Holy Week: Good Friday

Psalm 22:1-2(The Message)

God, God . . . my God! Why did you dump me miles from nowhere?

Doubled up with pain, I call to God all the day long. No answer. Nothing.
I keep at it all night, tossing and turning.

Otherwise known as "My God, my God...why have you forsaken me?"

I remember as a kid listening to the "Jesus Christ Superstar" soundtrack. "Gethsemane" was my favorite song, partially because of the emotion I could hear in Ted Neely's (the actor who played Jesus) voice. (loved those high notes too!)

But then...even more gutting was this line from Psalm 22 as Jesus was on the cross. "My God...why have you forsaken me."

What? Jesus felt forsaken?

Felt doubled up in pain?  

As a child hearing that line for the first time I was floored. And it made Jesus seem real to me in a way my Sunday School lessons never had.

I like this version from the Message. As an insomniac, I've been there, tossing and turning all night.

I've been there feeling no answer.

What is Good about this Friday?

What is good about Jesus feeling forsaken?

There are surely more theological reasons that you can shake a stick at. 

But the one that today stays with me more than any other is this: that I have a God who knows me through and through. Not simply my joys, but knows me when I despair as well.

Knows what it is to feel alone or abandoned.

And that God keeps loving me.

And you...

anyway.

Lord of all, thank you for knowing us. Thank you for taking all that we had to throw at you, and sending it back as love. Amen