How
can a minute seem like an hour? How can
a day seem like an eternity? The shadow
of the sundial in Jerusalem moves slowly…slowly…ever so slowly…
The doors of the Governor’s building open…Roman soldiers
lead the grim procession…two thieves sentenced for execution appear…then a
third figure is pushed over the threshold…the cross beam lashed to the back of
His shoulders…His back is lacerated from beating…His eyelids crusted with blood
drawn from a crown of thorns…His hair matted with blood…His body swollen…black
and blue…from torture…
The crowds are there…the same crowds…the same voices…but
where are the palms? Where are the
cloaks being laid before Him? Where is
the red carpet? Oh, oh, there it
is…ah…but not a carpet of celebration…not a red carpet of welcome…but a red
carpet of death…for the blood of Jesus dripping from His body marks the way…the
way…outside the city walls…and up another hill…a hill named Calvary…a place
called Golgotha…
How can a day seem like an eternity?
As the shadow of the sundial inches forward…the nails
piece His wrists…up He is lifted…up…up…the vertical beam is centered on the
hole…and the Cross is dropped into the ground…the body jarred…and the shadow
moves…it is 9:00 AM. How can a day seem
like an eternity?
The first three hours is party time. “If you’re so
great…come down from the Cross. Come
down, come down and save yourself!”
Trying to outdo each other in insults…the crowd works itself into a
frenzy…and the religious leaders stand with smug satisfaction…admiring their
work…
The shadow of the sundial advances…10 o’clock, 11
o’clock…”Soon it will be noon…maybe we’ll break for lunch and then come back
and see the end of the show. ”
11:30, 11:45, 11:50,
11:59…”Now it’s about lunch time…white, rye, wheat or sourdough? Mayo or mustard? What’s your pleasure?”
But the shadow will never mark noon of this day on this
sundial…for Jesus is drinking a cup…Jesus is drinking a cup that only He can
drink…and as that cup is turned up over His lips…the wrath of God is poured out
on Him…the holy, pure, spotless, sinless Lamb of God…and darkness envelopes the
land…from noon until 3:00…and there is no light to mark time on the sundial…for
this is no longer time…this is eternity…
this is that beyond which man
and woman cannot pass…this is where we cannot go…not go and return…this is the
abyss of the judgment of God…the canyon with no bottom…with no turning back…the
bottomless pit filled with our sins…our iniquities…our death…our pride…our
self-righteousness…our egos…our selfishness…our agendas…our obsession with
control…our obsession with ourselves…
How can a day seem like an eternity?
And then the cry…the cry…the cry that pierces the
ages…the universes…that causes angels to tremble and the earth to quake…the cry
rising up from the pit…rising up from the abyss…”Eloi, Eloi, lama
sabachthani? My God, My God, WHY have
you forsaken me?”
Forsaken by the crowds, forsaken by His friends, forsaken
by those closest to Him, and finally…could it be…is it true…forsaken by His
Father? “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani!”
How is it that an hour, three hours, from noon until 3:00
can seem like eternity? Because it is
eternity, it is that place where time, space and eternity intersect in the
person of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
Who is this…this Man…to utter such a cry?
A good man? A well
intentioned man, but delusional? A good
example? How could a man’s death 2,000
years ago affect my life? What meaning
could it have?
He was forsaken that we might be accepted.
He was hated that we might be loved.
Sin was laid on Him that it might be removed from us.
He died that we might live.
He was beaten and bruised that we might be healed.
As Paul wrote in his letter to the Corinthians, “God made
him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him.”
We are well aware that there are hereditary diseases
passed on from generation to generation.
Diabetes runs in one family, sickle cell anemia in another, heart
disease another…this is why medical histories are of such importance.
There
is one disease that permeates the entire human race, whether of African, Asian,
American Indian, Arab, or European descent…it affects the way we think, the way
we behave, the way we feel, the decisions we make, the way we think about
ourselves, the way we treat each other, and the way we relate to God…and that
disease…my friends…is sin…and sin leads to eternal death.
How can three hours seem like eternity?
The
Lamb of God…the Eternal One…drinks the cup for us…takes our sin upon
Himself…takes us upon Himself…and cries out, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
Is the answer too much for us to bear? Is it too heavy for us to contemplate? Let’s keep it in the abstract…let’s keep it
in the realm of high esoteric theology…let’s keep it locked in a closet…who
wants to hear God’s answer to Jesus…the answer of Father to Son? Do I?
Do you? Do we?
“Why have you forsaken me?”
And the answer…from the bowels of eternity…as darkness
covers the land…with no shadow falling on the sundial…the answer from the heart
of God is….
“For John and Susan and Cathy and Ryan and you and you
and you…for you dear reader…for you Jesus was forsaken.”
And as the sun breaks through the clouds…and the shadow
resumes its march on the sundial…it is 3:00 PM…and Jesus is crying out, “It is
finished. Father, into your hands I
commit my spirit.” And Jesus willingly
gives up His life.
The sacrifice is complete…the penalty paid…the
reconciliation accomplished…the victory won…His relationship with His Father is
restored…for eternity has intersected with time and space…and we have been
redeemed!!!!
The God who created us has come to redeem us…dying for
us…rising for us…paying the price that we could not pay…the love story of the
ages…the song of eternity…that God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
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