Why Did Jesus Cry Out ‘Why?’ – Audio Video Notes. There are so many questions in life that do not have clear answers. Why is there so much pain in this world? Why is there so much divorce, and why is there so much abuse? Sadly why do so many good people die young? I wonder if you ever felt like Jesus must have felt on a cross when he cried out, My God, my God, WHY???
PALM SUNDAY
WHY? – Palm Sunday sermon
By Pastor Delbert Young
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WHY? – audio video notes
Scriptures: Matthew 27:45-46, 1 Corinthians 2:7-8, 1 Corinthians 13:11-13, Matthew 27:45-46, John 3:16, 2 Corinthians 5:21
WHY?
There are so many questions in life to which I can’t find the answers. For example, there was this man in our church and he met a nice young lady. They fell in love and I performed their wedding ceremony. Two months later he had a car crash and died. His bride of two months asked me, “Why? Why did he have to die?” I had no answer.
So, I work with this man and have known him all his life. I know he is a great person. He looked for a wife a long time and finally found the perfect wife. They became pregnant with my third grandchild, but we miscarried. Why did my grandchild have to die?
On September 11, 2001, two jet airliners were highjacked and flew into the Twin Towers in New York City, another highjacked jet airliner flew into the Pentagon in D.C., and another highjacked jet airliner went down in a field in Pennsylvania. Three thousand innocent people died on this day. Why did those people have to die?
On December 26, 2004, an estimated 276,000 people were killed when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake sent a tsunami through the Indian Ocean. Why did 276,000 people have to die?
A seventeen-year-old girl was driving to church to attend a Bible study. At the same time, a man who had too much to drink was driving. He hit the girl head-on. It was his third time to be arrested for drunk driving. It was her first time to be killed.
WHY? – audio video notes
There are so many questions in life not having clean answers.
Why is there so much pain in this world? Why is there so much divorce, and why is there so much abuse? Also, why do so many good people die young? Do you ever ask those kinds of questions? I do not understand. I have so many questions. Why does God answer some prayers, but not others? Why does it seem sometimes God is far away? Have you ever felt like God had left you? I wonder if you ever felt like Jesus must have felt on a cross when he cried out, “My God, my God, WHYYY???”
GOOD FRIDAY?
They crucified Jesus on what we call ‘Good Friday.’ What we call Good Friday was not a good day for Jesus. It was a bad one. Judas betrayed Jesus. The Jews beat Jesus. His own people rejected him. The Romans beat and scourged him. It was a day of tremendous violence, pain, and loneliness. It was a very bad day. What had Jesus done to cause such a day?
Maybe you have had a bad day or two. Certainly, nothing like Jesus experienced, but your day should have been a good day. Instead, it became a nightmare. Or, perhaps you have loved ones or know of situations like these becoming horrible nightmares. WHY???
WHY? – audio video notes
SEVEN SAYINGS
They crucified Jesus around the third hour, which would be about 9 a.m. He died around 3 p.m. It was six hours of unbelievable agony on the cross until a suffocating death came. During those six hours, the Bible records Jesus made seven statements.
(1) “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Still forgiving. (Luk 23:34); (2) “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Still giving hope. (Luk 23:43); (3) “Dear woman, here is your son.” “Here is your mother.” (Joh 19:26-27); (4) “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” (Mat 27:46); (5) I am thirsty.” (Joh 19:28); (6) “It is finished.” (Joh 19:30); (7) “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Still having faith.
It is the fourth statement we will concentrate on today.
From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” – which means, “My God, my God, WHY have you forsaken me?” [Matthew 27:45-46]
WHY? – audio video notes
DARKNESS
The Bible says, “From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness (obscurity)came over all the land.” The sixth hour would have been noon and the ninth hour would have been 3 p.m. It was a time when the light should have been the brightest. Why did darkness happen? There are no scientific reasons why it became dark this day. It was not an eclipse because it was Passover time (full moon – vernal equinox). The moon was opposite the sun. There is no logical reason why it became dark.
