From noon to three, the whole earth was dark. Around midafternoon, Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"
Some bystanders who heard him said, "He's calling for Elijah." One of them ran and got a sponge soaked in sour wine and lifted it on a stick so he could drink. The others joked, "Don't be in such a hurry. Let's see if Elijah comes and saves him."
But Jesus, again crying out loudly, breathed his last.
At that moment, the Temple curtain was ripped in two, top to bottom. There was an earthquake, and rocks were split in pieces. What's more, tombs were opened up, and many bodies of believers asleep in their graves were raised. (After Jesus' resurrection, they left the tombs, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.)
The captain of the guard and those with him, when they saw the earthquake and everything else that was happening, were scared to death. They said, "This has to be the Son of God!" (Matthew 27:45-54)
We all make mistakes. We're only human! But we're also forgiven. When we mess up, we don't have to live in guilt. Jesus is right there. He lives in us, and He walks through the mess with us.
I know we forget that. We keep expecting ourselves to be perfect, and we keep trying to perfect ourselves for God. I can almost see God shaking His head. He's saying, "These guys! They actually think they're going to get rid of sin so that I'll be close to them! Don't they know? By the time they get rid of one sin, they've already sinned again, in some other way! Curing their own sin is going to be literally impossible for them!"
There's no way that God would expect us to perfect ourselves. It doesn't make sense that He would, because it can't be done! But there's another reason why He doesn't expect it. It renders the power of the cross obsolete.
Think about that Temple curtain. The only way that anyone could enter the Holy of Holies was if they had no sin. What if the priest had a bad thought before he walked into that tent? Talk about fear! That's fear.
We don't live under fear anymore. We don't. Jesus took away our reason for fear when He died and the Temple curtain was ripped in two. The very thing that required perfection was split in half, and Jesus said, "That's over. You walk freely now."
Now there is no shame. Jesus took it, man! He took your shame! Think about it. If I'm Jesus, and I'm getting mocked, I'm not putting up with it. I'm getting off that cross so that I can scare the hell out of everybody.
But Jesus put up with it. He did it for you! He knew He could get off that cross, but He said no. He hung there instead, and He took all the shame. They spit on Him. They mocked Him. They beat Him. They laughed at Him. And the whole time He said, "I'm taking all this on me. Because 2,000 years from now, I'm going to live in you. I'm going to be right there with you when you start to wonder what you're doing in life, and if you add up. I'm dying on this cross to let you know that you do. You add up. You've done nothing on your own to prove it. Nothing. I've done it all. I'm the point system for you now, and it's all good. You are free!"
That's the Good News. And that's truth. That's truth!
Jeremy Affeldt is a pitcher for the World Champion San Francisco Giants.
He is a philanthropist and co-founder of Generation Alive, a non profit that works to teach and inspire young leaders to serve others who are faced with extreme poverty. He is the author of To Stir A Movement, Life, Justice and Major League Baseball.
Follow on twitter @JeremyAffeldt and his non profit @GenerationAlive.
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