Central West End Church

“Why have you forsaken me?” Jesus didn’t ask this question of a human being. He asked it of God. What does it mean? To look at the cross is to come face to face with something we don’t want to look at, but desperately need to.

It’s hard to face the pain and negativity of our lives and this world. We want things to be smooth, including spirituality. But Jesus offers us a way through the pain to something far greater.

We all need to know not only that we are worthy of love and belonging, we need to know why. The woman in this story, and Jesus’ question about her, give us a new way of seeing others by giving us a new way of seeing ourselves.

To be human is to long for more than we currently experience and to be more than we currently are. In this passage, Jesus asks a question that brings us to the very heart of our longing for something more.

Why would Jesus do so much of his teaching by means of parables, which are so hard to understand? In this passage, Jesus shows us the counter-intuitive, yet deeply healing, answer.

We modern people struggle greatly with the idea of God’s judgment. But in this parable, Jesus shows us that unless we allow God to be a God of judgment, then he cannot be the God of love we so desperately desire.

Who doesn’t want to be someone’s precious “treasure”? Who doesn’t want to know that someone loves them more than life itself? No matter who you are, these two short parables are an invitation to both those gifts.