Today we begin our Lenten message series called Red Letter Day. If you don’t know what a red letter Bible is, it is a Bible where the words of Jesus are printed in red so that they stand out and are easy to see. The first red letter edition of the Bible was published in 1899 and I have to say that it is handy because if you are looking for a teaching or quote of Jesus, it’s easy to find them. The idea of the red letters was to emphasize the teaching of Jesus, but clearly all of God’s word is important for us to read and consider.
Of all the red letters, or words of Jesus, some of the most powerful are the ones he spoke from the cross, and those are the ones we want to reflect on these next few weeks. They might be red letters on the page, but there were truly red letters because they were spoken while the red blood of Jesus flowed down the cross. That’s the setting for each of these final words. Jesus had been betrayed by one of his friends, abandoned by all of his disciples, falsely accused by the religious leaders, and sentenced to die by crucifixion. Matthew 27:37-44
It’s a pretty traumatic scene. Not only is Jesus suffering physically, but emotionally as well. The sign over his head said King of the Jews which is who he was, but they placed it there not to identify him but to mock him. The crowds made fun of him as they passed by and the religious leaders stood around Jesus and taunted him by saying, Hey Jesus, you trusted in God - let him save you. Where is your God now? Are you going to keep trusting him now?
Maybe you have asked yourself this very question, where is God now? How can I trust God when I am suffering through all these problems? It’s easy to trust God when things are going well, but when things are uncertain, when things are beyond our ability to control and direct, when we are struggling with life, and health, and relationships, it’s hard to place our full confidence in God. In the dark times it is hard for us to not feel like God has walked away. As difficult as this moment was for Jesus, things were about to get really dark - literally. Matthew 27:45-46.
As if all the people turning against Jesus weren’t enough, now the sun refused to shine on him, and it is in the dark that Jesus cried out, God, why have you forsaken me? In all the years that I have read this passage, I never noticed that Jesus did not refer to God as Abba, or father, like he normally did, he used the word Eli, which simply means God. It’s as if Jesus feels that the relationship with his father has slipped away. The love and care is not there. It’s in the dark that Jesus feels alone, abandoned, and truly forsaken. And so many of us have been there - in the dark, feeling lost, alone, and abandoned. As a pastor, I have often heard people ask that painful, gut wrenching question, Where is God? Why has he forsaken me?
My first funeral was for a still born child. He was perfectly formed, but never took a breath in this world. A few years ago I was in a similar situation and held an infant that never took a breath in this world. I found myself asking God, why? Where are you in this?
In the midst of cancer, accidents, suicides, and child abuse, I have heard people ask - God where are you? Have you forsaken us? When jobs are lost, and relationships crumble, and teenagers turn away, and a once bright and promising future comes crashing down, we have cried out and we have heard people cry out to God in the dark, Why? God, why have you forsaken me?
As people share their stories of these dark places, or I walk through it with them, most of the time, I have no answers. Sure, I can talk about a fallen world and the consequences of sin, or I can say that sometimes bad things happen to good people, and that unfortunately accidents just happen, but I have no real answer to the question - why. When I have found myself in these dark places and asked myself this same question, I don’t have any answers. Sometimes there just are no answers.
In 1 Corinthians 13:12 Paul says, For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
In Isaiah 55:8-9 God says to us, My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As much as we want answers, and as much as we want everything to work out like a hallmark movie - life and faith is not like that - and so in the dark we cry out to God. If Jesus can cry out to God in the dark and ask, God where are you? Then it’s ok for us to do the same thing. But it’s in those moments of despair, when we think God has forsaken us, that we have to hold on to this one simple truth, God is still with us.
When you look at these red letters, what do you see?
NOWHERE
In the difficult times, that is often what we feel, that God is nowhere. This is what Jesus felt, that God was nowhere to be found. When the sun refused to shine, God was nowhere. But what if these same red letters actually say: NOW HERE
Even in the dark, God is here, and if God is here then here are three truths we need to remember.
God is Good God is For Me God is With Me
For several months now David has opened our time of worship with the refrain - God is good (All the time) and All the time (God is good). We join right in and say it, but do we believe it? Can we trust that God is good even when things around us aren’t good? Is God still good when we are in the dark? I’ll let Jesus answer that question. No one is good—except God alone. Mark 10:18
If God is good, then God is always good, even when we are in the dark places. When we are questioning where God is, and struggling with the challenges of life, we need to remind ourselves that God is good (all the time).
