Darkness Over the Whole Land

Who do you want Jesus to be?  Of course, who you want Jesus to be, is quite different than who he really is.  Yet it is a common temptation for us to want to tell Jesus who he is supposed to be.  Or what he is supposed to do for us, or for our life.  Mark, however, has been presenting us with the Biblical Jesus.

Throughout the book, Mark has been asking the question, “Who is Jesus?”  And so as we look at this climactic passage in the book of Mark, I want to remind us of this question Mark has been asking.  I want us to look again today at who Jesus is.  I want us to look again at what it means for him to be the Christ and what it means for him to be the Son of God.  It’s quite fitting that Mark drives home this message with the story of the cross.

Passage: Mark 15:33-41
Author: Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
Sermon originally preached during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 03/22/2009 in Novato, CA.

Manuscript: Darkness Over the Whole Land

Share

My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?   What words of anguish we hear in our Lord Jesus’ cry on the cross! My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Surely our mind is filled with questions when we consider this cry of our Lord. For this very word forsaken is a word full of woe.  The word forsaken is defined as “To leave altogether; to desert; to abandon; to depart or withdraw from”.  Why would God forsake his loving, faithful, and righteous son?  Why would God abandon the one who has been most faithful to Him?  Surely, we could understand if God forsook the wicked, but why the Christ? What is the answer to Jesus’ question?  Why is God forsaking him?

Passage: Psalm 22; Matthew 27:27-54
Author: Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
Sermon originally preached during the Good Friday Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 03/21/2008 in Novato, CA.

Click here for the manuscript.

Share