Courage to Live Faith
When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15: 33-34).
Have you ever felt betrayed? Have you ever felt abandoned?
On this Good Friday, we remember the death of Jesus on the cross, crucified as a criminal. Mark tells us that before Jesus died, he cried out to God, feeling abandoned.
In this moment of feeling abandoned, Jesus turned to God and asked God, “why?” In so doing, Jesus was teaching all of us who seek to follow him and be faithful to him, that we too, can turn to God when we face betrayal and abandonment. We too can turn to God in the midst of our troubles, even when we can’t see into the future.
During the more than a year when we have been dealing with this pandemic, we have been in the midst of troubles. We have isolated from others. We have seen those we love get sick and too many have died. Our patterns for life and worship have been interrupted. We have been exposed to the systematic racism that too many in our society have been dealing with for far too long.
We know what it is like to feel lonely. We know what its like to feel overwhelmed. We know the deep yearning to reconnect with others. We know what it is like to feel pain from the brokenness of our world. We know how difficult this time has been.
May we, during the challenging moments of our life, follow the lead of Jesus. May we continue to turn to God and place our life in God’s hands. May we find ways to be honest with ourselves and with God.
Prayer
Loving God, thank you for seeing us, for caring for us, for coming to us. In those moments when we have a hard time experiencing you, help us to continue to turn to you. Deepen our love for you. Deepen our love for those around us, who are also loved by you. Give us the courage to live our faith, in difficult times of life and not just in times when life is easy. In the hope Jesus offers us, Amen.