The Fourth Word, “My God, my God why have you forsaken Me.
-Matthew 27:46

Today is March 25th, the most joyous of days, the day of Annunciation when Gabrial proclaimed to Mary that she would become pregnant with the Hope of the world, the Son of God. But of course today is also Friday, of Holy Week. The darkest of days. This overlap in the Church calendar won’t come again for another 41 years. And so tonight we wonder about Mary at the foot of the Cross, from the greatest surprise to the most tragic. How did she get here? How is this the favor of God she was promised? What kind of Love is this?

To answer this we go to a Garden. The Lord God called to Adam in Genesis 3 and asked, “Where are you?” Adam answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And God asked Adam, “Who told you that you were naked?”

And so through the trespass of Adam, death reigned. Only the promise of a new Adam provided hope to Moses, Ruth, Jeremiah, and Mary and at last this Hope has come. The One who will rewrite history and extinguish the curse. The God-man. And yet, here He hangs. Lynched by the powers of this world. Crying out as God, to God, for God. Power meets paradox. World meets Kingdom. This is Love.

How does it feel to submit to the created when you are the Creator? This is Love.

In one burdened question Jesus declares to the Israelite enslaved to the Egyptian that the paradox of their power and worth being disrespected as the chosen people of God trampled upon is not their Kingdom reality. This is Love.

In one overwhelmed question Jesus declares to the child born in America, in a zip code where prison is more likely in their future than literacy that their Kingdom reality is greater than structural oppression and unjust earthly laws. Their Kingdom reality is direct access into a relationship with a Savior who knows the suffering and abandonment of an earthly political system that cannot survive without your destruction. This is Love.

In one desperate question Jesus declares to the mother that has miscarried or lost a child that God himself knows the loss of a child and preserves a Kingdom where life will trump death. This is Love.

In one tortured question Jesus declares that those for whom His Spirit is in will not escape this world without a life apart from pain, questioning, suffering, abuse, persecution, trial, doubt, and grief. Instead the Spirit filled follower of God is given a suffering Servant to follow after, and to conquer with, participating in a Kingdom that was, is, and is to come. This is Love. God forsaking God, giving up power, so that we may attain His ultimate power, His ultimate gift: Life over death.

Tenebrae Service, March 25th 2016
Christ Community Church, Jackson TN