What A Savior!

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

WHAT A SAVIOR

Mark 15:33-36

33 At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at 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?"    35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah." 36 One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said.

NIV

Some of those people just did not understand what Jesus actually said. They  thought he was calling out for Elijah, but that of course we know is simply not true. It is interesting as those who were insulting Jesus about saving himself were using a verse from the twenty-second Psalm which stated “He trusts in the Lord, let the Lord rescue him, let him deliver him since he delights in him.” It is even more interesting that these words Jesus yelled out were from the first verse of that very same Psalm. It appears Jesus was answering those Jews who were insulting him about being the Christ; about if he was he could rescue himself, as that Psalm was known to be speaking about the Messiah. There has also been much discussion about why Jesus felt God had forsaken him, but again, was Jesus just using that verse of the Psalm to answer back those insults or did he actually fell as though God had forsaken him? Some have said the deity had left Jesus at that moment, but then if that was true there would be no atonement for our sins, for only deity can atone for sin. So much has been said about these words of Jesus, but what we might also see is that they were people who did not understand exactly what he said. Why did they misunderstand and think he was calling for Elijah? The words he spoke had Aramaic and Hebrew roots which the Jews surely understood, but some did not. Is this not the case today? There are people who, not only do not understand what Jesus says, but misinterpret what he says, claiming he said things he did not, and that he did not say what he did. There are also people who are standing around waiting for Jesus to prove he is who he is, let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down. We have all the proof we need, we know Jesus is who he is, and we know that he was fully man and fully deity and we know that God did not forsake him, for he was accomplishing the very plan of God and God would never leave nor forsake him, as God has said many times to his people. That is Gods promise, therefore Jesus knew God would not forsake him, so it has to come back to his answering those who spoke against his deity, proving he was in fact the Messiah and he was about to accomplished the one act that would bring about the atonement of their, and our, sin, bringing salvation to the world. All the teaching, all the truth and wisdom Jesus was full of during those years he walked among his people, did not leave him at this time, he was fully aware, not having taken the mind numbing drink offered before being crucified. He was completely aware of his words, and was still proving his deity. What a Savior!