The Words from the Cross: Seven Meditations Good Friday Service Part 3 (April 16, 1965)
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| (choral music) | 0:04 | |
| (instrumental music) | 1:04 | |
| - | Let us continue in prayer. | 1:28 |
| Most merciful Father, | 1:32 | |
| who of thy great compassion toward us sinners, | 1:34 | |
| didst give thine only-begotten son | 1:38 | |
| to be an offering for our sins. | 1:41 | |
| Grant us grace. | 1:44 | |
| We humbly beseech thee | 1:46 | |
| that being united unto him by thy Spirit | 1:48 | |
| and made partakers of his suffering and his death. | 1:52 | |
| We may die daily unto the world | 1:57 | |
| and lead holy and unblamable lives. | 2:00 | |
| Cleaving unto his cross in all of the temptations of life, | 2:05 | |
| may we hold fast | 2:11 | |
| the profession of our faith without wavering, | 2:13 | |
| and finally attain under the resurrection of the just | 2:17 | |
| through our crucified savior. | 2:22 | |
| Forbid oh God, that we should forget | 2:27 | |
| amid our earthly comforts | 2:31 | |
| the pains and mortal anguish | 2:33 | |
| that our Lord endured for our salvation. | 2:35 | |
| Grant us this day, | 2:41 | |
| a true vision of all that he suffered in his betrayal, | 2:42 | |
| his lonely agony, | 2:47 | |
| his false trial, | 2:49 | |
| his mocking and scourging, | 2:52 | |
| and the torture of death upon the cross. | 2:54 | |
| As thou has given myself utterly for us, | 3:00 | |
| may we give ourselves entirely to thee, | 3:04 | |
| through Jesus Christ, | 3:09 | |
| our only Lord and savior. | 3:10 | |
| Oh Lord, Jesus Christ, | 3:16 | |
| who for our sakes did suffer death upon the cross, | 3:19 | |
| help us to bear about with us thy dying | 3:24 | |
| and in our living to show forth our life. | 3:28 | |
| Looking on thee whom we have pierced, | 3:33 | |
| we would mourn for our sins with unfaked sorrow. | 3:37 | |
| We would learn of thee to forgive, | 3:44 | |
| with thee to suffer | 3:50 | |
| and in thee to overcome. | 3:55 | |
| Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world, | 4:01 | |
| have mercy upon us. | 4:05 | |
| Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world, | 4:08 | |
| grant us thy peace. | 4:11 | |
| Lord we pray thee in thy great mercy. | 4:16 | |
| Remember us when thou comest into thy kingdom. | 4:19 | |
| Amen. | 4:26 | |
| (instrumental music) | 4:37 | |
| (choral music) | 4:55 | |
| Let us pray. | 5:47 | |
| All loving and all gracious God | 5:54 | |
| who does permit us at this time to draw an eye into thee, | 5:58 | |
| grant us wisdom and understanding, | 6:03 | |
| reverence and humility, | 6:06 | |
| that as we remember the hours of darkness of our Lord, | 6:10 | |
| we may know him in the fellowship up of his suffering, | 6:15 | |
| may be enabled to die to our own sins | 6:19 | |
| and to be created to newness of life, | 6:25 | |
| through his death and resurrection. | 6:28 | |
| Infinite and eternal Spirit, | 6:33 | |
| our God and our Father, | 6:36 | |
| author of all good | 6:39 | |
| and never far from any of our children, | 6:41 | |
| we drawn you to thee that in fellowship with thee | 6:46 | |
| we may receive of thy Spirit. | 6:48 | |
| May all of the bonds of love and ties of friendship | 6:52 | |
| be made stronger and sweeter through him | 6:57 | |
| who in his mortal agony was not unmindful | 7:00 | |
| that we need one another's love, | 7:04 | |
| even Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 7:07 | |
| Oh eternal God who alone make his men | 7:12 | |
| to be of one mind in a house, | 7:14 | |
| help us, the members of this household of faith, | 7:18 | |
| faithfully to fulfill our duties to thee and each other, | 7:22 | |
| put far from us all unkind thoughts, | 7:28 | |
| anger and evil speaking. | 7:31 | |
| Give us tender hearts full of affection | 7:35 | |
| and sympathy towards all. | 7:38 | |
