Happy Easter!

 Happy Easter from the girls. We went out to brunch this morning. I just love brunch. It is my favorite meal to eat. The girls didn't really want their pictures taken. I told them I need to capture how they grow so they held up how old they are on their fingers... 2 and 1/2 and 4 and 1/2. We can forget the 1/2's. Also Leighton is truly thoughtful. She loves to give gifts. She wrote me this note and surprise me with a necklace. She made Wes find an "adult" clasp chain and she put an Eiffel Tower charm on it. She did not want to use kid beads she said. Everything she does is intentional.

Later that day before church, the girls and I went to my friend Jamie's grandmother house. Her grandmother has been so kind to include us at several holiday meals. We terribly miss our family but thankful for friends' family to include us. She did the typical great-grandmother things such as send me with a plate of food for Wes to eat at church and an entire Bunny  cake. Jamie's sons are the same as age as the girls :) 

 We made a resurrection garden again this year. Leighton loved helping more than Sadie. They both enjoyed mowing. We again put a Jesus in it on Good Friday after we read the story of the crucifixion and then took it out on Sunday morning. The girls checked it this morning to see He was gone. It is an easy way to have conversations about the cross and resurrection. Thanks Pinterest.

Thursday a verse in question came up at the bible study I do with coworkers and then our pastor taught on it at our Good Friday service my chance ;) Here are some thoughts on it in case you have too been perplexed by the statement Jesus makes in Matthew 27:46 "My God My God Why have you forsaken me?"

Let's rewind a bit to Matthew 26:37-39. We see Jesus in such agony already in Gethsemane when he prays to God to take the cup from him.

First we can't view the cross as a demonstration only of Gods love in which he allowed soldiers to crucify His Son so that sinful man would know how much God cares for us. We are not saved from our sins because Jesus was falsely tried by officials and killed with nails. Since the day Jesus died, many Christians have died for their faith even singing praises as they were crucified. These people did not have more faith or courage than Jesus as they praised God on their way to the cross and Jesus was asking for it to be taken away.

So why is Jesus in such agony and pain here in Matt 26? The cup is not a reference to the wooden cross itself but divine judgment or Gods wrath. All of Gods wrath and hatred toward sin that had been stored up since the beginning of time and toward the sins that would be committed by us, was about to be poured out on Jesus. This is about to be put on His soul and He knows it. Not the physical pain that he is concerned.

So then we see Jesus literally cry out in Matt 27:45-46 asking God why He has been forsaken. It’s natural to say that maybe it’s a cry of Jesus showing perspective as a human who is enduring pain so that we can relate, or maybe a cry of despair, but this is a cry of what Jesus was actually experiencing.  Again the “darkness” that is spoken about in Matt 27:45 before this cry, is divine judgment. (See Exodus 10:21 and Amos 8:9). Then Jesus quotes Psalm 22:1 to again show he is fulfilling God’s promises spoken about in the Old Testament. He cries out next in Matt27:46 as a cry of physical agony AND a cry of spiritual anguish. Jesus feels the wrath of God. This is the only way we can have a loving and wrathful God at the same time. A God that loves us enough to hate sin and care that it is made right. A Just God. This is the picture of Gods Holy Anger in action. Jesus also cries out because he experiences relational alienation because he was separated from His father’s favor. Jesus experienced hell on the cross so you and I never have to. (2 Cor 5:21) 

It is more mind blowing the more I learn about how Jesus death went down and his supernatural resurrection. If he did conquer death then their would be no need to worship Him at all. He would have been a false prophet like the people who crucified him said. Have a good day reflecting on His glory!