You Are Never Alone

March 22, 2015

Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church

5^th Sunday of Lent

Final Words Sermon Series

 “My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?”

Mark 15:29-36 The Message Bible

Adapted from Adam Hamilton’s book “Final Words From the Cross”

“You Are Never Alone…”

Let us pray…Pray for God’s word to be heard through me or in spite of me…

Feeling abandoned and alone…have you ever felt or even are feeling lost and alone? You feel as if no one understands your pain or suffering. You may feel as if no one could ever understand what you are going through. You may even feel that even God has abandoned you. There seems to be no end to your loneliness. Who could ever know what you are going through? Who could ever know the pain…?

We have been journeying our way to the Cross of Calvary…stopping here and there to hear what Jesus said in His last words from the cross, His last words of ministry so to speak. These were the last words of His ministry here on earth. Even from the cross, Jesus was still doing ministry. His anguish on the cross was leading up of the climax of His ministry and the reason He was sent from above. It is to this place that we have stopped and pondered as we await the celebration of His victory.

We have talked about His words “Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing…” and realized that we are part of the “them” that Jesus was praying for and about. We heard His words “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” which are words of hope for us knowing that we will one day be with Him where He is… We know there was an “adoption” at the cross when he proclaimed “Woman here is your son…here is your mother.”

Jesus’ next words are ones that give me hope when I feel all alone…those times when I feel no one is there for me or understands what I am going through. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”… Now scholars say that Jesus was reciting the psalms as He was dying on the cross…and indeed He was. But these words give me hope in knowing that even though He was reciting the psalms, He may have still felt alone I n His darkest hours, just before He breathed His last breathe…

Jesus knows what we feel when we are at our darkest, lowest, most despair-filled moments in our life.

Jesus spent His life healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, doing nothing but good in His life. He showed those around Him a better way to live their life. He had friends that walked with Him and saw all the marvelous things He did. And now, here He is, abandoned and alone. In His darkest hour even His best friends were nowhere to be found…except for a few women who stayed by His side to the end...but where were His disciples…those who told Him they would never leave His side? You have spent your whole life trying to do good, helping all those around you and when you need your friends and family around you the most…where are they?

Jesus knows what we feel when we are at our darkest, lowest, most despair-filled moments in our life.

To top it all off, He felt a disconnection…a separation from God, His Father...He felt the pain of not feeling God with Him for the first time in his life. He truly was a man of sorrows. You have always felt that there was always someone there who had your back. But now, when you need them most, they seem to be shutting you out, turning their backs on you.

Jesus knows what we feel when we are at our darkest, lowest, most despair-filled moments in our life.

What did Jesus do when He felt this abandonment, this loneliness, as He hung on the cross alone? Jesus prayed. Even though He was questioning God in saying “My God, My Go, why have you abandoned me?” He was still praying. As I mentioned earlier He was praying the Psalms…Psalm 22 to be exact. Questioning God in prayer is an act of faith even when there is confusion about what is happening. Why is this happening to me God? I don’t understand why this is happening God. Why are you allowing this to happen? Our response to bad things happening to us often is to turn away from God and refusing to pray. But Jesus did just the opposite. He continually prayed while He was on the cross the only prayers that would come to mind. Those prayers found in the Psalms that He knew from a child growing up…

Jesus knows what we feel when we are at our darkest, lowest, most despair-filled moments in our life.

Adam Hamilton states in His book “Final Words From The Cross”, “When We feel abandoned by God, we, too, must trust that God has not really forsaken us. We must trust that God will not hide His face from us, and that God hears us when we pray. And that leads to confidence in a future unseen.”

Jesus knows what we feel when we are at our darkest, lowest, most despair-filled moments in our life.

Beloved, you and I are never alone. Even in our darkest hour, God is right there with us walking with us and sometimes carrying us through the desert of our souls. Even when we can’t feel Him, even when we feel alone because all our friends and family have “run away from us”, even when we can’t see the light of day, God is there loving us through to the other side. Even as we cry out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” we will hear Love’s resounding answer “I am here with you and we will get through this together.” We have hope because we know that the one to whom we pray in our darkest hour knows firsthand the feelings of hopelessness doubt and despair. And that One is our Risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus knows what you feel when you are at your darkest, lowest, most despair-filled moments in your life.

Amen