Forsaken

I went to a funeral about a month ago. I was for my uncle Tom. Actually my mom’s uncle Tom. Wasn’t really close to him, but I noticed something about Jesus’ life I hadn’t before. I’ve been hearing and learning a lot about Jesus being completely forsaken by God and how that hasn’t happened to anyone, anywhere on this earth yet. His presence being completely withheld. This is a terrible, unimaginable thing. So although this part of the crucifixion wasn’t read at the funeral, it’s been fresh in my mind, so when Jesus’ breathes his last and commits his spirit into His Father’s hands, I had a different head picture than I usually do when I hear this part. Typically, I imagine the loving gracious father that is waiting for the prodigal son to come home and welcomes Him whole-heartedly. This is a safe, trustworthy (by our standards) image to collapse into. I’ve always been impressed with Jesus’ vulnerability and thet way he continued to die there, while all these arrogant people (and I try as often as possible to identify myself with these folk) question His deity and mock His suffering. To me, that seems hard. I don’t think I could/would do it. But this is the new thing that hit me today. What’s more than that is that Jesus gives his broken, throbbing rent heart to the Father, but at this point He isn’t fitting this gracious, compassionate image. I don’t believe there is this point of relief as He exhales his last. I’d always pictured and imagined that Jesus was consoled by God’ s presence and reassured of His obedience by God’s pleasure with his actions. But that’s not the God we see here. We see a just, angry God who forsakes His son because he is too sinful to look upon. Jesus is completely alone. And completely innocent, yet filled with our guilt. No consolation anywhere. Perhaps in knowing that he’s doing the right thing? But does that even offer consolation? Why are we comforted by the idea of doing the right thing? Because we are being obedient, and this obedience fills us with a sense that God is pleased with our offering. That is where we derive any pleasure that is absent of social acceptance or affirmation. So I conclude that Jesus could not have been comforted by “doing the right thing” because in God’s eyes, as this deal went down, Jesus was suffering and being punished and forsaken because He deserved it. Let me emphasize that this is the Father’s perspective because at this point, Jesus is filled with our sin. So God cannot be “pleased” with His son’s offering /sacrifice any more than a widow is “pleased” with her husband’s killer as he is executed (even assuming that he is willingly executed). Complete and utter isolation. No consolation. No “joy of doing the right thing”. This is something none of us have ever nor will ever experience. Our motives for doing anything good are one of three: 1) The pleasure we receive by reaping the benefits of our good deeds. For example, working out is difficult, but I feel healthy and well afterwards. This is delayed gratification. While self-discipline is required, it is essentially a form of selfishness, because our motives are to improve ourselves. If you disagree, bear with me; perhaps this selfishness is a bit more removed, but is still, nonetheless, selfishness. 2) The pleasure we receive by making other people happy and therefore them being pleased with us and liking us, making us feel good. (This is very dangerous, and one I am most guilty of, because we are able to convince ourselves that we are great, selfless people with only the good of others in mind. What wonderful martyrs we are!). 3), and I believe this is the closest we can get to selflessness in this life, the pleasure we receive by pleasing God. The logic is the same as applied in the second motive, but we are serving our maker, rather than man, and to this there is a large difference. Can we get to a point where we are serving and obeying God as Christ did on the cross? I think not. And to me, this is where the secret of the trinity lies, in the inability of solely man to give so deeply and selflessly. Christ could do this because that’s what he was, the Messiah. By no means did it ease the burden or make the chore or task less painful or difficult. If at all, it was more difficult because another factor in all of this is that Jesus had no guilt of His own. There comes a sort of relief when we experience the punishment / discipline for our sin. And there is a difference between these two. But that is another topic. So there is no relief anywhere. His perfection simultaneously makes his calling more difficult, yet at the same time possible.