Can you think of a time in your own life when God was good? Better yet, write down all the times when God has been good so that during the difficult times when you think God is nowhere to be found you will remember that because God is good, God is now here.
God is Good. God is for me.
Romans 8:31, if God is for us, who can be against us?
God is for us. God is our advocate, He supports us, He sustains us, He fights for us, and He comforts us. In all that we go through - God is for us. Paul goes on and asks the question we all ask. Is god for us all the time or are there times when God is not for us and we are separated from God. Is there anything, any dark or difficult thing, any sin or failure, anything at all that keep God from us? Paul answers his own question with a resounding - NO.
In all things we are MORE than conquerors because God is with us and it is God’s love that makes all the difference. God’s love doesn’t always change our circumstances, but it can give us hope and strength in the circumstances because the power of God is there for us. Knowing God is for us helps us see that instead of feeling like God is nowhere, He is actually now here.
God is Good. God is for me. God is with me.
In the Old Testament, when the people of Israel stepped into the Promised Land they were going to face struggles and difficult days, so God said to them, Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6
And when Jesus left his disciples, and they were unsure of all that was going to happen to them, He said, I am with you always. Jesus promised to never leave us and to never forsake us. Even in those dark moments when we might turn away from God, God does not turn away from us. He is with us. He is NOW HERE, and always will be.
What helps us go from feeling like God is nowhere to trusting that God is now here is knowing God and it’s trusting that:
God is Good - God is for me - God is with me.
When we remember this, and cling to this, it helps us trust God in those dark times, and it’s that trust which helps us not ask WHY, but WHAT. God what are you doing? Help me see what you are doing in this situation so that I can cling to you and your goodness, your strength, and your love.
Let’s go back and ask that question as Jesus cried to God from the cross, God, why have you forsaken me. What is God doing here? People have been asking this question since this red letter day, and the best answer we get comes from the Apostle Paul.
2 Corinthians 5:21. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
If Jesus became sin, if He took on Himself the sin of the world, then in these moments of darkness, God turns away. The holiness of God turns away from Jesus, and the reason God does this is so that He will never have to turn away from His children again. If Jesus becomes sin, and dies for sin once, and or all of creation, then truly God will never have to turn away from His children again. God doesn’t abandon us in our sin because of Jesus. God doesn’t ever forsake us because of Jesus. Jesus cried out in darkness so that we will never have to, and we don’t have to because God is good, and God is for us, and God is with us.
While this is a genuine cry of anguish from Jesus, we know that somewhere in Jesus' mind and heart - He still trusts God. We know this because these words come from the beginning of Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?
While these red letter words reflect the real struggle of Jesus, He would also have remembered the end of Psalm 22. They will proclaim his deliverance, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!
Jesus knew it was a dark day, but He also knew that the light of deliverance was coming. He felt as if God was nowhere and he knew that in this moment God would redeem the world.
If you are in a dark place and asking why God has forsaken you, if you are thinking God is nowhere to be found, and that God’s help is never going to come your way, then remember these three unchanging truths. God is good. God is for me. God is with me.
Next Steps
Red Letter Day - Why have you forsaken me?
Read Matthew 27:37-46.
Reflect on all that is going on around Jesus. Ask yourself why Jesus might be struggling to trust God at this moment? When have you struggled to trust that God is with you?
Read Isaiah 55:8-9, Romans 8:31-39, Deuteronomy 31:6
Remember a time when:
● God was good. How does remembering that moment help you trust God in this moment? Write down all the times you can remember when God was good even if the circumstances were not.
● God was for you. How did it feel to know that God was in your corner even if no one else was? How did that give you confidence or courage to keep going? Where do you need to know that God is for you today?
● God was with you. How can remembering that experience give you confidence that God is with you today? How can you see that God is NOW HERE?
Instead of asking God, Why, ask God, What?
● What are you doing in this situation?
● What do you want me to learn about you? Me?
● What do you want me to do?
● What can I remember to help me trust you more?
Who do you know that might be in a dark place today? How can you remind them that God is good, that God is for them, and that God is with them? How can you comfort and encourage them, and bring God’s light into their darkness?
Ask God to show you those areas in your life where you feel alone and abandoned. Ask Him to bring you the assurance of his comfort, and healing.
