The Obvious Hint

| Good Friday Sermon Thought by Racheeta Nayak |

“Eloi Eloi lama sabachtani “; “My God, My God why have you forsaken me “ is not only mentioned in Mark 15:34 and Mathew 27:46, but it is also the first verse of Psalm 22. This was a song of David which the Israelites probably sang while in exile or in times of distress. Anybody who’s outside our faith and has watched the passion of Christ or read about Jesus' crucifixion would say Jesus wrote this song without knowing it was David. It was a clear indication of Jesus on the cross.

Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me So far from my cries of anguish? Psalm 22: 7-8 All who see me mock me They hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, Since he delights in him.” Psalm 22: 14-18 I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; It has melted within me. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; You lay me in the dust of death. Dogs surround me, A pack of villains encircles me; They pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; People stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.

A few days back I got a revelation about this most obvious hint - Jesus cries out the first line of the psalm that points directly to him and yet the ones who heard failed to recognize him as the Messiah. They were blinded. We miss the obvious hints God gives us everyday. He’s near us and still we complain about him being distant. He listens to us so attentively and still we call him a God who can’t hear our cries. We are too occupied filling our ears with noise that confuse our minds and so the shepherd's voice is not recognisable.

We complain about him not speaking louder but here we have already filled our ears with lies of the devil. Our eyes are so blinded, the scales are thicker than the ones that fell from Paul's eyes in Damascus . We need to focus on God. It’s easy for Satan to deceive this distracted generation. Let’s not miss the obvious hints again. Time is running out and the end is near.