I wonder if he knew. Yes, I know the Gospels have Jesus predicting his suffering, death, AND resurrection. Personally, I believe that some of these statements in scripture are only possible because they were written decades later, with the advantage of 20/20 hindsight. I am one who believes that Jesus humanity precluded his knowledge of the future, as it would for all of us.
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!" These are not the words of one who knows how temporary his sufferings would end up being. I once had a parishioner state that there was no way Jesus' suffering could have possibly have been as bad as his own. It only lasted a short while. His point was simply that though being nailed to a cross might be excruciatingly painful, the suffering was short lived and did not compare to that of those who must endure suffering for a lifetime. "Life's the shits, and then we die." is actually a somewhat optimistic statement. I had another parishioner who stated, following a visit to her physician, that if her doctor told her one more time that she'd have to learn how to live with it, she'd give him something that he'd have to learn how to live with. (Elsie was a feisty, old gal.)
The most devastating thing about much of the suffering we must endure in life is that it is not clear to us that the suffering will be short lived. The impact of the suffering is multiplied when one anticipates that it will last a lifetime, that there is no end in sight.
As one descends into the abyss, there is not a light at the end of the tunnel. If there was, it would not be "the abyss", that deep dark place from which there is no apparent return.
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
"In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried, and were saved;
in you they trusted, and were not put to shame."
"Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
you kept me safe on my mother's breast."
Even with the words of utter despair still lingering over the Psalmist's soul, hope springs eternal. It is a hope based not on the ability to see the future, but in the experience of the past. Others have walked this path before and did indeed escape the abyss. The ultimate act of faith is not made post resurrection, but on the second day. As one lays in death's strong bands. It is made from the dank darkness of a stone hewn tomb, with a massive boulder blocking the exit and shutting out all light.
Missing from the Holy Week narrative are the words "Arise, my child, and come forth from the grave." We hear Jesus' cry of despair from the cross, but there is no answer, just silence. And scripture does not record for us God's calling Jesus forth from the grave. There are no witnesses of the resurrection. Just an empty tomb. And the eyes of faith which see, and subsequently recognize the risen One in the garden.
Faith clings to the hope that Jesus' narrative will be ours as well.
"Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life."
"So we too might walk in newness of life."
In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
SO WE TOO. . .
Just as Christ was raised from the dead--
SO WE TOO. . .
Faith is God's gift to those in the abyss. I'm hesitant to say that apart from the abyss one cannot experience a genuine faith. But I will say it is in the midst of the dark night of the soul that faith comes to fruition. And hope is born. A flicker of light on a dark and lonely night. And a promise, that Easter morn is coming.
"Arise, my Child, come forth!"
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