The View from the West Mesa

Seven Last Words “My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?” Jesus is coming to the end of His task. He has been on this cross for almost six hours. He has experienced repeated insult, injury, frustration, and even abandonment by both His disciples and the leaders of the People of God. From a human perspective, He has come almost to the end of His rope. Almost, but not quite. The end will come quickly now. Many smart people have pondered the meaning of these words, and have come to the conclusion that we simply don’t know their  full meaning. The conundrum arises from a central tenet of Christian theology—that God is One, and He cannot be split into parts. Given this understanding, it is simply impossible for God to have forsaken God; for there to have been a rift in the Trinity. And so He hasn't.  This utterance isn’t from Jesus’ divinity, but from His humanity. He is tired, and He has been doing what He came to do—all the suffering, all the not-answering-...

Seven Last Words “Woman, behold thy son.” Jesus spent his last evening washing feet, giving last-minute encouragement to his disciples, praying in the garden while the disciples slept, and then betrayed and standing a religious trial. At dawn, He had been taken to Pilate and experienced the leaders of His people yelling, “We have no God but Caesar!” After enduring an exchange of question and answer, He was finally turned over for crucifixion in return for a notorious insurrectionist. Beaten and insulted by the Roman soldiers, He now finds Himself hanging on a cross, being jeered yet again by those who should know better. Before He dies, there is one last detail He needs to handle. He has to make arrangements for mom. Jesus is her oldest son, and some believe her only son. In the culture of the day,   she will not have anyone to care for her when He’s dead. It is his responsibility to make sure she is   entrusted to someone. Looking down from the cross, he sees...

Seven Last Words “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” Jesus is crucified between criminals. These folks are called thieves in Scripture, but the word used, lestes, might more accurately be translated as “robber.” A robber  doesn't  just take things surreptitiously like a thief might. A robber confronts his victims and may well use violence or even murder to take what they want. These two  weren't  second story men or petty thieves being crucified for taking someone’s VCR. These guys were violent men who may have been part of Barabbas’ group of insurrectionists. I review all that to shed some light on who these guys were. They would have fit in the list of people Paul has told us would “never enter the Kingdom of God.”  These were men who had committed considerable crimes. Unfortunately, they had been caught by on e of the most brutal regimes the world has known. Not only was life worth very little, but it could be taken seemingly at a whim b...

Seven Last Words “Forgive them because they do not know what they are doing.” Forgiveness, what is it? All relationships involve the need for acceptance of another, acceptance of hurt, and acceptance of reconciliation. All healthy relationships require that I let you into my life as an imperfect person, willing to experience your failings even toward me. We often see parents urge their children to say “I’m sorry” for relatively minor infractions, with the expectation that the person they have affronted would say something like, “It’s OK, I forgive you.” This is a great practice because it teaches kids that other people, their stuff, and their feelings are important and aren’t to be taken for granted. If all works well, the kids also get to see humility and forgiveness modeled for them. Forgiveness though brings with it the idea of releasing a debt; of letting go of hurt; of blame. It includes a realization that we are all fallen creatures and perhaps even accepting that...

For those of you who still need your devotional guide for Lent this year, here is a list of online, free, and downloadable devotionals. They come from a variety of faith orientations and organizations, so look at them with that in mind. There might be something here for you. The fourth link below uses two rows, so you might need to cut and paste it. Have fun! http://www.belmont.edu/religion/files/lenten_devotional_guide.pdf http://www.thehighcalling.org/sites/default/files/Lenten_0.pdf http://images.rca.org/docs/discipleship/Lent2013-Devotionals.pdf http://s3.amazonaws.com/storage.nm-storage.com/goodshepherdva/downloads/2013LentenDevotional_pdf_Adobe_Acrobat_Standard.pdf http://www.christchurchoflbk.org/downloads/2013-Lent-Devotional-Guide.pdf http://storage.cloversites.com/h2ochurch/documents/The%20Anchor%20Lent%20Devotional_final2013.pdf http://www.endhunger.org/PDFs/2013-Lenten-Booklet.pdf http://bmpc.org/images/newandmedia_pdfs/LentenDevotionals2013_FINAL_.pdf http://w...