| Grant us grace to feel the sorrows | 7:42 | |
| and trials of others as our own, | 7:44 | |
| and to bear patiently with their imperfections. | 7:48 | |
| Preserve us from selfishness | 7:54 | |
| and grant that day by day, | 7:57 | |
| walking in love, | 7:59 | |
| we may grow up into the likeness of thy son, | 8:01 | |
| Jesus Christ, our Lord. | 8:04 | |
| Oh God who does call us | 8:09 | |
| out of our hidden and rebellious lives | 8:10 | |
| with the word of permission to live, | 8:13 | |
| may we in freedom take up the positions in life open to us, | 8:16 | |
| our roles in the family, work, school, | 8:21 | |
| nation, religion, international relations, | 8:25 | |
| and our roles to all broken structures and outcast men. | 8:31 | |
| May we see these roles as one | 8:36 | |
| in which all of our life can be expressed and lived | 8:38 | |
| whether the expected outcome is great or small, | 8:43 | |
| life or death, | 8:47 | |
| and even when we see in the beginning, | 8:50 | |
| the end of our roles. | 8:53 | |
| Grant to us a tenaciousness | 8:56 | |
| that will not let go until the final battle closes | 8:57 | |
| and a nonchalance that the final battle | 9:02 | |
| does not depend on us. | 9:05 | |
| Oh thou who on the cross didst offer thy grace to all men | 9:10 | |
| and yet what's not unconcerned | 9:17 | |
| with our own intimate relations, | 9:19 | |
| we would pray not only for our brothers everywhere, | 9:23 | |
| but keeping in mind, individuals | 9:29 | |
| in their several needs. | 9:33 | |
| May the great sufferer's prayer | 9:37 | |
| for those who crucified him prevail this day | 9:39 | |
| on behalf of all who reject him and crucify him and you. | 9:43 | |
| May the power of the cross | 9:49 | |
| give support and comfort to burdened and suffering lives. | 9:51 | |
| May persons who are anxious | 9:58 | |
| and distressed on behalf of loved ones, | 9:59 | |
| know Jesus in the fellowship of his sufferings | 10:03 | |
| and the power of his resurrection. | 10:06 | |
| Hasten the day oh Lord, when all men shall see the truth | 10:11 | |
| there manifested | 10:15 | |
| and believe that thy kingdom may fully come | 10:18 | |
| and Jesus Christ be acknowledged as Lord of all. | 10:23 | |
| Through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, | 10:28 | |
| amen. | 10:32 | |
| (choral music) | 10:58 | |
| When Jesus saw his mother | 14:49 | |
| and the disciple whom he loved standing near, | 14:51 | |
| he said to his mother, | 14:54 | |
| "Woman, behold your son." | 14:56 | |
| Then he said to the disciple, "Behold your mother." | 15:00 | |
| The journey from Bethlehem to Golgotha was uncommonly short. | 15:06 | |
| Only a few short years before as men reckon time, | 15:11 | |
| Luke tells us that the Angel Gabriel | 15:15 | |
| was sent by God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth | 15:17 | |
| to a maiden betrothed to a man named Joseph. | 15:20 | |
| The Maiden's name was Mary. | 15:24 | |
| Gabriel had said to her then, | 15:27 | |
| "Do not be afraid Mary for you have found favor with God | 15:29 | |
| and behold you will conceive and bear a son. | 15:34 | |
| You shall call his name Jesus. | 15:37 | |
| He will be great and will be called the son of the most high | 15:40 | |
| and the Lord, God | 15:44 | |
| will give him the throne of his father, David. | 15:45 | |
| And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever | 15:47 | |
| and of his kingdom, | 15:50 | |
| there will be no end." | 15:52 | |
| In due time, | 15:55 | |
| a son was born of Mary in Bethlehem of Judea. | 15:56 | |
| As a child, Jesus lay in the manger, | 16:00 | |
| a heavenly host, praised God saying, | 16:03 | |
| "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace | 16:06 | |
| and goodwill toward men." | 16:10 | |
| If she had known then what she had come to know now, | 16:13 | |
| standing there at the foot of that rugged cross, | 16:17 | |
