“May God bless and keep you always, May your wishes all come true, May you always do for others And let others do for you. May you build a ladder to the stars And climb on every rung, May you stay forever young,” Bob Dylan “Forever Young”
Today my son Will went to the dentist to have a couple of cavities filled. In the past the dentist was kind of fun; some brushing, some flossing, some pictures and a chance to watch cartoons on the TV overhead. This time it was not. I sat in the waiting room and heard the sound of Will crying out from the back, “I want my Daddy!” It tore my heart to stay in my seat and let the dentist do his job.
In my short time as a parent I have discovered that this is the hardest part. Seeing or hearing your child in pain is agonizing. All I want to do is go to him and take him away from the hurt. But at the dentist, I know its something he must go through. Pain is as important a part of life pleasure. Next time I try to get Will to brush his teeth he will remember this pain. But that doesn’t make listening to your son cry any easier.
I believe that the the single most difficult moment in the bible is when Jesus, suffering on the cross, says “My God My God, why have you forsaken me!” It’s the cry of “I want my Daddy!” on an epic scale. Would I, you, or any parent have been able to withstand that cry and not intervene. There is no greater proof of God’s love for us than that single moment.
“For God SO LOVED the world that he gave up his only son to suffering and death.”
My quote today is from my favorite song, it’s the song I sang to my sons in the cradle, on my Ipod its tagged as “most played”. It remains my fervent wish for my children throughout their life.
In Lent, and every other day of the year, if we hope to understand God’s meaning and purpose in our lives, it is paramount to remember what God was willing to do for each of us.
“My God My God why have you forsaken Me!”
Walter
I have yet to have the chance to respond to your meditations but the scholar in me wants to respond to these past two days about the words in the book of Mark.
When I was in college I had a religion professor whose sole purpose was to study and to knitpick the book of Mark. He did this because it stears away from the other books in the new testament. In Mark, Jesus tells his disciples not to reveal his identity to the community around him. We studied this passage many times during my classes with him and came to this conclusion: forsaken is defined as a turning away from or a renouncement. So, I must conclude that Jesus is saying that he sad, and partly mad. Dad, why are you turning away from me and putting me through this agony.
Then I think about what Walter says about Jesus’ words being a cry for help and a cry for his dad. How many times do we feel that our parents have rejected us. During our teenage years, we reject our parents because we feel like they are not treating us with enough respect. We feel shunned because they do not make it all easy and do not make it all go away. Our parents respose is, “I am doing this for your own good.” or “Some day you will thank me for this.” It isn’t until about 10 years later that we realize that it was for our own good and that they were doing this out of love. Could it be that God was “doing this out of love,” “for the Jew’s own good?” Just a thought.
Also, why is it only in Mark that Jesus asks God why he has forsaken him? In the book of Luke, Jesus’ final words were “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!”