from our lay leader
We are one. They call it solidarity. We are all unified, interconnected, interdependent, standing as one, shoulder to shoulder. Jesus stood for us on the cross when he prayed the words of David from Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?” This is David crying out to his God. This is Jesus crying out to his Father. Their words, their situations are the same, they are one with one another.
Jesus is one with us, we are one with him. Some believe that Jesus was praying the entirety of Psalm 22 on the cross. Read the whole psalm; hear Jesus speaking, crying out to His Father. Hear his humanity. In His humility, uttering the words, “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people” (22:6). This is our God speaking! This is us speaking. We are together in our living.
When God the Father sent His Son to live as one of us, God made it clearly known that He wanted to be one with us. God demonstrated His solidarity with us. We stand together. He is with us always. He knows our situations; He knows our despair, our emptiness, our feeling of abandonment. It’s written on the cross.
Jesus goes before us as our guide, He stands beside us as our friend, He abides within us as our savior. We do not face life alone, we do not face death alone. We are never abandoned, we are never alone, we are together as one, inseparable forever through God’s gracious act of sending His Son to be one with us.