WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: Have you been separated from your loved ones for a long period? Can you remember how it felt? Cry of dereliction The four Aramaic words Jesus speaks from the cross, perhaps the most desolate ever spoken, are known as ‘the cry of dereliction’. This is the only time we hear of Jesus not being one with the Father. He responded to temptation in the wilderness and opposition from the religious authorities with scripture. Here from the cross Jesus uses scripture to call out to the Father. These words, ‘Why have you forsaken me?’ (v 34; Psalm 22:1) echo those of God himself in the garden, calling out to Adam, ‘Where are you?’ (Genesis 3:9). No more separation It is unbelievable that the bystanders failed to comprehend, farcical that they mistook the Hebrew Eloi for Elijah (v 35). Even the centurion, a Roman and a pagan, showed more understanding. He would have witnessed many deaths, but something remarkable in the way Jesus died made him confess, ‘Surely this man was the Son of God!’ (v 39). The earth itself knew the desolation of those hours, as it covered itself in darkness (v 33), and the Temple curtain was torn in two (v 38), as if rending its garments in sorrow. But the torn curtain symbolised more: the end of our separation from God. The painful separation of Jesus from the Father is what gives us access to the most holy place and allows us to walk again with our Father in the garden. Respond: Spend a little time drawing close to the Father, thanking him that you can do so. http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-04-06