Separation

Scriptures: ’From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. 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?” ’ (Matthew 27:45-46)

Some time ago, when we were having dinner one night, all of a sudden, all the lights in the house went off. Everyone at the table sprang into action right away. Some stepped out of the house to see if our neighbors had power; some struggled through the house trying to find a candle; and I felt my way up the stairs to grab a flashlight.

After I found the flashlight, I also stepped out of the house to take a look at our community. Except some lights of the cars passing by on the streets, it was a pitch dark, including the traffic lights. Then, one after another, we started to see some candles lit up and you could hear people calling the power company and talking about whatever just happened.

Darkness is a scary thing. When power is out, you can’t see a thing; you don’t know what’s ahead of you and what you might be running into; and you don’t know what might come out to harm you. Darkness prevents people from seeing things clearly as they are and contributes to the promulgation of evil things.

As a result, in bible, darkness has always been associated with sin. For example, in John 3:19, the bible says, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” People under the power and authority of sin are described as “the people living in darkness.” (Matthew 4:16)

In today’s passage, Matthew said that there was darkness over all the land when Jesus was hung on the cross. This happened from noon time to about 3 o’clock in the afternoon, a time when it’s supposed to be bright. It would seem reasonable that, during this period of time, the holy Son of God carried the sins of all of us.

Paul said, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (II Corinthians 5:21) It was precisely at this point in time that our Lord Jesus took on all our sins and, as such, was forsaken by our heavenly Father.

The holy Father and the holy Son, who had always been one and never been separate, were separated for some time for our sins. I cannot even imagine the kind of pain He endured then. Yet, because God loves us, He took the initiative to pay the penalty of sin, i.e. separation from God, for us so that we will not be separated from God.

As we come close to the Good Friday, let’s ponder on the meaning and significance of the saving grace of God. The salvation of God is more than saving us out of the power of sin. It actually includes the redemption that brings us into the family of God and makes us children of our heavenly Father. We need to remember that, when it comes to redemption, a huge price was paid to redeem us on our behalf.

We did receive the salvation free. But that doesn’t mean that God paid no price for it. On the contrary, He did. So, since we were bought with great price, what must our life style be to deserve such a love and grace? The cross still stands to remind us of this undying love of God and of this amazing grace of our Lord Jesus. While so many around us are still in darkness, let’s not keep this good news to ourselves. As the psalmist said, “Sing to the Lord, praise His name; proclaim His salvation day after day.” (Psalm 96:2)

Prayer Requests:
For those fearful of what life may bring them.

Prayer:
Our loving God, thank You for Jesus, the Lamb of God, who endured the wrath of God for our sins. As we meditate on what our Lord accomplished on the cross on Calvary, help us be motivated to share this wonderful news with everyone that comes our way as an offering of thanksgiving to You. In the wonderful name of our Lord Jesus we pray, Amen!