On a Hill Far Away

[i]

Holy Week

Friday, April 14, 2017

At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”  Matthew 27:46^(NLT)

Jesus was a human being.  He was also at that moment a brutally tortured human being.  The physical beating had taken its toll, and Jesus only had moments left in the flesh.  But notice that the physical torture was not the emphasis of the Gospel writer.  It was not the brutality of the Roman crucifixion that was the worst thing Jesus endured.  His greatest cross was the rejection of the Creator by His creation. 

Scripture doesn't minimalize or trivialize Jesus’ physical suffering, but it doesn't dwell on the nails or the beating with whips and rods.  It is the desertion of His friends and loved ones; it is the cross of bearing sin all alone.  A number of years ago I had a week where the dentist had me in the chair for 6½ hours.  A few days later another doctor performed surgery on my toe, while in-between I had to go to the eye doctor who shot a puff of air into my eyeballs to test for Glaucoma.  And all this time I'm on a diet!  Beloved, I know physical suffering! 

But nothing is worse than being rejected by those you thought would ride into the valley of the shadow of death side by side with you.  One wise man said that Jesus was rejected by man for His holiness and by God for our sin.  When your physical suffering is more than you think you can stand, remember Jesus has been there, and worse...and He cares.

It says that Jesus cried with a loud voice.  The original language makes it stronger.  You might translate it, He screamed like an animal!  This was a scream of horror.  What was that about?  Many Bible scholars contend that this was the exact moment that God ...laid on Him the iniquity of us all.[ii]  This was the moment when Jesus became a curse for the sins of all time, of all men[iii].  Luther called it the happy exchange, meaning Jesus took our sins, and gave us His holiness. 

Why the scream?  In this moment Jesus first experienced what it was like to be lost and separated from the Father.  He had never before experienced the consequences of sin.  He was the perfect Lamb of God, and he became sin for us.  This is why the cross is lonely; nobody could do that other than the only Son of God. 

And this is why the cross can help you.  Alexander Solzhenitsyn was a political prisoner of the former Communist Soviet Union.  In a dark moment of his prison experience, after much torture and deprivation, he was working a section of road with a shovel, and had reached his end.  He just stopped working.  He knew that could mean instant death from a guard's whip or gun, but he just couldn't go on.  Instantly, another prisoner saw this, and made his way towards Solzhenitsyn.  When he came alongside, he took his cane and made the sign of the cross in the sand.  Seeing this, Alexander looked into the smiling face of his Christian fellow sufferer and found hope to go on.[iv]

For You Today

When the way seems impossible, and you can't go on, look to the cross.  Jesus did; He endured in faith, and God exalted Him. 

Jesus was not the first to say My God. 

·       Isaiah said:  my God shall be my strength."[v] 

·       Zechariah said:  my God shall come...[vi]

Jesus was also not the last to say it. 

·       Paul said:  my God shall supply...[vii]

What’s important when life gets difficult is if YOU are ready to say MY God!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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NOTES

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 ^I Title image: By Propiedad de la Agrupación Local de la Pasión Viviente [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

[ii] Isaiah 53.6b (KJV)

[iii] 2 Corinthians 5:21, Deuteronomy 21:23

[iv] James W. Moore, When All Else Fails...Read the Instructions (Nashville, Dimensions For Living,       1993), 35,36

[v] Isaiah 49.5b (KJV)

[vi] Philippians 4:19 (KJV)

[vii] Zechariah 14.5b (KJV)

Why There Should Be Seatbelts on Dentist's Chairs

It seemed like a dream, too good to be true, when GOD returned Zion’s exiles. We laughed, we sang, we couldn’t believe our good fortune. We were the talk of the nations— “GOD was wonderful to them!” GOD was wonderful to us; we are one happy people. Psalms 126:1 - 3 (TMSG)

My bride, Elizabeth, once (long ago and in a faraway galaxy) held a position as an orthodontist's assistant.  When she first trained for the job, she was given instructions on how to operate the controls on the dental chair.  Her job would include getting the patient settled in the chair, reclined and comfortable. 

Her first patient was a rather large man in his fifties.  After the customary talk about weather and family, the man was shown to the "seat of honor".  Staring at the control panel, Elizabeth's training somehow seemed to vanish; the instructions looked like an alien language; she decided to "wing it". 

The first button she pushed had a promising result as the chair backrest started toward the reclining position.  Unfortunately, when the huge fellow was nearly horizontal Elizabeth pressed what she thought was the stop button; it turned out to be the emergency release.  The back rest toppled backwards, turning the man upside-down.

Elizabeth is not afraid to correct mistakes; neither is she afraid to do it quickly.  Pressing one control after another, the seat carrying her guinea pig jolted upright, forward, and then banked slightly to the left.  Another few stabs at the panic buttons, and the chair (with its passenger holding on for dear life) banked and looped like a crop-dusting plane on crack cocaine. 

By this time the patient began to exhibit some minor concerns about the turbulent flight, mostly with questions that began with "Are you....whoops....hey, what's.....whoaaaaa......can you stop this....aaaaahhhh".  

Now, my bride is a compassionate, caring person, but she does one thing which no human being can properly understand when it happens – when nervous, she giggles!  It is uncontrollable, and as predictable as April 15th at the IRS.  Once she was told about a death in the family and she had to go into the ladies' room to keep from being misunderstood. 

When criticized or embarrassed in any way she smiles in a way that can frustrate her children or husband in ways inventors of "water-boarding" never imagined. 

When the "bucking bronco" of an examining chair had finally been subdued, the nervous Mrs. Brownworth was unable to breathe, unbidden tears of laughter pooling at her feet.  What seemed like an hour was probably only half a minute, but even at the World Bull-Riding championships the professionals only have to stay on for 8 seconds!

Now, there is one other thing about Elizabeth’s laughter – it is infectious!  By the time the chair had gotten tamed, the patient and four other dental assistants were also in stitches. 

Somehow the situation eventually calmed down enough for the doctor to do his thing, and Elizabeth did keep her job.  It may have only been kindness, or a sense of humor on the patient's part, however. 

At the end of the day the receptionist came to Elizabeth and reassured her that all was well; in fact, the man had paid her a compliment.  He told the receptionist to tell the doctor to make sure he kept Elizabeth on staff, and maybe consider giving her a raise.  He said, That lady sure knows how to show a fella a good time!

Remember This

Christmas is on the horizon; it’s not all sugar plums and candy canes.  The holidays can test your reserve strength and patience.

Remember to smile a lot and enjoy the ride.

Remember….it’s a birthday party!