Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?

Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? - Matthew 27:46

These words, some of Jesus' last before dying on the cross, give us a profound glimpse into the nature of His being and His relationship to the Father. In Aramaic, Jesus cried out "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?" after the land has been covered in darkness for three hours. It was during this time that all the sins of the world were placed on Him, a burden that forced the Father to turn his face from Him, forced Him to be separated from the Father for our sakes, that we might avoid the same fate for eternity.

This is what Jesus agonized over in the garden several hours earlier as he prayed, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." Matthew 26:39. Jesus knew the plan; He knew His role was set, and He knew why God had to forsake Him. Yet, by expressing these feelings, he revealed that even though He was divine, He was also fully human. He's not just suffering from physical and spiritual pain, he is struggling with the purpose behind it. Jesus knew first-hand the ultimate necessity of his suffering and yet still experienced such anguish over it. However, when we experience hardship, we are left to trust God's sovereign plan without knowing his purposes - surely He can sympathize when we have trouble with this! Yet He showed us what it means to trust and accept God's will even when it seems contrary to our own. In fact, we can take comfort in knowing that because of the very fact that He was forsaken, we will not be!

alleged tomb of Jesus

You may have heard about the documentary that will be airing this weekend about a tomb found in Jerusalem that supposedly contained the remains of Jesus and his family. Go here for details.

Just a few thoughts...

These caskets were found in 1980. Why is this a big deal all of a sudden, almost 30 years later? I guess it takes on new relevance considering it could be construed as evidence supporting the ideas on which The Da Vinci Code is based (Jesus was married and had a child). Admittedly, I haven't read the book so I can't comment on it with any credibility, but it is next on my list.

What relevance does DNA evidence have in determining whether the tomb could have belonged to Jesus of Nazareth? What good does it do to analyze DNA found in the caskets if you don't have anything to compare it to? All you could do would be to prove the people were related, but there isn't much doubt about that anyway since they were all buried together. I think in our modern CSI-soaked culture DNA has become a buzzword that people associate with irrefutable, credible evidence - use that in your marketing and you're sure to create a stir, regardless of whether it truly means anything significant in this context.

In Matthew 24, while telling his disciples about the end times, he warns them against false Christs and false prophets, and not to believe it when anyone says, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms' etc. (verses 23-26) Granted, this is probably only referring to people trying to point to his second coming, but I just throw it out as food for thought.

Finally, as I perused some other blogs that were commenting on the subject, I found many Christians lamenting the fact that these claims threaten the Christian faith, and one non-Christian that gleefully asked, "could this be the end of organized religion?!?" I couldn't help but think to myself, "would that be so bad?"

Genesis

In the beginning Casey created the awe-struck blog.

And the internet was already full of innumerable blogs on innumerable topics; such that it was unlikely anything new could be unique in any manner.

And yet, Casey created his new blog anyway.

Some time ago, I came across some old notebooks I used in college to record my thoughts and impressions during Bible study and prayer. It was quite interesting to catch a glimpse of where I was in my faith at the time - opinions I held, priorities, etc. I had since lapsed in the practice, and decided to pick it up again. I’ve found that it helps me slow down and digest what I’m reading, and prevents me from soon forgetting any insights God gives me, as flipping back through the pages quickly calls to mind things I’ve learned recently. Also, if I can keep it up consistently, it will be interesting to be able to look back again in a few years and see where I’ve been, and possibly learn something just by observing the journey in retrospect.

When I write things down in my notebook, I tend to write in fragments of thought that would probably mean nothing to anyone besides me, and probably would be nonsense even to me if I came back to it a few weeks later. By posting my thoughts here, where others can read them, I will have to write things out more formally, and it will make me think them through more thoroughly, which can only be a good thing.

Why “awe-struck”? When I feel God has revealed something to me, I’m left with a sense of awe. Awe for His glory, power, and holiness. Awe for His love and mercy. Awe for the way He has woven history, and the fact that He has allowed us a glimpse into His plans and workings through the revelations in the Bible. This is one way I can share that sense of awe with others.

Since I got the idea to start this, I’ve been undecided on what the tone should be. On one hand, I have a tendency to want to inject humor and personality into my writing, but on the other hand I don’t want it to be a distraction from the point I’m trying to make. I think it will make it more fun both to write and to read, however, which will make it more likely to stick with it for more than a week, and make people more likely to be interested in reading it. But can I do it with the reverance the subject matter requires? In the words of Ludwig von Koopa, “vee shall see…”