Separation

 

You may have been separated from someone you love deeply, or the people who love you, at some time in your life.  It may have been restful – for a short time, maybe a time to get your bearings and to think about important or unimportant things – or just a time not to think, or do, or be.  But more than likely, if the separation was unplanned, or permanent, or unwanted - you felt as if it was almost impossible to bear. 

That's one of the things I’ve been thinking about during this time as we remember our Savior's crucifixion.   I've been thinking of the words of His cry on the cross. 

In Matthew 27:46 we read. “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying,

 “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (ESV)

The terms used in other translations, such as “why have you abandoned me,” “left me,” “deserted me,” may tell of your own personal separation.  But they truly describe to us the pain of THAT cruel separation – Jesus was alone on that cross.  Not only was He alone, but He was carrying a burden that was not meant for Him, it was ours.  He didn’t deserve to be there – we did.

“My God, My God,
why hast thou forsaken me?”
He cried aloud from that cursed tree.
 
“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”
words of despair men heard Him cry.
 
The cry rang out!  Feel the pain - the cost
to the Father who’d given His Son on that cross.
 
He could have stopped it.
 
He could have held that soul in His arms protecting Him from this terrible harm.
 
It could have been that Christ felt Him there
easing the burden of the sins He would bear.

No! That wouldn't pay the price that was due -
the price for salvation for me and for you.
 
For the only price
that could save the lost was the separation
of God on the cross
from God in his heaven - the Father and Son
to be torn from each other - a tearing of one.
 

That day on the earth,
the darkness that reigned,
came not from the soldiers,
came not from the pain.
 
It came from God's heart tearing in two
hurting much more than any could do.
 
Loving so much, that it broke his own heart,
The Son on the cross, and the Father, apart.
 
Separation!

The price that was due 
as He died on the cross
alone, just for you.

 

Diane Gruchow rev 2022