the darkest day

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Mark 15:34

And in that moment Jesus bore the worst anyone could ever imagine. With the evil of all humankind upon Him, every murder, every torture, every genocide, all the sorrows, griefs, burdens, and sins ever done in all the earth for all of human history past, present, and future, Jesus found that God the Father had truly forsaken Him. He was all alone in all that pain. He knew no sin but became sin for us. And nailed to a cruel cross with a crowd of onlookers jeering insults, Jesus atoned for MY sin. It was the world’s burden He bore as well as all my pain and grief and selfish sin heaped upon Him at the moment. No wonder the world went dark (Mark 15:33).

And by Jesus giving Himself on the darkest day, new light now fills the world. We can trust that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and on the third day rose again according to the scriptures. Bursting through the black clouds, the gospel shines an everlasting spotlight of hope! And in that massively important event, the central truth of humanity and of all human hope, salvation broke through the most impenetrable darkness of our worst days even today! There is no more darkest day because Jesus gave Himself on that day. The darkest day of human history has already been. There was only one afternoon like that one… the real Black Friday. And from it now all hope rises eternal.

Jesus,

You were forsaken on that dark day so that I can be accepted in the full light of God’s grace. You were abandoned so that I could be received as a son, adopted into God’s home, an heir of eternal life with You. My sins were part of that horrible weight on that day. My wrongs were made right in Your love and obedience. I am now dressed in Your righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne! I will have no dark day of judgment because You already had my dark day on Your dark day. You have taken the darkest day for all of us. Praise You, O King of love!

Amen