| driven cruelly into the earth. | 16:20 | |
| What would her prayer have been? | 16:23 | |
| Might she have prayed a very human, | 16:25 | |
| a very sentimental prayer? | 16:29 | |
| "The things I've known, let me forget, | 16:32 | |
| the voices in the sky, | 16:36 | |
| the fear, the cold, | 16:37 | |
| the gaping shepherds and the queer old men | 16:39 | |
| piling their clumsy gifts of foreign gold. | 16:42 | |
| Let me have laughter with my little one, | 16:45 | |
| teach me the endless tuneless songs to sing. | 16:48 | |
| Grant me my right to whisper to my son | 16:52 | |
| the foolish names one dare not call a king. | 16:55 | |
| Keep from my dreams the rumble of the crowd, | 16:58 | |
| the smell of rough-cut wood, the trail of red, | 17:01 | |
| the thick and chilly whiteness of the shroud | 17:04 | |
| that wraps a strange new body of the dead. | 17:07 | |
| Ah, let me go kind Lord, where mothers go | 17:10 | |
| and boast his pretty words in ways | 17:13 | |
| and plan the proud, happy years that we shall know together | 17:15 | |
| when my son has grown a man." | 17:19 | |
| Such a prayer would have been born of human sentiment, | 17:22 | |
| of one who could at best have perceived | 17:26 | |
| but dimly the incarnation, | 17:28 | |
| for how can a mother nursing her first born child | 17:32 | |
| look steadfastly at a crucifix? | 17:34 | |
| How could she have born the sight of her fair child | 17:37 | |
| playing with little rows of nails in the carpentry shop | 17:40 | |
| or born the sound of Joseph's hammer swing | 17:44 | |
| if she had known that short years, | 17:47 | |
| hence her Jesus by a hammer and three nails would die. | 17:49 | |
| We do not know the childish games | 17:54 | |
| Mary and Jesus enjoyed together in the early years | 17:55 | |
| nor the songs they sang. | 17:59 | |
| We can only imagine | 18:01 | |
| the careless carefree days they spent together. | 18:02 | |
| The washing of dirty hands, | 18:07 | |
| the tying of sandals, | 18:09 | |
| the kissing of her places | 18:11 | |
| and the drying of her tears, | 18:12 | |
| the meeting of knowing understanding eyes | 18:15 | |
| and the joyous spontaneous caresses, | 18:17 | |
| which are the shared faith of mothers and sons. | 18:19 | |
| He was not her possession long. | 18:23 | |
| As a boy of 12, | 18:26 | |
| he stayed behind in Jerusalem without permission. | 18:27 | |
| Mary remonstrated with him, | 18:31 | |
| "Son, why have you treated us so? | 18:32 | |
| Your father and I have been looking for you anxiously." | 18:35 | |
| "But I must be about my Father's business," | 18:39 | |
| was his cryptic reply. | 18:41 | |
| Mary did not understand then, Luke confides in us, | 18:44 | |
| but she kept these words in our heart again to that day, | 18:47 | |
| when they might become clear. | 18:50 | |
| All too soon the troubled turbulent years | 18:53 | |
| of her son's ministry came. | 18:56 | |
| Behold I send my messenger before your face, | 18:58 | |
| who shall prepare your way. | 19:01 | |
| The voice of one crying in the wilderness | 19:03 | |
| prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. | 19:06 | |
| The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. | 19:09 | |
| Repent, | 19:12 | |
| believe. | 19:13 | |
| Those who are called of God belong to no one but God. | 19:15 | |
| They can possess and be possessed by no one else. | 19:19 | |
| No, not brother nor sister, no, not father nor mother. | 19:23 | |
| We are told that on one occasion | 19:29 | |
| Jesus heard that his mother was nearby | 19:31 | |
| and wished to speak with him. | 19:33 | |
| "Who is my mother?" | 19:36 | |
| He's said to have asked rhetorically, | 19:37 | |
| whosoever does the will of God my Father. | 19:39 | |
| No, Mary did not possess her son for long. | 19:44 | |
| And so it was until that fateful day in Jerusalem today, | 19:48 | |
