Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
"Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" These powerful words open Psalm 22, a moving plea to God in which David says, "I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me."
The passage from Mark (nearly duplicated in Matthew) is familiar to most Christians; but have you ever wondered why, of all the statements of Jesus quoted in the Bible, this one is left in the original language?
Any observant Jew is familiar with Hebrew, and we can only speculate at how proficient Jesus himself must have been in the language of his holy texts. His mastery of Hebrew would have been complete, and he may very well have been required to memorize the psalms in their entirety. That he responds at this moment - a moment of greatest despair, deepest fear, and highest pain - with scripture, is no surprise. As a man steeped in the Hebrew Bible his response would have been instinctive; as the Messiah himself, the response would have been inevitable.
But there's one issue here: these words are not Hebrew.
Instead, they are Aramaic. When Jesus quotes Psalm 22 from the cross he does not do so using the Hebrew it was written in, but using the everyday language of Jews in first century Palestine. This is why in most Bibles we read the words as a transliteration of Jesus' original statement: "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?"
Why would Jesus cry these words out in Aramaic instead of in Hebrew, which was surely the language in which he learned the Psalms? Perhaps it was because, at this worst of moments, he cried out not to "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" [though He was the same God], but instead, he cried out to his own father. His cry is an intimate one, to "Abba," to the one who always heard him. And so he cries out in his day-to-day language, though in the words of his ancestor, the Psalmist.
Shortly thereafter, Jesus would breathe his last, but only after experiencing this final, terrible moment of abandonment.
The saddest thing is that our society is filled with people who have no idea whatsoever what was done for them, what was sacrificed for their sake. Even our churches in this modern day are populated by many people who think they are too smart to believe in an atoning Christ, and want to see him instead as a teacher of ethics or a leader of societal change. These people simply don't comprehend the profound truth of this moment on the cross. Jesus died in a state of abandonment, so that we would never have to experience that same state of abandonment. It is that simple. He accepted the burden of guilt for our sake. All we have to do in return is accept that truth. So easy, and yet, for the broken human race, so very hard.
"I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God." Job 19:25-26
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Monday, March 2, 2015
Remember Me
Luke 23:42-43 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
I've been in many worship services which concluded with the hauntingly beautiful Taizé chant "Jesus, Remember Me." Those famous words, uttered by a dying criminal on a cross near Jesus, have resonated with many over the centuries. His reclamation in that lonely place is a source of hope and comfort for all of us. What we rarely consider, however, is what brought him to that moment.
Luke paints a vivid picture for us of the crucifixion scene. Two criminals were crucified along with Jesus, one on his right and one on his left. His clothes were divided up like plunder. The leaders sneered at him; the soldiers mocked him. A sign above him sarcastically declared him King of the Jews.
And then we are told, "One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him." The more you consider this fact the more absurd it becomes. Here is a man -- a criminal -- condemned to die and, in fact, in the agonizing process of dying, and yet in his last hours his instinct is to follow the crowd and insult Jesus. He is doing just as his own executioners are doing, by insulting Jesus. This criminal simply doesn't think for himself.
How many people have sinned their way to the grave by following the crowd? We all know of someone who could have made the decision -- not to get into that car, not to take that drink, not to take that pill, not to commit that crime -- but instead went along with the crowd and paid for it with their very life. Why is it so many people would rather die than think for themselves? This criminal is no different; even in the throes of death all he can do is follow the crowd and mock an innocent man.
This is the marked difference between the two criminals. The second criminal, in this most important moment of his life, does think for himself. He turns away from his fellow criminal, turns away from the crowd, and turns toward the truth. In three short sentences he rebukes the other criminal and in so doing, stands up for Jesus more than anyone else present. Think of it, he defends Jesus more in this moment than the Apostles themselves managed to do.
“Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
I would venture to say that in most cases, the most important step needed for someone to find salvation is simply to think for themselves. Once a person decides to turn their back upon a sin, a wrong teaching, a modern idolatry -- whatever it is that is holding them hostage -- they can then turn toward truth and find salvation there. That is exactly what this criminal did, giving him the wisdom and the courage to say those simple words, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
We don't know what he understood about Jesus' identity or about the kingdom to which he alludes. Commentators like to argue over that but it's simply not very important. He knew he needed forgiveness, and he knew that Jesus was the one to give it. And give it he did. “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
In the midst of Jesus' suffering, I like to think that this incident may have given him a brief, bright moment. He knew, as he was dying, that in a matter of hours or less all would be justified, and he had brought one last sheep back to the fold with him. What a beautiful lesson for us: Remember me, Lord Jesus, as you rule today within your Kingdom.
I've been in many worship services which concluded with the hauntingly beautiful Taizé chant "Jesus, Remember Me." Those famous words, uttered by a dying criminal on a cross near Jesus, have resonated with many over the centuries. His reclamation in that lonely place is a source of hope and comfort for all of us. What we rarely consider, however, is what brought him to that moment.
Luke paints a vivid picture for us of the crucifixion scene. Two criminals were crucified along with Jesus, one on his right and one on his left. His clothes were divided up like plunder. The leaders sneered at him; the soldiers mocked him. A sign above him sarcastically declared him King of the Jews.
And then we are told, "One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him." The more you consider this fact the more absurd it becomes. Here is a man -- a criminal -- condemned to die and, in fact, in the agonizing process of dying, and yet in his last hours his instinct is to follow the crowd and insult Jesus. He is doing just as his own executioners are doing, by insulting Jesus. This criminal simply doesn't think for himself.
How many people have sinned their way to the grave by following the crowd? We all know of someone who could have made the decision -- not to get into that car, not to take that drink, not to take that pill, not to commit that crime -- but instead went along with the crowd and paid for it with their very life. Why is it so many people would rather die than think for themselves? This criminal is no different; even in the throes of death all he can do is follow the crowd and mock an innocent man.
This is the marked difference between the two criminals. The second criminal, in this most important moment of his life, does think for himself. He turns away from his fellow criminal, turns away from the crowd, and turns toward the truth. In three short sentences he rebukes the other criminal and in so doing, stands up for Jesus more than anyone else present. Think of it, he defends Jesus more in this moment than the Apostles themselves managed to do.
“Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
I would venture to say that in most cases, the most important step needed for someone to find salvation is simply to think for themselves. Once a person decides to turn their back upon a sin, a wrong teaching, a modern idolatry -- whatever it is that is holding them hostage -- they can then turn toward truth and find salvation there. That is exactly what this criminal did, giving him the wisdom and the courage to say those simple words, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
We don't know what he understood about Jesus' identity or about the kingdom to which he alludes. Commentators like to argue over that but it's simply not very important. He knew he needed forgiveness, and he knew that Jesus was the one to give it. And give it he did. “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
In the midst of Jesus' suffering, I like to think that this incident may have given him a brief, bright moment. He knew, as he was dying, that in a matter of hours or less all would be justified, and he had brought one last sheep back to the fold with him. What a beautiful lesson for us: Remember me, Lord Jesus, as you rule today within your Kingdom.
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