Demise. Mark 15:33-37.
And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold he is calling Elijah.”And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.”And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.
Dear Friends of Jesus,
Jesus had already been on the cross for three hours. Experts have determined that crucifixion was one of the most brutal methods of execution, because of the excruciating, unrelenting pain it caused. It is unbelievable that some victims actually lasted days.
Darkness (v. 33). There was darkness for three hours that afternoon. This cannot be explained by a solar eclipse. But something did happen to shield the sun. This darkness precedes the darkest hour in history, when the innocent Son of God is about to die, but also recalls the plague of darkness that covered the land of Egypt for three days before the Passover lamb was slaughtered and the people of Israel were freed from bondage (Exodus 10:21-23), just as also Christ the Passover lamb was about to die.
Despair (v. 34-36). Jesus had known all along that this hour would come. Yet the intensity of the experience still shocked him. On the cross, the Son carried the sins of humanity and the Father distanced himself from the Son, as his holiness could not abide sin. Jesus’ cry was not out of ignorance but a declaration that the Father had abandoned the Son because of the sins the Son carried. Bystanders, probably visitors from foreign lands and who did not understand the native Aramaic language that Jesus used, mistakenly thought he was appealing for help from the Prophet Elijah.
Death (v. 37). The death of Jesus is stated in one brief sentence. But the magnitude of it in history is incomparable. The death of the Son of God, itself a paradox, was the payment needed to ransom humanity from slavery to sin. Christ the Passover lamb died that we may be freed from the “Egypt” of sin. Remember that the Israelites had to apply the blood of the Passover lamb to the doorposts and lintel (Exodus 12:7) in order for the angel of death to pass over them. We likewise have to apply the blood of Christ our Passover lamb to our lives by faith. This we do by acknowledging our sinfulness, believing that Jesus paid for our sins when he died on the cross, and surrendering our lives to him. If you have not done that, it does not matter how good you have tried to be, you are still in “Egypt.”
Your Loving Pastor Chris.