| Jesus had run his brief course from Bethlehem to Golgotha | 19:53 | |
| and that afternoon in Jerusalem, | 19:56 | |
| that afternoon in lower Jerusalem, they met | 20:01 | |
| and parted once more, Jesus and Mary, | 20:04 | |
| no touch or kiss could ease their anguish | 20:08 | |
| while the markers hist. | 20:11 | |
| And he, he's the fool who thought | 20:13 | |
| his dreaming him could cure the woman. | 20:15 | |
| See the two of them, | 20:18 | |
| the son and wife of Joseph come to this. | 20:19 | |
| Two hearts cried out (indistinct) | 20:22 | |
| and Jesse's flower was cut from Jesse's stem. | 20:25 | |
| Perhaps she thought of name | 20:30 | |
| of all the land where wonders blossomed | 20:31 | |
| as he walked three years of Jairus, Lazarus, | 20:33 | |
| the withered hand, of flowing mercies and of drying tears. | 20:37 | |
| And still she knew her bitter place and part, | 20:42 | |
| he would not heal her with it, withered heart. | 20:46 | |
| There Mary stood at the foot of the cross | 20:51 | |
| watching as a nail part of herself to that tree. | 20:55 | |
| And all he said to her was, | 21:01 | |
| "Woman, behold you son." | 21:04 | |
| And then he placed her in the care of a beloved disciple. | 21:09 | |
| We do not know the feverish, anguish thoughts | 21:15 | |
| that crowded Mary's mind that afternoon. | 21:18 | |
| Surely she knew as all of us know, | 21:21 | |
| life can break the heart of every mother later or sooner. | 21:24 | |
| but like all of us, | 21:30 | |
| she must have hoped against hope | 21:31 | |
| that hers would not be broken so soon | 21:33 | |
| and not like this. | 21:37 | |
| If ever the cross was a stumbling block, | 21:39 | |
| a wretched absurdity, it must have been then. | 21:42 | |
| We know now what Mary could not have known then, | 21:48 | |
| what she could not have believed | 21:51 | |
| even if she had known. | 21:53 | |
| For here was cosmic drama unfolding itself | 21:55 | |
| for in this accent for man, | 21:58 | |
| willfully separated from his creator, | 22:00 | |
| witnessed the transforming power of selfless love. | 22:02 | |
| God was in Jesus, reconciling him off unto the world. | 22:05 | |
| For God so loved world that he gave His only son | 22:09 | |
| that whosoever believes in him should not perish, | 22:13 | |
| but have everlasting life. | 22:16 | |
| For greater love has no man than this, | 22:19 | |
| than a man lay down his life for his friends. | 22:21 | |
| But who among us, | 22:25 | |
| standing beside Mary at the foot of that cross | 22:26 | |
| would have dared to mouth, such pious words. | 22:29 | |
| Wait now for through the eyes of artists, | 22:34 | |
| we can see the broken body taken from the cross so tenderly | 22:36 | |
| and placed again in the waiting arms of Mary who bore him. | 22:40 | |
| She washed his body with her tears, | 22:44 | |
| but who was there to wash away her hurt | 22:47 | |
| and to dry her tears? | 22:51 | |
| Perhaps in that moment, | 22:54 | |
| Mary too was transformed by the power of his love. | 22:55 | |
| And in fantasy, we may imagine that having watched | 22:59 | |
| the shroud cover her own son's body, | 23:01 | |
| she took into her arms with equal care | 23:04 | |
| and with measureless love | 23:07 | |
| the broken bodies of the male factors | 23:09 | |
| from crosses standing nearby. | 23:10 | |
| Those whom her son had named as his brothers. | 23:13 | |
| The Bible reminds us that the children of God | 23:18 | |
| know where they have come from and where they are going. | 23:21 | |
| In this knowledge, there is strength | 23:24 | |
| to get on with the business of living | 23:26 | |
| and if need be of dying. | 23:28 | |
| John reminds us of this in his account of the last supper. | 23:30 | |
| Jesus knew, we are told that his hour had come | 23:34 | |
| to depart out of this world | 23:36 | |
| and having loved his own who were with him in this world, | 23:38 | |
