κήρυξον τὸν λόγον

Virtually every word Jesus spoke from the cross was a Word on behalf of someone else. He thought of others first. He looked at his persecutors first and asked for their forgiveness first. He looked at the criminal to his right and gave him the promise of salvation. He looked at his mother and gave her a son. As he lived, so he died ... pleading, promising, giving. But there was one word in particular from the cross in which Jesus turned in upon himself. After hanging on the cross for hours, dripping in blood, gasping for air, he looked up into the blackened sky and uttered his bitter lament, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me (Mt 27:46)?  4. Who can describe this God-forsakenness? We like to think we know what it means to be God forsaken. We describe places like the Mojave Desert as such a place. But we can only imagine what it really means. We certainly can’t imagine what it must have been like for God’s only begotten son, the beloved one. We can only imagine the pain and...