Forsaken

On Easter Sunday, we celebrate Jesus leaving His Father, coming to Earth, living a perfect life, dying for our sins, and rising from the dead. Recently, I’ve been thinking about the very first item on that list.

Jesus left heaven. For many of us, heaven is our final destination. It’s the finish line. It’s Paradise.

Jesus had lived there for eternity. It had never gotten old. No one there had ever mocked or ridiculed Him. He’d never been laughed at. Never been shunned. Never been cast aside. Never been alone. He was the prince: the Son of the King. He was King Himself.

And He was living in perfect harmony. There was no strife. No wars. No famine. No poverty. No day job. No family issues. No obnoxious neighbors. Nothing that could hurt Him. Harm Him. Wound Him. This was better than any idealistic society we can even imagine.

And yet He left. Not because He didn’t like it. But for us. He allowed his spirits to be crushed. To learn sorrow and grief. To be falsely accused and to let His name come under the slanderous blows of a fallen people.

Finally, as He hung from the cross in excruciating pain, He raised His eyes to heaven and cried “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”

Back in the garden of Eden, God said “It is not good for man to be alone.” It was the first thing God called “not good”. We know God knew that loneliness is horrible. But He didn’t stop there. Our God, from the essense of community, allowed Himself to experience loneliness. He felt it. He let Himself feel it so deeply that even the light of heaven and the presense of His own Father faded into the maelstorm of black.

Jesus is therefore able to empathize with our loneliness. When He says “My child, you are not alone”, He knows exactly what He is referring to.