Daily #BibleStudy Reading 94: The Gospel According to #Mark At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.” Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said. With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” Context & Questions: Of all the people to see clearly what has happened here, a Roman centurion is perhaps the most unlikely. He is a battle-hardened fighter, and an executioner of Jewish rebels. But when Jesus cries out his last time and takes his final breath, this centurion sees the truth. “Son of God” language in the first century was royal language, a way of saying that someone was king. (Israel’s kings had been called son of God, and so had Rome’s Caesars.) Here, the story of Jesus takes its decisive turn. Jesus’ vision of the coming reign of God, and the salvation of his people, has sustained him through his ordeal. In his final words he quotes from Psalm 22, which begins in lament and pain, but ends in the triumph of God becoming king. Next up: Who’s been watching all this?
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 20:01:00 +0000
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