For(Your)sake

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭27:46‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

My son is almost 11 months old. No I can’t believe it, and yes it does feel like he was born yesterday. I could not begin to use words in any language to describe how deeply my love for him runs. He epitomises the grace of God in my life. I can not believe, God chose me, to steward this soul. I will be grateful, forever. One of the things that comes with loving someone so deeply, is the irrational, automatic yearn to protect them from anything and everything. Anything SLIGHTLY unsafe must be nowhere near him at ANY point, ever. And I know for certain, I am not the only parent who has ever felt this way. It is what lead me to one of my FAVOURITE purchases before my son was born. His baby monitor. It’s a video camera that I have connected to my iPad so I can see everything he is doing when he is in his room alone. Monitors like that are expensive, but they are worth every penny! I have peace because I know that I can hear him from another room, I can see him if he gets stuck or if he’s crying! It’s just genius and I am so grateful I have this tool!

But one of the coolest things about the monitor is the effect it has on my son. Remember I said this boy is incredible? Since he has been sleeping in his own room, I can count on one hand the times he has cried for myself or my husband when he has woken up. And even then, I don’t think it was a cry, he just made a noise that sounded remotely uncomfortable. He will just wait there. There have been occasions in the morning, where I have opened my eyes, looked at the monitor and just seen that he’s awake. I have no idea what time he wakes up I’m the morning. Not a clue. He just lays there, and waits to be collected. Even the times where I have seen him on the monitor and accidentally fallen back asleep for 5 (or 15) minutes! He knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that no matter how dark it is in his room, no matter how wet his nappy, no matter if it’s 5 or 15 minutes, somebody will come and get him. He knows, someone will come, because someone has always come, every single time. He doesn’t doubt us anymore. He is confident and so he has peace.

And by now you can probably get an idea of what has inspired me to write this piece. Today is Good Friday, the day Christian’s recognise that Jesus Christ, the saviour of the world, got on cross and sacrificed himself for us. For our sins, so we could live with the Father, forever and we could have a walking, talking, loving relationship with him on earth. And there are some of us, reading this, that either don’t know the significance of today, or definitely do not feel it. You’re not like my little boy. You do not have peace that God is coming. You are worried, tired and overwhelmed. The image of God in your mind is that he is either looking at your life and completely disinterested, or he can’t see you at all. Or you have done something so bad, so awful, that he refuses to look at you. You feel so strongly that you have been completely left behind by God, forgotten or for want of a better word forsaken. If that is you; please, please keep reading because I promise you, this could not be further away from the truth, the eyes of God are FIXED on you. They do not move, and I believe it was Him who brought you to this page.

We have to start with background on good Friday. I’ve said before that it’s the day we recognise as the day that Jesus died on the cross. He was betrayed by one of his closest friends, for money. He was scared to the point of death. He begged God to find another way to save us. But this was the only way. So he carried a cross that would have been multiple times heavier than him, up on a hill called Calvary. (The word Calvary in English translated to ‘skull’). They nailed him to a cross with nails believed to be 7–9 inches long. One in each wrist which would have severed the median nerve in the hand immediately. Causing continuous, agonising pain in the arms of Jesus, and one nailing both feet to his cross. As the cross was lifted, Jesus full weight would have been on his wrists, causing his elbows to dislocate. In this position, Jesus arms would have stretched a MINIMUM of 6 inches longer than they actually were. The dorsal pedal artery in his feet were severed just as in his hands, so if he tried to push up with his feet to relieve his arms, the would feel pain that is difficult to even describe. As Jesus hung on that cross, the weight of His body would have pulled down on his diaphragm and the air would have moved into His lungs and remained there. Jesus would have had to push up on His nailed feet just. to exhale.

A crown of thorns was placed on his head. In the pictures we see that he was covered with a cloth on the cross, but some scholars believe he was actually completely naked. He was mocked, spat at, wounded with a spear. The crowd goaded him to get himself down if he really was who he said he was. All while in the most pain a human being can physically endure. With Jesus not being able to exhale, with every breath, he was suffocating. When somebody suffocates it is a result of them not being able to dispel carbon dioxide from their body. Without getting too technical, this causes fluid to build up around the heart and lungs, damaging their heart. It is most likely, that Jesus died from a heart attack. In some cases of extreme suffocation, the heart has even been known to burst, known as a cardiac rupture. Jesus literally died because his heart was broken. He died what medical historians believe to be the most painful dearth ever invented my mankind. The word excruciating is actually derived from the word crucifixion. And he did that for us.

Just before he died, he said what would have been and probably will be the most devastating words that could ever be uttered by a human being. “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?””‭‭Matthew‬ ‭27:46‬ ‭NKJV‬‬. We may feel forsaken, we may say we have been forsaken, but Jesus is the only human being that has ever lived, that has ACTUALLY been forsaken by God. With the sin of every person that had ever, and will ever live. The perfect son, had become too filthy for even the father to look upon, so he turned his head away. He forsook Jesus, just for that moment. He looked away from him, and immediately after that, Jesus gave up his spirit and died.

But why did he do that? why did Jesus, the spotless, sinless son of God, Allow himself to carry such a weight of sin, that it caused the creator of the universe to look away from him? And WHY would God, maker of heaven and earth CHOOSE to look away from the only person to walk this earth that has never fallen short of His perfect standard. The reason is simple, but it’s weight will change you from the inside out. Your Heavenly Father looked away from Jesus so he would never, ever have to look away from you. Because he turned his head away, there has not been a moment in your life where the eyes of Yahweh God were not fixed, directly on you. The moment you begin to believe that, things that have held you hostage for years will begin to let you go. High, low, happy, sad, rich, poor, sickness, health, GOD creator God, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Perfect one has never taken his eyes of you. His feed is constant, and he cares. He looked away from Jesus, so he would never ever have to look away from you.

Jesus allowed himself to be completely destroyed, for this reason. He valued your soul so much, that if you were the only person to ever believe in him, to ever accept him as your lord and saviour, he still would have carried that cross to the place of the skull, and given up his life for you. You have nothing left to do but believe, nothing left to prove. Live like you were so valuable, God tore heaven in two to get to you. The western Germanic translation of forsaken is broken up into two sections. ‘for’ = completely. ‘Saken’ = Guilt, Blame, Shame, Sin. Isn’t that stunning? In being forsaken by God, Jesus was completely blamed, guilted and shamed. And COMPLETELY took on the sin of humanity. I can barely type those words when I think about this magnificent demonstration of love. He did all this for(YOUR)sake.

So this Good Friday, just as I always have my eyes on my little boy, because I paid the price to be able to do so. So did God. He paid the ultimate price to never have to look away from you a day in your life. He made sure of it, once and for all. So you walk with your head up, in peace that no matter how dark the season, God is never going to forsake you, because he already forsook Jesus. Be like my son, who is so confident we are going to come in to get him in the morning, he just lays there and waits for us to do what we have done every single day, he knows even though it looks like he is alone, he isn’t, and neither are you.

We love you so much.

Agape x