“At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at 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?” Mark 15:33-34

Last week was tough. I don’t know why, but I know it was tough for me, for Steve, for Jacob, for Amity.  Maybe a sense of reality is setting in.  Becky is gone and she is permanently gone.  Of course we’ve known this since Wednesday, December 29, but this truth seems to be permeating our lives now – it is inescapable.  Those moments that we once enjoyed and looked forward to such as days off, quiet hours in a busy day, just sitting down to read or contemplate – those moments tip us into tears and grief as we miss Becky.  A certain song comes to mind, or we see a picture, or a friend shares a situation in their life where Becky’s story is an encouragement and we miss Becky.

Becky’s death has changed me and those I love. The personal pleasure of processing with and loving Becky is lost to us.  A relationship that is foundational to our lives has been taken away.  An avenue of interpersonal communication, of exploring ideas and emotions about our world and ourselves, has been transported out of our reach. 

The pain of the loss of relationship with Becky made me think of Jesus on the cross.  When Jesus went to the cross he willingly took all of our sin. This was the Father’s plan that Jesus obeyed – a plan to end the death-hold of sin in our lives. The Father and Son experienced perfect relationship throughout eternity except for that time on the cross. When all of our sin was placed on the sinless one the perfect relationship was broken.  Jesus cried out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” And all of creation grieved the death of this relationship – the sky darkened, the earth-quaked, graves were opened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  Never doubt that God understands and empathizes with our grief; He has experienced it.

Scripture tells us that Christ became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God.  The Greek word translated righteousness means “the state of him who is as he ought to be, the condition acceptable to God, integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking feeling, and acting.”  When I think of a life made righteous I think of a life ready for relationship – relationship with God and relationship with people. The excruciating loss of relationship that God the Father and Jesus experienced during His sojourn into death reaped a huge harvest of eternally joyful relationship for us in God.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!

“We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  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 5:20-21

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  Heb 12:2