Always Connected

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

ALWAYS CONNECTED

Matt 27:45-46

45 From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. 46 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?"   

NIV

Volumes have been written about these words of Jesus and every writer has their own opinion as to what was the meaning of these words. Much has been said about whether the words “Eloi, Eloi, Lama sabachthani” was Hebrew or a form of an older Hebrew or some form of Aramaic and even some have worked those words around and proposed they were not recorded as accurate as they were spoken, so then these writers used words that were close, with just a few letters different so as to make the words of Jesus mean something else, such as “My God, to what sort of people have you left me”. It is not that we think these writers have not spent their time in research, but perhaps there is another approach. The traditional opinion is that Jesus felt like his Father had left him at that moment. Some would say that Jesus was left in his flesh, so to speak, that his divinity left him so that he felt alone and without God. But that could not be farther from the truth. If the divinity left Jesus, then his sacrifice on the cross was for nothing. Only through the divine, Christ is His redemptive work accomplished. We think we have to back up a few scriptures to something the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders said to Jesus. They said, “He trusts in God, let God rescue him now”. This is the eighth verse of Psalm 22, in which the whole of the psalm speaks directly about the Messiah.

Ps 22:8

8 "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him."

NIV

We also believe Jesus was and still is teaching, even from the cross, that he is revealing his identity, his divinity, and that he is the Messiah. So in response to the Jews quoting from the 22^nd Psalm, Jesus quotes the first verse back to them, showing them who he really is.

Ps 22:1

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me,

NIV

God would never leave Jesus alone, for Jesus is God, as Thomas was aware of in the closed room when Jesus told him to put his finger in His wounds. God has promised never to leave us nor forsake us, and if God left and had forsaken Jesus then we could not be sure that in our hour of need God would also leave and forsake us. This thinking that God left or had forsaken Jesus simply cannot work in consideration of all other scriptures. How can the three in one not always be one? How can one leave itself? At this very moment, the Spirit was also within Jesus, for it was not until Jesus gave him up. Of course, that Greek word, pneuma, can simply mean breath, a current of air, however, it has also been used to mean the Holy Spirit. Either way, Jesus is in charge of the situation and is always in connection with the Father and the Spirit. This is the assurance that we have. God will never leave nor forsake us, not ever, no matter what. We are always in connection with God and God is always in connection with us.