| he loved them to the end. | 23:41 | |
| During supper, Jesus, knowing that he had come from God | 23:44 | |
| and was returning to God | 23:47 | |
| rose from his place at the table, | 23:48 | |
| laid aside his garments, | 23:50 | |
| guarded himself with a towel | 23:52 | |
| and washed the feet of his disciples. | 23:54 | |
| They did not understand then, but in time they did. | 23:57 | |
| And in that understanding, they were transformed. | 24:02 | |
| Jesus said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son." | 24:05 | |
| She did not understand then, but perhaps in time she did. | 24:11 | |
| And perhaps in time we shall. | 24:17 | |
| Let us pray. | 24:21 | |
| Grant oh Lord in all our ways of life, thy health, | 24:25 | |
| in all our perplexities of thought, thy counsel, | 24:30 | |
| in all our dangers of temptation, thy protection | 24:34 | |
| and in all our sorrows of heart, thy peace. | 24:38 | |
| Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, | 24:42 | |
| amen. | 24:46 | |
| (instrumental choral music) | 24:58 | |
| Let us pray. | 26:40 | |
| Oh Almighty God who art the most strong tower | 26:50 | |
| to all those who put their trust in thee, | 26:54 | |
| to whom all things in heaven, in earth | 26:57 | |
| and under the earth do bow and obey, | 27:00 | |
| be now evermore our defense | 27:05 | |
| and make us know and feel | 27:08 | |
| that there is none other name under heaven given to man | 27:10 | |
| in whom and through whom | 27:15 | |
| we may receive health and salvation, | 27:17 | |
| but only the name of thy son our Lord, Jesus Christ. | 27:20 | |
| We praise thee oh God for thy son Jesus, the Christ, | 27:26 | |
| the lamb of God who surely had to own our griefs | 27:31 | |
| and carried our sorrows. | 27:35 | |
| We praise thee who hath raised Christ Jesus from the dead, | 27:39 | |
| that he also was wounded for our transgressions | 27:44 | |
| and bruised for our inequities. | 27:48 | |
| We give thanks to thee that this same Jesus | 27:53 | |
| is now our health and our salvation, | 27:55 | |
| our very present help in time of despair and desolation. | 27:59 | |
| Glory be to thee oh Lord, | 28:05 | |
| praise be to thee oh, Christ. | 28:08 | |
| Thou does give us oh Lord through thy Holy Spirit, | 28:14 | |
| the ability to see and to see, | 28:18 | |
| to hear and to hear. | 28:22 | |
| The man on the cross we are moved to recognize | 28:27 | |
| as him who is despised and rejected by us men. | 28:32 | |
| He is also cut off from thee for he is a man. | 28:38 | |
| Yet we have cut ourselves off from him. | 28:45 | |
| We have crucified him for, he is God, | 28:49 | |
| even thy son. | 28:54 | |
| Forgive us Lord for our part | 28:57 | |
| in this rejection and desolation, | 29:00 | |
| which was thy experience on the cross | 29:03 | |
| and which is the experience of our brothers around us daily. | 29:07 | |
| We have bruised and wounded both thee and our fellows. | 29:13 | |
| Forgive us. | 29:18 | |
| Forgive us oh Lord, our puny desire | 29:21 | |
| to be delivered from unpleasantness, | 29:23 | |
| from suffering of body, of mind, of spirit. | 29:27 | |
| Guide us through the desert of separation. | 29:32 | |
| Even when we hear no answer to our cry, | 29:36 | |
| sustain us with thy steadfast presence. | 29:40 | |
| Make us to know thy comfort when the pains and griefs | 29:46 | |
| are so intense as to prevent all contact with anyone | 29:49 | |
| even with thee. | 29:55 | |
| We pray now for all who are cut off | 29:58 | |
| and separated from their brethren and from thee, | 30:01 | |
| thy drought and desolation of spirit, | 30:06 | |
| thy pain of body and of mind, | 30:09 | |
| thy willing rebellion against others, | 30:13 | |
| thy willing acceptance of rejection prompted by love. | 30:17 | |
| As thou didst raise Christ Jesus from the dead, | 30:23 | |
