My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?Mark 15:34

Though Jesus spoke these words from the cross, they were not original to him or to that moment.  These words rise from the mouth of the writer of the 22nd Psalm.  In that Psalm, the writer begins by crying out in pain, but ends the Psalm with a shout of deliverance,  “From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly.”  Those who knew the Psalm would have known that Jesus’ words point to both the pain and the hope.  On this Maundy Thursday, may we look upon the cross, not ignoring its pain, and trusting in its hope and its power to deliver.  

PRAYER:  Lord, as we approach the darkness of the cross, remind us