness must exceed that of the lawyers and Pharisees. With the Fruits of the Spirit there is no law!

Personal sacrifice is required to fulfill and obey the teaching of the Scripture, and Jesus shows us the way with:

I thirst.

He would “drink the cup that the Father had given him.” (John 18:11) His purpose was to fully live the Father’s will—no matter what it entailed; Jesus hungered and thirsted for righteousness. He learned and yearned to submit His life obediently to the upward call of God the Father as it was revealed in the Sacred Word.

Is your singular desire to yield your life to the call of God the Father as that is revealed to you in the Holy Scriptures? Or are you holding back? What is preventing you from truly giving in to the Spiritual thirst for God’s will?

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