| also give to us new life | 30:27 | |
| through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord | 30:30 | |
| in whose name we pray. | 30:34 | |
| Thou knowest Lord, the secrets of our hearts, | 30:38 | |
| shut not thy merciful ears to our prayer, | 30:43 | |
| but spare us Lord most holy, | 30:48 | |
| oh God, most mighty, | 30:52 | |
| oh holy and merciful savior, | 30:54 | |
| thou most worthy eternal judge. | 30:57 | |
| Suffer us not at our last hour | 31:01 | |
| for any pains of death to fall from thee. | 31:04 | |
| May we not feel forsaken of thee | 31:09 | |
| or shut out from thy love. | 31:13 | |
| But save us in all our mortal strife | 31:16 | |
| through Jesus Christ, our Lord, | 31:21 | |
| amen. | 31:25 | |
| (instrumental music) | 31:43 | |
| (choral music) | 32:55 | |
| - | Or the fourth word from the cross. | 39:54 |
| Let us turn to the Gospel according to St. Mark, | 39:56 | |
| 15th chapter, the 33rd verse, | 40:00 | |
| "And when the sixth hour had come, | 40:05 | |
| there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. | 40:07 | |
| And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, | 40:13 | |
| "Eloi, | 40:18 | |
| Eloi, | 40:19 | |
| lama sabachthani," | 40:21 | |
| which means my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? | 40:24 | |
| My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? | 40:33 | |
| What does this mean? | 40:38 | |
| What are we to make of these words? | 40:41 | |
| Is this a cry of desperation? | 40:44 | |
| If this is the son of God, | 40:49 | |
| how can he succumb for one moment to this or to human cry? | 40:52 | |
| This seeming note of utter human despair. | 40:59 | |
| For centuries, | 41:06 | |
| thoughtful Christians have puzzled | 41:08 | |
| over these difficult words. | 41:12 | |
| Are we not confronted here with a baffling contradiction? | 41:16 | |
| Surely it's impossible to think that the son of God | 41:22 | |
| in his final agony lost faith | 41:26 | |
| in the divinity that gave meaning to his whole life. | 41:29 | |
| Yet, is this not what these troubled words | 41:34 | |
| seem to say in plain language? | 41:37 | |
| "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?" | 41:41 | |
| Throughout the Christian era, | 41:46 | |
| theologians and biblical scholars | 41:49 | |
| have found this cry perplexing. | 41:51 | |
| Surely it would be the ultimate in arrogance on our part | 41:59 | |
| to pretend we can resolve this problem | 42:04 | |
| in a few minutes | 42:07 | |
| here in this chapel of a Good Friday afternoon. | 42:08 | |
| But in the brief moments at our disposal, | 42:15 | |
| there is one thing we can do. | 42:17 | |
| We can pause in our too hurried lives | 42:21 | |
| and we can consider these vexing words anew. | 42:25 | |
| We may be unable to resolve the difficulty | 42:31 | |
| that has troubled the scholars for so long, | 42:34 | |
| but at least we may come to understand the problem | 42:38 | |
| confronting them. | 42:42 | |
| "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?" | 42:45 | |
| Doesn't this sound like a cry of despair? | 42:50 | |
| Aren't these the words of a very human being | 42:56 | |
| in fearful distress? | 42:59 | |
| Isn't this the voice of abandonment and terror? | 43:02 | |
| Consider the setting in which these words were uttered. | 43:08 | |
| A man is being tortured to death, | 43:13 | |
| not quick merciful death, | 43:16 | |
| but long, slow, agonizing death. | 43:19 | |
| The horror of such a death | 43:24 | |
| is embodied in our word, excruciating. | 43:27 | |
| Excruciating pain, the pain that is unbearable. | 43:33 | |
| It means literally, death on a cross. | 43:38 | |
| Moreover, our Lord was suffering, | 43:43 | |
| not only physical pain, | 43:46 | |
| bodily pain, | 43:48 | |
| but mental anguish of a peculiarly crushing sort. | 43:50 | |
| He had set out to save the world, to show the way | 43:59 | |
