Forsaken and Alone

I remember the first time I felt lost. I was a kid, and like all lost kid stories, I was in a grocery store. From some reason I got separated from my mom. I wandered down the wrong aisle or turned my head as she moved to the next. I don't remember those kind of specifics. But I do remember turning around and not seeing my mom.

I had to be young at the time. It's an early memory. But I do vividly remember the fear, panic, and terror running through my mind. I searched frantically down the aisle I was in. I ran to previous aisle. Neither journey resulted in my finding my mother.

Finally, a stranger, an older woman, asked me what was wrong. I told her I had lost my mom. She kindly took me over to the next aisle, and there was my mom and the grocery cart. I was finally reunited and calm.

That's about as traumatic as my young life got. That's a pretty big deal for a 5 or 6 or 7 year old. We all probably have a similar story locked away in the deep parts of our brain. It's a feeling we don't easily forget: the feeling of abandonment.

That's the feeling Jesus felt on the cross. In Mark 15:33-34, Jesus cries out in anguish to God the Father. He asks why God has forsaken him. In that moment, Jesus feels completely and utterly alone. He feels abandoned.

And for good reason. He was. One of his disciples had betrayed him. One of his closest friends denied him. All but one of his disciples fled in fear. The religious leaders demanded his execution. All of them abandoned him.

Now, finally, on the cross, God abandoned him too. You see, for three hours, starting around noon, darkness filled the city. It was a sign of God's judgment. God was judging Jesus. As he hung on the cross, Jesus took on the sin of everyone for all time--past, present, and future--as he became the perfect sacrifice. He took the punishment we deserve. The punishment for sin is separation from God. For three hours, God judged Jesus as the sin-bearer and turned away. The Trinity was silent.

Jesus, in torment, cries out asking why God had abandoned him. He felt utterly and completely alone.

But here's the thing: he did that so we don't have to experience it ourselves. Paul writes in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death. Death is the eternal separation from God. That's what we earn from our sins. Paul also writes in Romans 6:23, that the gift of God is Jesus Christ. Jesus took our sin, and our punishment, so that when we surrender to him, we will not be separated from God.

That's a big thing. With a relationship with Jesus, we will never be abandoned. Jesus promised to be with us always, even until the end of time. He promised to never leave us or forsake us. He knows what it is like to be forsaken. He was forsaken on the cross. Now, we don't have to feel the same thing.

Praise God for that.

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