Well, this is a few days late, but I didn't take the time to write over the holiday weekend!
Last Friday I attended the "Last Seven Words of Christ" service. I love, love, love this service! Every year in Bloomington, Illinois, seven different preachers (from seven different churches) speak for seven minutes (not a second more) on one of the last seven phrases of Jesus Christ. The last time I attended, I was very pregnant. And man, did I have outlook on life at that point! I went into the service Friday with a crazy anticipation of expecting to find hope. And the Lord did not disappoint! :)
I'm going to delve a little into the 1st, 4th and 7th phrases of Christ here:
1: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing. Luke 23:33-34
4: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Matthew 27:46-47
7: Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Luke 23:46
Here's my favorite nugget from the service. At the beginning, on that cross, Jesus was still with His Father. The trinity was in place. And then it wasn't. God turned away. He had to. I canNOT imagine how that would feel. To be connected since the beginning of time and to have that connection severed in the most horrible of ways...And then, before he died, the relationship within the trinity was united. The Father/Son relationship was back.
That was my hope. When Jesus said his final statement, his voice was strong. It was not the voice of the conquered. It was the voice of a conqueror. He didn't just die on there, a wounded man. He, of his own volition, gave his spirit back up to His Father.
I know there is this idea that we have Good Friday and then on Saturday, God is silent and then on Sunday, glorious Sunday, Jesus rises. We pertain this to our own lives in times of trial: we suffer, or turn away, God is silent and then we have our rising/reconciliation/answer. But what if God wasn't silent on Saturday? What if that glorious reconciliation of Father/Son/Spirit on Friday rocked the heavens? Or consisted of the biggest hug in history? (Note: I do NOT mean to be scandalous here...I'm just thinking with my fingertips!)
I know Jesus did not ascend until later, and this is all hypothetical: but I believe the relationship was repaired and whole on Friday when Jesus spoke his last. I believe that God was so excited for that empty tomb to be discovered and Jesus knew what would happen in a few short hours and the Holy Spirit was just waiting to reign down SOON. I think for God it was the most anticipatory of days...but I don't think it was a silent one. I think his waiting was over.
I needed to find hope in the crucifixion on Friday. I couldn't wait for a silent Saturday and a risen Sunday. And somehow God knew that and a gift was given to me last Friday. The gift of a glimpse of a relationship repaired. A glimpse of the reuniting of the Creator and His Son. A glimpse of just how loving God is that as soon as he could come back to Jesus...he did.
Jesus died...but in the most hopeful of ways. And prior to really studying those words last week I didn't associate the cross with hope in that way. I focused on my sin that held him there, when God turned away. I lost sight of the fact that God came back.
That fills me with such hope it almost overflows. God came back. And friends, because he had to leave Jesus...he doesn't ever have to leave YOU. I hope that makes YOU overflow with hope too...
Last Friday I attended the "Last Seven Words of Christ" service. I love, love, love this service! Every year in Bloomington, Illinois, seven different preachers (from seven different churches) speak for seven minutes (not a second more) on one of the last seven phrases of Jesus Christ. The last time I attended, I was very pregnant. And man, did I have outlook on life at that point! I went into the service Friday with a crazy anticipation of expecting to find hope. And the Lord did not disappoint! :)
I'm going to delve a little into the 1st, 4th and 7th phrases of Christ here:
1: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing. Luke 23:33-34
4: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Matthew 27:46-47
7: Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Luke 23:46
Here's my favorite nugget from the service. At the beginning, on that cross, Jesus was still with His Father. The trinity was in place. And then it wasn't. God turned away. He had to. I canNOT imagine how that would feel. To be connected since the beginning of time and to have that connection severed in the most horrible of ways...And then, before he died, the relationship within the trinity was united. The Father/Son relationship was back.
That was my hope. When Jesus said his final statement, his voice was strong. It was not the voice of the conquered. It was the voice of a conqueror. He didn't just die on there, a wounded man. He, of his own volition, gave his spirit back up to His Father.
I know there is this idea that we have Good Friday and then on Saturday, God is silent and then on Sunday, glorious Sunday, Jesus rises. We pertain this to our own lives in times of trial: we suffer, or turn away, God is silent and then we have our rising/reconciliation/answer. But what if God wasn't silent on Saturday? What if that glorious reconciliation of Father/Son/Spirit on Friday rocked the heavens? Or consisted of the biggest hug in history? (Note: I do NOT mean to be scandalous here...I'm just thinking with my fingertips!)
I know Jesus did not ascend until later, and this is all hypothetical: but I believe the relationship was repaired and whole on Friday when Jesus spoke his last. I believe that God was so excited for that empty tomb to be discovered and Jesus knew what would happen in a few short hours and the Holy Spirit was just waiting to reign down SOON. I think for God it was the most anticipatory of days...but I don't think it was a silent one. I think his waiting was over.
I needed to find hope in the crucifixion on Friday. I couldn't wait for a silent Saturday and a risen Sunday. And somehow God knew that and a gift was given to me last Friday. The gift of a glimpse of a relationship repaired. A glimpse of the reuniting of the Creator and His Son. A glimpse of just how loving God is that as soon as he could come back to Jesus...he did.
Jesus died...but in the most hopeful of ways. And prior to really studying those words last week I didn't associate the cross with hope in that way. I focused on my sin that held him there, when God turned away. I lost sight of the fact that God came back.
That fills me with such hope it almost overflows. God came back. And friends, because he had to leave Jesus...he doesn't ever have to leave YOU. I hope that makes YOU overflow with hope too...
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