4th Last Word Reflection
April 8, 2008This is the reflection I gave on the Fourth Last Word. Some people were asking about it, so I decided to type it up.
J M J
By: Ryan-Joseph Resurrección
4th Word - “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
I. St. Matthew 27: 45 - 46
“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’”
II. Where were you?
In essence, on the surface, isn’t that what Jesus is asking? Amid the trials and tribulations of life, how often do we ask ourselves, others, and God - where were you? It is our human but more so our familial natures that craves community. We long to be with others and share our experiences, and when we are deprived of a community that gives trust, affection, and intimacy we feel abandoned, left out, — just a nobody and we scream out in anguish - WHERE WERE YOU?
It’s interesting to point out that in all of the gospels, this fourth last word is found only in two of the synoptic gospels; an echo of the 21st Psalm. The word that is used in the original Greek is εγκατελιπες - egkatelipes which means forsaken, abandon, desert; leave, leave behind; neglect; however, closely related are the Greek words, from the same root; εγκαλεω - egkaleo which means bring charge against, accuse and the word εγκακεο - egkakeo which means to become discouraged, to tire of. Why would I bring this up? When we look at situations that seem hopeless, aren’t those some of the emotions we feel inside - deserted, accused, and discouraged? Given these things to ponder, let us put it aside briefly.
As we look at the story again, both St. Matthew and St Mark set the scene for us. “There was darkness over the whole land.” Darkness - σκοτος à which also has the meaning of sin, also plagues our lives when we feel forsaken. The world seems like a dark - wretched place, where “everyone is out to get me;” when those we loved and trusted have abandoned us. We all know what it is like to feel deserted and left behind. It is a feeling that plagues our very being when we cannot have the “thing” we want most or the “thing” we wanted and cherished is taken away from us. Look at Martha and Mary when they lost Lazarus or the Apostles when they were going to sink in the storm they cried to the Lord - Where were you? We end up feeling hurt, lost, angry, sad, betrayed, confused, and forsaken: when a material thing I want is refused, when my grades are failing, when I didn’t get that promotion I earned, when my spouse cheats or ignores me, when my relative’s health is declining, when my son / daughter is sent to war and I can’t be with them to protect them, when a loved one of mine has died and my family is at a tremendous loss, when I just don’t get what I want, when I want it, the all too common phrase reemerges - “WHERE WERE YOU!?”
So why is the God-man, Jesus, bringing this crisis up? He brings it up not because he was despairing, but because he had to feel the pain and torture that humanity inflicts upon itself through sin, in order to remedy that pain and eternal death with mercy and eternal life. Archbishop Fulton Sheen wrote in his book Life of Christ, Man rejected God; so now He willed to feel that rejection. Man turned away from God; now He, who was God united personally with a human nature, willed to feel in that human nature that awful wrench as if He Himself were guilty. Earth had already abandoned Him by lifting His cross above it; heaven had already abandoned Him by veiling itself in darkness; and yet suspended between both, He united both.
What seems to be Christ’s “complaint” on the cross is and should inevitably be our response to the darkest moments in our lives, not necessarily - Where were you, rather abandonment to the Holy Will of God, not certain of what will happen in the future, but having the faith that with God’s grace it will all be alright.
This word relates to the age old philosophical question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” - I’m not here to answer that, but it is a valid question that we ask amid the challenges in our lives. It’s easy to say in the difficulties and when things don’t go our way - Where were you God? - thus coining the saying of Friedrich Nietzsche - “God is dead; and we have killed him.” Sometimes we put ourselves in darkness, we become cynical and refuse to be comforted. We have killed God and at times be gods on our own with our own creations. What happens if after our “creations” have served us, it also turns on us as we ourselves have turned and killed the Ultimate Creator. What happens when our “creations” which will make us wealthier, successful, and famous bring about disease, derision, division, and disunity? When we are plagued by individualism, commercialism, materialism, moral relativism, and blind conformity and things aren’t as planned we look for our scapegoat - God-WHERE WERE YOU GOD!?
I invite you to close your eyes. Come upon the scene of the crucifixion amid the taunts and misguided ideals. There is Christ on the Cross, hands and feet bound and pierced, bloody - one festering sore - all alone. His eyes look above the crowd that has gathered and his eyes lock with yours and all the feelings of resentment, pain, and difficulty surface. What does he say to you? Blood and sweat dripping, do you see him? He longs for community - he longs for you - but he is tied down and nailed down by the terms that society has imposed upon him. He breathes deeply and gasps and pants for air while others laugh, others weep bitterly, do you hear him? In a society that rejects God and puts him on a cross, how do we react amid the mockery and stripping of dignity? You can’t help to be in his presence and have all the bottled feelings of when you too have been hurt, blamed, forsaken, when all the horrible things that happen in your life bubble up inside you and you scream - Where were YOU God!? He breathes softly and responds - Right by your side. When you were screaming at the top of your lungs in anger at me; I was with you in the silence. When you were lost and tried to find me in alcohol, drugs, lust, money, materials, and the riches of the world; I found you when you were humble and the most vulnerable. When you felt alone and forgotten; I was the gentle breeze across your face whispering, “It’ll be alright.” Where was I, I was with you, right here in your heart. And he turns and questions us, in my preaching, in my teaching, in my sharing, in my loving, in my ministry, in my passion and resurrection, in my whole ordeal - not so much where were you, rather, Where are you!?
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Holy Week | Tagged: abandoned, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, discouraged, forsaken, Life of Christ, Mark, matthew, Seven Last Words | 
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Posted by rresurreccion