Sometimes there are no logical reasons for our dark times. Jack Hayford said in his book How to Live Through a Bad Day, “…in life’s darkest hours, there are usually no human beings with adequate answers.” Just as there is no adequate reason as to why it became obscure that day, there sometimes are no adequate reasons why people experience dark hours, at least no reasons we humans can give.
Sometimes in life, things happen just not having a good reason as to ‘why.’ Why do good people die young? Why does God answer some prayers and not others, at least not as we think he should answer? Why do some people fall in love and vow to spend their lives together and instead end up hating and crushing one another?
Perhaps you have asked God in the past, “Why…?” Perhaps you are asking him today, “Why…?” If not today then one day in the future you will ask him, “Why…?”
WHY? – audio video notes
CAUTION
Before we attempt to get some understanding of why bad things happen, allow me to caution us about well-meaning Christians and people who offer shallow answers to very complicated questions. People will often offer three reasons why complicated and bad things happen.
(1) Christians might tell you something like Job’s friends told him. A man named Job in the Bible went through some horrible things. Job’s friends gave Job the shallow answer saying it was because of secret sins those horrible things happened. Well, let’s think about this for a minute. Did those horrible things happen to Jesus because Jesus had sinned in his life? Of course, it was not. Sin does have consequences, but all bad things are not because a person has sinned.
(2) Another shallow answer some Christians will tell you is you don’t have faith. Again, did Jesus have faith? Was he having a horrible experience because he didn’t have faith? Of course, it was not. We do need to move in faith and keep our faith when bad things happen. Faith can turn bad things around, but every bad thing happening is not because a person does not have faith. (3) Another shallow answer you will often hear as to why bad things happen is, “It’s the devil attacking.” The truth is the devil does attack. Was it the devil attacking Job? Was it the devil trying to kill Jesus? Before we give a shallow answer, let’s ask one more question. Were the things that happened to Job and what happened to Jesus somehow a plan of God we are yet unable to totally understand?
WHY? – audio video notes
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the HIDDEN WISDOM, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. [1 Corinthians 2:7-8]
There is a hidden wisdom of God for our glory – our good. Was it a demonic attack against Jesus? Of course, it was, but at the same time, it was the wisdom of God. Was it the devil attacking Job? Of course, it was, but at the same time, it was the wisdom of God. It’s probably the devil attacking you, but what we have to do is when we run into times where there are no adequate answers, is look beyond the obvious and know God is up to something our minds cannot understand yet.
IN PART
The fact is very complicated and painful situations do not have simple answers. I am not saying there are no answers. There are answers, but often our minds are not capable of formulating and processing the answers. EVEN THE MIND OF JESUS STRUGGLED WITH“WHY???” However, now, today Jesus understands “WHY???.”
The apostle Paul taught us about this and gave us insight.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. NOW we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; THEN we shall see face to face. NOW I know IN PART; THEN I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And NOW these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. [1 Corinthians 13:11-13]
WHY? – audio video notes
Paul divided understanding into NOW and THEN. He said NOW we do not see the whole plan and the entire picture, THEN we will. We will understand what God is doing even as God understands us. THEN is relative to our maturity level and our maturity level is relative to our ability to remain in faith, hope, and love. Paul said there are answers, but they only come as we mature in faith, hope, and love.
Allow me to try to use this example. Have you ever taken an infant, say a one year old to the doctor for a vaccination? I probably only had to witness this once or twice. My child totally trusted me. He or she was looking around and playing with the little toys in the examining room. The doctor came in and did the examination and all was well until the shot time came. The doctor or nurse pulled out the needle, injected the needle into the vile holding the medication, and sucked the medication into the syringe. Everyone in the room knew and understood what this experience was for and everyone knew exactly what was about to happen. Well, everyone but the infant. The doctor or nurse took the syringe toward the infant and aimed at the baby’s leg or fanny.
Do you remember how you felt as they prepared to stick the needle into your child? I remember looking away. I did not want to watch a needle go into my son or my daughter. Obviously, I did not want to watch my child experience that pain. I could have stopped it, but I didn’t. “WHY???” Because I knew it was for his or her own good and somehow I knew it was good for generations to come.