| and now he was dying in agony. | 44:04 | |
| He was suffering crucifixion, | 44:07 | |
| a form of execution reserved for the meanest of criminals. | 44:10 | |
| And perhaps most painful of all, | 44:15 | |
| he'd seen his band of followers | 44:19 | |
| one after another | 44:21 | |
| desert him in his final hour. | 44:24 | |
| Under such circumstances, | 44:28 | |
| the voice from the cross seems eminently human, | 44:31 | |
| something we can know, | 44:35 | |
| and we can understand. | 44:37 | |
| Haven't we heard this cry | 44:40 | |
| in one form or another throughout our own lives? | 44:42 | |
| In our world here and now, | 44:48 | |
| don't we hear just such cries of anguish | 44:50 | |
| from the mother who has lost her only child? | 44:54 | |
| From the father whose child has gone wrong, | 44:58 | |
| dreadfully, horribly wrong | 45:01 | |
| despite the best efforts of loving parents to guide the way? | 45:04 | |
| Haven't we heard this cry in the hospital | 45:09 | |
| as the elderly soul lies dying painfully and alone? | 45:13 | |
| Haven't we heard it even in the recorder's court? | 45:20 | |
| All the language may differ, | 45:23 | |
| but the anguish is the same. | 45:26 | |
| "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?" | 45:29 | |
| These are very human words. | 45:34 | |
| But must we see them | 45:38 | |
| only as a cry of desolation and abandonment? | 45:40 | |
| Must we create theological difficulties for ourselves? | 45:46 | |
| First we see in them, Jesus abandoned by God. | 45:52 | |
| After all, there are various translations | 45:57 | |
| from the Hebrew and from the Aramaic. | 46:00 | |
| And even our English words | 46:03 | |
| lend themselves to a variety of interpretations, | 46:05 | |
| the Oxford English Dictionary, | 46:11 | |
| that great historical compendium of our mother tongue, | 46:13 | |
| gives us some helpful clues. | 46:18 | |
| The verb to forsake may mean to abandon, | 46:22 | |
| but it also has many other interpretations. | 46:28 | |
| For example, it can mean neglect, | 46:33 | |
| to neglect | 46:37 | |
| or to disregard. | 46:39 | |
| And there's a world of difference between neglecting, | 46:42 | |
| which can be temporary | 46:47 | |
| and abandoning, which implies a complete | 46:49 | |
| and permanent renunciation. | 46:53 | |
| The importance of these shades of meaning | 46:58 | |
| emerges even more clearly | 47:00 | |
| if we turn back to the Aramaic itself. | 47:03 | |
| Sometime ago, a biblical scholar | 47:09 | |
| returned from the Middle East | 47:12 | |
| with a charming tale that illuminates this point. | 47:14 | |
| Not far from the side of ancient Nineveh, | 47:20 | |
| the traveling scholar fell in with a citizen of the country | 47:24 | |
| whose native tongue was Aramaic. | 47:28 | |
| In their conversations, | 47:32 | |
| they had chance to discuss this very passage from the Bible. | 47:33 | |
| The native described how he was sometimes detained | 47:42 | |
| on the road and returned home | 47:46 | |
| to his waiting wife and children long after dark. | 47:48 | |
| And in a land, more anarchic and less secure than our own, | 47:54 | |
| this was cause for concern | 47:59 | |
| and even for alarm for his family. | 48:01 | |
| When at last, he did arrive, | 48:05 | |
| they greeted him at the door saying, | 48:07 | |
| "Lama sabachthani." | 48:10 | |
| And by this he explained, they meant, | 48:14 | |
| "Where have you been? | 48:16 | |
| What has kept you? | 48:18 | |
| Why have you left us alone like this?" | 48:20 | |
| Now doesn't this simple story | 48:24 | |
| provide us with a flood of insight? | 48:27 | |
| Doesn't this put an entirely different construction | 48:31 | |
| on the words of Jesus? | 48:34 | |
| Interpreted in this fashion, | 48:37 | |
| the anguish cry seems less an accusation of dereliction | 48:40 | |
| and much more reasonable, more human, | 48:45 | |
