“The Word of Abandonment”

A Service of the Word for the 4th Sunday in Lent
March 15, 2025: IN-PERSON and ONLINE at 10:30 a.m.
Rev. Matthew Emery, lead minister, preaching
Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12 and Matthew 27:39-46

With perhaps the most well-known and heart-breaking outcry Jesus makes while he is dying, our series on the seven last “words” (that is, messages or sayings) Jesus spoke from the cross while he was crucified continues this week with the 4th word: “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” Of course, Jesus was far from the first or the last person to utter words betraying feeling completely alone and even abandoned by the presence of the divine. At the very least, though, we know that in Jesus' crying out from the cross we have seen that God has journey with us and fully shared with us in the very depths of our human pain.