WHY? – audio video notes
They stabbed the needle into the child and my baby screamed!
My baby looked at me with pain, fear, and panic on their face saying, ‘MY FATHER, MY FATHER, WHY???’ At that time there was no way I could communicate to their one-year-old mind “WHY.” THEN you cannot explain to them it is for their ultimate good and blessing. THEN they were not mature enough to understand. NOW today they have matured and NOW today they understand. NOW today they take their children through the same process. Understanding “WHY???” is divided into NOW and THEN.
It was this way with Jesus and Father. Can you imagine what Father God felt when the Roman soldier literally stabbed his spear through his baby’s heart? This was his baby on the cross. He could have stopped it, but he didn’t. He had to look away and darkness came.
From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” – which means, “My God, my God, WHY have you forsaken me?” [Matthew 27:45-46]
I have heard many thoughts about why it became dark this day. I have my own thoughts. God knew many had come to “watch the show.” So, he turned the lights out so that in his Son’s final hour he would not be a spectacle.
We only see in part. The Jews saw their part. They had their reasoning as to WHY this happened to Jesus. They saw they were ridding Judaism of a heretic. The disciples saw in part. They had sold everything and had followed him. They felt it had all been for nothing. It seems, at this time, Jesus saw in part. He saw his Father had turned and forsaken him. However, there was the whole part – Father’s part. Though we still cannot understand it all with our minds, we know Father did it for us – for all of humanity.
WHY? – audio video notes
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. [John 3:16]
Father had the whole story. We only have a part.
Jesus said, “My God, my God, WHY have you forsaken me?” Some say Father forsook Jesus because God placed all the sin upon Jesus and God cannot look upon sin. This is not adequate or accurate enough. Here is the verse.
God MADE HIM WHO HAD NO SIN TO BE SIN FOR US, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. [2 Corinthians 5:21]
Jesus did not only bear our sin like a scapegoat in the Old Testament taking the sin out into the wilderness somewhere. GOD MADE HIM SIN! It was sin nailed to the cross. It was sin beaten. This was sin scourged. This was sin mocked. It was sin bleeding. This was the power of sin dying. It was sin! When a person receives Jesus and what Jesus did on his cross, their sin dies! God didn’t just cover it. He killed it. The picture is you become the righteousness of God. In other words, you are right with God through what happened to Jesus.
I read a story about a father and son who were traveling one day when a wasp flew in the window. The son was deathly allergic to bee stings and began to panic as the wasp buzzed the inside of the car. Seeing the horror on his child’s face, the father reached out and caught the bee in his hand. Soon, he opened his hand and the bee flew out. Again, the boy began to panic. The father reached over to his son and opened his hand. The stinger was stuck in his palm. “It’s ok son,” the father said, “I took the sting, the bee can’t hurt you anymore.”
WHY? – audio video notes
This is what Jesus did for us. In Jesus Christ, sin cannot hurt you anymore. Because of what Jesus did that horrible day, you and I can experience forgiveness of sin. The sting of sin is gone. God had a far greater plan than any person could see.
So, Delbert, you are telling me when horrible things happen, I just accept them and say, “I just don’t understand the ‘big picture,” right?
No, not exactly. We remain in faith, hope, and love. We pray, we speak to our mountains and command them to be cast into the sea, and we make certain our hearts don’t become bitter and we remain in love. It’s not a time to lose faith, hope, and love when bad things happen. It’s time to accelerate and remain in them. Realize there are answers and solutions, but they will only come if we remain in faith, hope, and love.
I want to close with this illustration. Look at this word “NOWHERE” and tell me what you see. What do you see? Do you see “NO WHERE,” or do you look beyond “NO WHERE” and see “NOW HERE.” Had God forsaken Jesus? No. Had God forsaken Job? No. Has God ever forsaken you? No. There may be times when you ask as did Jesus, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?” It’s ok. If Jesus can ask, then you can ask. But remember, it is not he is “NO WHERE” to be found. It’s he is “NOW HERE” working things together you and I can now only see in part.
WHY? – audio video notes
WHY? – audio video notes
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