“Forsaken me!?” The cry echoed hauntingly over the crowd at the muddy foot of the Hill of the Skull. Jesus’ head lowered slowly bearing with it the sin of the world. The Godman who had never sinned, now became the sin of everyone. Every feeling, hate, greed, lust, agony…shame, came crashing down on this perfect man. The light inside slowly flickered and died leaving behind an utterly sinful man. Jesus’ heart ached with such pain, not only did he now feel every sin every human being had and would ever commit, his Father — Daddy — had left him, completely, not able to look now upon his own son’s face. In Jesus’ greatest hour of need, His greatest strength had turned His back.
As the man on the cross writhed under the crushing weight of the guilt and hopeless pain, He saw you. Through the haze in his mind he remembered me. Through the ache of losing everything and being reduced to nothing, he saw us. Feeling the world’s evil as if he alone had committed each and every sin, he persevered because he saw you and me. Then with every last bit of strength he cried out a death cry, sealing evil’s fate to die with the man and never be raised again.
To the Father who had forsaken him, He now gave His soul, trusting completely the plan and love His God. The story now complete, the bridge restored. With great pleasure, God took the temple curtain and with all the power of His love ripped away the barrier. And although they futilely tried to sew it back up, that curtain could never be restored. In the mind of God, nothing but ourselves could ever separate us from Him again.
