A Feast of Easter

The Easter Story, as told through my Christian contemporary art.

High Noon - A Good Friday Devotion

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi,lama sabachthani?" — which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

The first time I ever came across the word “forsake” was when I saw the old black & white western movie, “High Noon.” You’ll remember that it starred Gary Cooper as a US Marshall who single handedly has a gunfight with four gunslingers whoa re out to get their revenge. As if that wasn’t enough to deal with, it’s also Gary Cooper’s wedding day and his bride, played by Grace Kelly is thinking about deserting him.

The title song of the movie, sung by Tex Ritter, is called “Do Not Forsake Me, O My Darling,” and it more or less tells the whole story of the picture. It’s a wonderful song and I learned it completely as a child. If I had the time, I could sing to you from start to finish.

So I learned from that movie that the word ‘forsaken’ means to abandon someone in the midst of deep trouble and possibly life threatening circumstances. When I later came across the passage from scripture where Jesus shouts out from the Cross, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” all that I could think of, was how abandoned Jesus felt by His Father.

It must have been both a terrible and terrifying moment for Jesus. As His life is fading away and the pain is most excruciating, it’s as if the Devil chooses this weak moment to tempt Jesus into believing that the situation is hopeless and that God can no longer bear to watch what is happening. Only the night before, Jesus pleaded with God to take this cup of sacrifice away from Him. He didn’t personally want to go through with it, but eventually Jesus surrendered Himself to God’s will.

As Christ calls out these words, beneath the Cross His beloved Mother is also going through the same agony, second by second, tear by tear, blood drop by blood drop. Jesus’ words must have pierced her heart and I imagine that Mary must also have felt forsaken by God and the promises that Gabriel had given to her before Christ was born. But perhaps she also remembered that another name was given to Jesus – that of Immanuel – which means God is with us. Mary could do nothing for her Son at that time, except to hold on to the promise that God had not forsaken them, but was still in the midst of the suffering.

As each Easter comes and goes, we all experience loss and grief, separation and suffering, pain and anxiety. During those moments, sometimes despair will rend our hearts and bring chaos to our minds. On Good Friday, we recall the suffering of our Savior, the heartbreak of His Mother, and the holy presence of the God who suffers with us. We are not forsaken nor forgotten by God. We are supported, embraced, and completely loved.

Amazing Grace

Hosea 14:4 I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.

Podcast Version here:

Sometimes when I make mean mistakes or selfishly sin, I think that God is deeply disappointed and angry with me. I find it difficult to approach Him with the right contrition and sincerity, so I end up wondering if I will be forgiven. I don’t feel worthy enough to be saved or good enough to be pardoned, and sometimes a darkness overwhelms my soul. It’s a frightening thing to fear God and to think that He will harshly judge me.

And then, just as I need it most, the Spirit leads me to a biblical verse which turns out to be a wonderful promise of God’s grace in action. Even as a pastor, I need to hear God speak to my soul. And He does today through these wonderful words of Hosea. It’s as if God is saying to me: “I will heal your waywardness and love you freely, for my anger has turned away from you.”

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the movie, ‘Amazing Grace.’ It’s all about William Wilberforce, the great anti-slave trade opponent who gave his life seeking to abolish slavery throughout Britain and her colonies. In one scene from the movie, Wilberforce is seen talking to John Newton, the slave trader turned preacher. Newton is agonizing over his sinful past and despairingly expresses his deep regrets. At one moment, he is almost overwhelmed with his past wickedness. Then he boldly declares: “I know two things – I am a great sinner and that Christ is a Great Savior.”

We all carry burdens of past mistakes and each of us have moments when we feel our guilt before God. But His grace through Jesus Christ is so almighty and complete, that all our sins can be forgiven, our past burdens can be relieved, and our future hopes can be restored. We just need to come to Christ in prayer to receive these wonderful blessings.

Prayer: Father God, we know that we offend, disappoint, and anger You with our sinful ways and selfish choices. We confess to doing stupid things and making serious mistakes. We seek Your mercy and forgiveness through Christ’s sacrifice and grace. In His Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor at Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.