Matthew 27:46 “About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) Today's episode talks about how God never looked away from Jesus. Yet Jesus was able to say this because of his solidarity with us. It also talks about how Jesus died for all of our sins. There isn't a single one of us that is exempt from that love and that sacrifice. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
"My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?"
Matthew 27:46 “About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
I just opened the Bible to a random place this morning, and this is what I read. I found it fitting since it is Holy Thursday today. I also found it fitting because I am listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast again this year, and Father Mike just talked about this line in the episode I heard yesterday. Father Mike explained that although Jesus asked God why He had forsaken Him, it is essential to know that Jesus was not actually rejected by His Father. God never turned His face away from Jesus. Jesus always lived and continues to live in the eternal gaze of love with His Father. “At the same time, in the redeeming love that always united Him to the Father, He assumed us in the state of our waywardness to sin to the point that he could say in our name from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He had such solidarity with sinners that he experienced what we experience when we are away from the Lord. He experienced what it was to be rejected, but he was never rejected. He experienced what it is to be cut off from the Father, although he never was cut off from the Father. His solidarity with us was so real, was so great that his experience and his humanity was that of he could say, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But we recognize that he never, never, was away from the Father. He was never disconnected, just like in so many ways; I mean, we can have analogies here, right? We can experience this distance from the Father. We can experience the silence of prayer. We can experience dryness in prayer. That does not mean God is absent. His silence does not mean that His is absent. But we experience that. Jesus experienced what it felt like to have lost his Father, but He never lost the Father, and the Father never lost Him.”
Father Mike goes on to say, “God takes the initiative of universal redeeming love. He talks about paragraph 604 in the catechism and how it says by giving up his own son for our sins, God manifest that his plan for us is one of benevolent love prior to any merit on our part that is a mission of love. This is what God wants for us because he loves us. And so we just recognize that Christ’s redemptive death is in God’s plan of salvation. Yep, here’s God’s predestination and here’s God’s will working with our free will. Here’s our grace working with our brokenness. And yet grace still is operative and our free will is still operative. That Jesus Christ took upon himself the guilt of us all in such a way that he had this solidarity with sinners. He identified himself with sinners, although he himself never sinned, in order to reconcile us to God and that is God’s initiative. That is God’s prerogative that we did not deserve it, we did not do anything to merit it and we could never do anything to merit it. But God himself takes the initiative, which is just an incredible, incredible note.”
The Catechism has so much that I would love to share with all of you. It is so good! I recommend that you listen to this podcast if you have ever wondered what Catholics believe and why we believe it. I want to take a minute to read you paragraphs 604 and 605 in the Catechism, as I believe we all need to hear this, especially today, the day before Good Friday. It will give us more perspective tomorrow.
604 By giving up his own Son for our sins, God manifests that his plan for us is one of benevolent love, prior to any merit on our part: "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins." God "shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
605 At the end of the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus recalled that God's love excludes no one: "So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." He affirms that he came "to give his life as a ransom for many"; this last term is not restrictive but contrasts the whole of humanity with the unique person of the redeemer who hands himself over to save us. The Church, following the apostles, teaches that Christ died for all men without exception: "There is not, never has been, and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer.”
Did you catch that last line? "There is not, never has been, and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer.” Do you know what that means? That means that the devil is a liar. It means that when he tells you that God forgives people but that your sins are too great, he is a liar. It means that when the devil whispers in your ear that Jesus died for other’s sins but not for yours, he is a liar. It means that when the devil whispers you couldn’t possibly be forgiven, accepted, or whatever else he is telling you, he is a liar. Jesus died for your sins, every single one of them. Tomorrow, on Good Friday, I invite you to offer your sins up to Jesus! I invite you to spend some time thinking about all the ways you have offended the Lord. I invite you to think of all the ways you haven’t been faithful to the Lord. Then I invite you to turn all of that over to the Lord. Tell Him you are sorry, and then release all of that to him and let Him take it all to the cross. Then I invite you to take some time to praise Him and thank Him for taking your sins to the cross. Thank Him for taking every sin you will ever commit to the cross in advance. Thank Him for the unending love He has for us. I want to leave you with the last sentence in paragraph 605 because I really don’t think we can hear it enough. “There is not, never has been, and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer.”
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, we ask you to remind us of any sins you want us to bring to you today. Lord, we ask the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sins, not so we can feel guilty, but so we can release them to Jesus and allow Him to take them to the cross for us. Lord, we thank you for loving us so much that you sent your only son to die for us so that we may be forgiven. You are amazing, and we are so grateful. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to Walk Boldly With Jesus. I am so grateful I am not on this journey alone! I pray each one of you has an amazing holy week. Tomorrow will be sad, but we know the ending, and we can all celebrate on Easter Sunday! I look forward to meeting you all here tomorrow morning. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in November 2023 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group or about these words please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Vision: “The Lord is calling us because when you feel the world is overflowing your boat and the waters are filling it up and you are bailing and bailing but you can’t stop the waters from rising. The Lord is saying Stop bailing. Let go and float; let Me do the work.