Welcome to the Mariners Church Life Group leader podcast. This weekly conversation is designed to equip and resource you to build a healthy life group community that studies God's word, practices spiritual rhythms, and changes the world together. Welcome to week three of From the Cross. We are looking at the seven sayings of Jesus as he was on the cross.
And this week we're gonna be looking at week three, which is, it's a tough one. I mean, this is a week where we're gonna be looking at when Jesus says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And so Jeremy, as we get straight away into this discussion, it already feels heavy, just the title alone feels heavy. And so help us to navigate through the heaviness of the topic, but also the scriptural and the theological implications to this phrase because they're really our two sides to this.
This is a heavy week. And I want to agree with you on that point. And I want to encourage our group leaders not to shy away from that, to every once in a while, to allow ourselves, especially during the season of Lent, idea of Lent of kind of preparing ourselves, looking forward to the cross, but recognizing the heaviness of life, of sin, of brokenness, that this world is not as it should be, but that God is at work to redeem and restore all things. And so as we prepare for Easter, part of the season is kind of leaning into the heaviness and a time of self-reflection and looking at what am I doing with my own life and how am I living in relationship with others?
And so this week, we see just an incredible expression of Jesus from across, the saying of Jesus from across, one of calling out in a way that even the people around him, totally misunderstood. People thought as he spoke, Eloy Eloy, that he was calling on Elijah, that they were misunderstanding even the words he was saying, not just the meaning of it, but for many of us, one of the things that I look forward to this week outside of the heaviness is the hope that is in this passage, that we see Jesus doing something really incredible by quoting this Old Testament scripture. It's actually from the Psalms, and we'll talk about that a little bit more in the moment, but we see in this one expression about the heaviness of the crucifixion and what that's doing, as far as not just his physical death, but reconciling with us, with God, taking upon sin, upon himself, being that ultimate sacrifice, but also he's quoting scripture in a way that points us to the hope that he is the promised Messiah, he is that God's word is true and that he is the fulfillment of that, and so ultimately in our own despair, we can have hope. So as groups get started, it's a good way to begin today would be to look back actually the last week and just to say, hey, last week we had this discussion that led towards us considering the quartet of the vulnerable, and we may challenge each other to say, let's actually go do something about it.
You might want to open up by just sharing some stories, some insights and some things that you observed or experienced by doing that, by actually caring for others in the way that Jesus calls us to. And then as you make this transition, I think it's important for us that we just let people know right off the top, like, hey, today, we're going to be discussing a passage that could come with it, some heaviness. There might be some things shared today that might feel like we haven't shared in a long time, but perhaps if you went through rooted together, like if this is a life group that went through rooted, you may know parts of each other's story because of what you shared at that time. This is an invitation to lean into those stories again or deeper, and I believe that the more authentic we can be in a group when we can share the truth about what's going on in our life, not sugar-coding things and not just sort of like glossing over it, but instead saying, no, I'm still struggling with this, or this is a part of my story that is still very difficult for me.
When we bring that to each other, we are bringing it to God and we actually in biblical community, I believe that there's healing that is intended for this, and at the very least, we're going to experience a God who says, I am with you in the midst of that struggle, pain, wound, circumstance, whatever it is. So Jeremy, this opening part though, I think is really important on the theological side about what's going on here, even your lean in question is what song or scene could you recognize right off the bat? Like it's as if a site, if I said, in a galaxy far, far away, you can start to hear the theme song in your mind, you know where that's going, right? Why is that connection point important?
So for me, I included this because like you said, there's some phrases, for some of us, it's music you recognize a couple opening notes. I attend a lot of concerts and back when I was younger, I was the kind of guy that I would follow bands around to different cities. And when I heard the first few notes, I could tell you not only what song it was, but the last time they played it, like what city it was, kind of the whole context. And I share that kind of random bit of personal trivia because that's very similar to what this Hebrew culture, this culture that has largely oral tradition, that this was a common practice with rabbis.
This is the way parents would teach their kids, this is the way rabbis would lead disciples, they would quote a scripture, they would say like the opening line of a scripture, and then people would either know the point that the teacher or the parent was making, we do this all the time even still today, we quote something and people kind of get the larger context without us having to explain it, or they would say the opening line and people would join them in reciting the rest of the text. And in this case, we see Jesus calling out my Lord, my God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why have you forsaken me? Well, that's the opening line, that's verse one of Psalm 22.