| more understandable. | 48:50 | |
| There's still another way | 48:53 | |
| and we can look upon this difficult passage of scripture. | 48:55 | |
| As every student of the Bible knows, | 49:01 | |
| the words of Jesus' cry from the cross | 49:05 | |
| are the opening lines of the 22nd song. | 49:10 | |
| Let me read it. | 49:14 | |
| "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? | 49:17 | |
| Why are thou so far from helping me | 49:22 | |
| from the words of my groaning? | 49:25 | |
| Oh my God, I cry by day, | 49:28 | |
| but thou does not answer | 49:31 | |
| and by night, but find no rest. | 49:32 | |
| Yet, thou art holy | 49:36 | |
| and thrown on the praises of Israel. | 49:39 | |
| In thee, our Father is trusted. | 49:44 | |
| They trusted and thou didst deliver them. | 49:48 | |
| To thee they cried and were saved. | 49:52 | |
| To thee they trusted and were not disappointed." | 49:56 | |
| Was Jesus recalling the words of the old Psalm? | 50:04 | |
| Now we know historically, that it was a common place | 50:09 | |
| for pious Jews to repeat the 22nd Psalm | 50:14 | |
| in time of adversity to gain encouragement. | 50:18 | |
| Was Jesus' voice not despair, | 50:23 | |
| but unfaltering assurance? | 50:28 | |
| In thee our Father's trusted and thou didst deliver them. | 50:32 | |
| Here we sense neither bitterness nor despair. | 50:40 | |
| Here we find not reproach, but assurance. | 50:44 | |
| What is more, | 50:50 | |
| this is the assurance of God's triumph. | 50:52 | |
| For in the death of his son | 50:55 | |
| was the fulfillment of prophecy. | 50:58 | |
| Not to make this idea | 51:01 | |
| of prophetic fulfillment more obvious. | 51:04 | |
| We have only to read a more lines from the 22nd song. | 51:06 | |
| "Yay, dogs are around about me, | 51:13 | |
| a company of evil doors encircle me. | 51:17 | |
| They have pierced my hands and feet. | 51:20 | |
| I can count all my bones. | 51:23 | |
| They stare and gloat over me. | 51:25 | |
| They divide my garments among them. | 51:28 | |
| And for my (indistinct), they cast lots." | 51:31 | |
| Now then, what shall we make of these words from the cross? | 51:36 | |
| Do they represent human agony? | 51:43 | |
| Yes, they do. | 51:46 | |
| But surely not hopeless despair. | 51:48 | |
| The cry of anguish is authentic human suffering. | 51:52 | |
| This is Jesus, the man. | 51:57 | |
| Jesus, the man sharing our mortal condition, | 52:00 | |
| reminding us that he too has known the depths. | 52:04 | |
| But on the other hand, | 52:08 | |
| these words from the cross are the voice of prophecy. | 52:11 | |
| The fulfillment of the prophetic tradition. | 52:16 | |
| Here, we see not alone, Jesus, the man, | 52:20 | |
| but the Christ, the son of God. | 52:24 | |
| We need not fret over the seeming contradictions | 52:28 | |
| and dilemmas in this cry. | 52:32 | |
| Here are, but two aspects of a single whole, | 52:35 | |
| man and God, | 52:41 | |
| human and divine, | 52:44 | |
| the here and now | 52:46 | |
| and the hereafter. | 52:48 | |
| Let us pray. | 52:51 | |
| Oh merciful God who has made all men | 52:58 | |
| and hated nothing that thou has made | 53:01 | |
| nor desires the death of a sinner, | 53:05 | |
| but rather that he should be converted and live. | 53:08 | |
| Have mercy upon all who know thee not, | 53:12 | |
| not as thou art revealed in the gospel of thy son. | 53:15 | |
| Take from them all ignorance, | 53:21 | |
| hardness of heart and contempt of thy word. | 53:25 | |
| And so fetch them home, blessed Lord | 53:30 | |
| to thy fold that they may be made one flock | 53:33 | |
| under one shepherd, Jesus Christ, our Lord | 53:37 | |
| who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost. | 53:42 | |
| One God, world without end. | 53:45 | |
| Amen. | 53:50 | |
| (instrumental music) | 53:58 |
Item Info
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