DEATH AND RESURRECTION
Day Two: Jesus Breathed His Last
Mark 15: 33-41
33 At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”
36 Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.
37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”
40 Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome. 41 In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.
Pastoral Sharing
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (v.34)
Before the Lord Jesus handed his soul over to his Father God, he let out such a loud cry. This has great significance in theology and is the reason why some theologians insisted on keeping the phrase “he descended to hell” in the Apostle’s Creed.
The pain and disgrace that was suffered by the Lord Jesus on the violent cross was inflicted by the judgement of man. But at this time, he faced much more severe judgement — the judgement of God. The Father God turned his face away from him and the Holy Spirit left him, because he was bearing the sins of the whole world and receiving the punishment for all our sins! It was more distressing and hopeless for Christ to be turned away from God, than it was for Adam and Eve to be banished out of the garden of Eden by God. Adam and Eve could still offer sacrifices to God outside the garden of Eden, and they continued to enjoy God’s providence out of His mercy. But when Jesus bore God’s punishment for our sins, he was totally cut off from God. He could no longer see God, nor hear Him, it was as if he was completely rejected or forgotten by God. This is the death of the soul, this is the state of hell, the experience of Hades. To our Lord, being forsaken by God was more excruciating than the violence of the cross! It was this agony that led the Lord to offer up prayers in the garden of Gethsemane “with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death.” (Hebrews 5:7)
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This should be our cries! In order to save us, the Lord was despised by man and forsaken by God; to save us, the Lord withstood the pain from his physical death, as well as the agony from his spiritual death! Has not God already given us this warning in the garden of Eden, “for when you eat from it you will certainly die”?
"And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
- Genesis 2:16-17
The Lord Jesus was crucified at nine in the morning, and he gave up his spirit at three in the afternoon. He was hung for an extensive six hours on the cross. The sun was usually at its hottest between noon and three o’clock, but on this day, darkness came over the whole land. This was not a solar eclipse, but an extraordinary phenomenon that science could not be explain. It is the Sun of Righteousness withdrawing His beam from the world. At the time when “with a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last”, the light that came from heaven totally departed from this dark and sinful world.
“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world,
but people loved darkness instead of light
because their deeds were evil.”
- John 3:19
The ones who stayed with the Lord Jesus at the foot of the cross were not the disciples who once proclaimed, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.”, but were the women who had been following Jesus closely and faithfully cared for his needs. The stage, the microphone and the applause from an audience do not guarantee your faithfulness to the Lord. On the other hand, those who labour quietly behind the scenes are often the ones who follow the Lord to the end. Are you the former or the latter?
PERSONAL REFLECTION
CONFESSION AND DEDICATION