And in Psalm 22, so using this practice, if a rabbi were to say this, people would hear this opening question, they would see this kind of lament in the Psalm where a Psalm of David, where he was saying, I've cried out, you've not answered, he just feels the weight of both physical and emotional pain, it says that the people around him are insulting him, that he feels put to shame, but then it says this person who is being insulted, being put to shame, who is feeling all this physical pain, that the Lord delights in him, and the Lord will rescue him, and even as other people are taunting him, that ultimately by the end of the Psalm, we see that God's, the man of God will be restored, the man of God will be vindicated, and people will see that those who trust in the Lord will be saved, and it even says, all the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nations will bow down before him. So this opening question, which feels like such a desperate, lonely space, it is that, but within the context of this culture, it also would have brought to mind all this other imagery that is taking place around Jesus, and ultimately it points to worship and trusting in God and saying, one day all nations will put their trust in the Lord, and so ultimately we are not forsaken. We have a God who keeps his promises, and we can trust him above even our earthly circumstances. All throughout Jesus' teaching, he was dropping these hints, these clues, that he was a Messiah.
He did this in this rabbinical kind of way, all throughout his interactions with people, particularly religious leaders of the day, and even at the point of death, he is on a cross and he uses the same strategy to make an exclamation point statement, I am who I say I am, right? And so he is, of course, like you're saying here, he is crying out the opening lines of Psalm 22, but what he is also intending is the victory that is present at the end of that Psalm. And so it would have been a startling moment for any who would have heard, because he's clearly crying out in anguish. People are very familiar with people on a cross in the first century, it is a scene of anguish.
And yet he is still making this triumphant statement. And so, Jeremy, how do we transition from this being, I don't want us to lose sight of the fact that Jesus was suffering. He is at the brink of death in this moment, and yet he makes this triumphant statement. So how do we then turn from just this, a scriptural understanding to having this application into our own conversation?
Is there anything that we as leaders can do to kind of tee up that moment for our groups? I think what you just mentioned is important to point out that Jesus was very clearly suffering. There's no doubt about that. He did actually literally die.
There's no doubt about that. And even in the Psalm that he's quoting, there's very real dramatic pain in suffering. It's not just a perception. And so he's not just spiritualizing this moment and kind of turning it into a metaphor.
It's very heartfelt and genuine, both for Jesus and for David in the Psalm, but while they point towards the hope. And so this week we have just the one look-in question to kind of personalize this text. And we want to be discerning, but I would really encourage leaders to allow people to space, to wrestle with this question of when have they felt abandoned or forsaken by God? When could they identify with this question, where Jesus is crying out, he's using the words of David, who is crying out, when have we felt that way?
And have we felt that way recently? So as a leader, it's always good to lead with your own story. And if you have a moment that's more recent, maybe you're even in the middle of something right now, where you're like, I know in my head, I know the truth that God is with me, that there are some days that are just overwhelming. There's some, there's circumstance in my life with either a loved one or a, you know, something at work or within your family or whatever, that can just get to the point of being overwhelming, and you say, God, why would you let this happen to me?
I don't understand what's happening, even though we know the end of the story. So share something of that be prepared to share anything from your own life to kind of set the tone for this space and this discussion and then really allow people and encourage them, remind them that this is a safe place. And even last week we mentioned James, the half brother of Jesus and how he mentioned caring for the vulnerable. James also at the end of his letter, he has a super explicit call to if you're, those who are in need, those who are sick or suffering with whatever to come before, like gather with the people of the church, gather with the leaders of the church, bring that before your faith community so that we can pray over one another and experience healing and experience God's work.
And so like let that be a space this week in your discussion to say, I don't know what you're dealing with, but let's bring it and lay it out together so that we can pray for one another and see what God wants to do in this moment. Very well said, the pastoral notes that I would add to this is that let's not get confused in what our role is here as we invite and create an environment for vulnerability. Our job is not to fix. It's not that they're sharing this because they're pleading for you to solve it for them, but really for us to just be present in the midst of it.
Let's not devalue the power of prayer. I know sometimes prayer feels like our last resort, the thing that I don't know how else to help but I can pray for you. No, no, we actually want to flip that upside down and say prayer is the most powerful and important thing that we can do. And then I would also just encourage to know when to defer.
If something does come up that needs additional assistance, you are not responsible for other people in your group but we want to be responsible to them. And so if that means that they need additional care, we have those resources. And so let us know if there's anything that comes up that we may want to help them too. So I really believe that this has the opportunity to be a groundbreaking kind of week where we maybe move out of just cerebral discussion but into a more visceral time of prayer and connection.
And I believe that there's going to be a depth built into our groups this week that will be unlike many other weeks. And so Jeremy, any other final thoughts for us? I just wanted to close this week with the final verse from Psalm 22 that Jesus opens up. This is the passage we've been studying.
The final verse is that they will proclaim his righteousness, declaring it to a people yet unborn that he has done it. And that's ultimately, that includes you and me, right? Like we were the people yet unborn and we can point back to the work of Christ, what God has done in and through Christ and that he's doing in our lives today and that we get to do that with one another in this community. And that's just a beautiful thing that I'm so grateful for.
Amen. So leaders, remember this is what you signed up for. This is what we want to be. We want to be a community of people that actually sees freedom in the name of Jesus and this will be one of those weeks.
So we're praying for you. We hope that you have a good time.