“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”

From Bethlehem to Jerusalem, the house of bread to the city of peace, it was anything but bread and peace. What would happen next would change everything…

Born into a lowly place, he was desert traveler, teacher, son, friend and to this end we see him in the garden~

Three hours Jesus prayed in agony, on his face and on bended knee, he cried as great drops of blood poured out for all generations to come…

“FATHER! WILL YOU NOT TAKE THIS CUP FROM ME? FATHER! WILL YOU NOT TAKE THIS CUP FROM ME? Father, will you not take this cup from me? He surrendered to God’s will. Peace came, as everything became still.

Betrayed by a kiss, Oh do not miss, what was taking place for you and for me…

Tried, arrested, scourged and then nailed to a tree for all to see…

In the ninth hour of the day after torture, exposure, dehydration, suffocating, bleeding, rejection, abandoned, mocked, enduring the elements, naked, afraid, dying, Jesus cried out with a loud voice…

“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Mark 15:34 New King James Version

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning? Psalm 22:1 New King James Version

And about the ninth hour, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach cried out with a kol gadol, saying Eli, Eli, lemah sabachthani! (that is, My G-d, my G-d, why hast thou forsaken me? TEHILLIM 22:2[1]). Mattityahu 27:46 Orthodox Jewish Bible

 It doesn’t end here. You know the rest of the story. I just wanted to high light this part of the story to show you something about Jesus. Yes, he was God but he was also man. He felt everything humans feel…

He felt the pain and anguish of betrayal. He felt the rejection of loved ones, religious leaders, his peers. He was in deep despair, just read the garden scene alone. The death process started way before the cross… He knows sorrow and suffering. He knows loss and defeat. His disciples/friends couldn’t even pray one hour with him. He knows sickness and unimaginable pain. On the cross he took all of mankind’s worst fears, nightmares the mental and emotional torment, addictions, everything, on himself…you might ask, why would anyone do that?

Why? One reason, it was because of Love…

Not the kind of that love we know.

It’s God’s love! A love that will lay down his life so that we, lowly forms, created by God, loves us so much He would go through all of that to die for us! We’re the reason he did this in the first place. Adam and Eve died in the garden. Not instantly but death entered the garden that day and God was the only one who could put it right.

Oh, please someone get this…God didn’t get pleasure out of watching his only son go through this, but He knew there was no other way and now being on the other side of the cross, death and the grave. He gives us a free gift and he brings redemption through his son…Jesus was placed in a tomb in a garden…now life was restored in the garden…He Rose from the dead!

All God asks is for us to accept His son as the son of God and believe! Open your heart. Let the Holy Spirit led you to the garden today…and pray, no longer in agony, accept the full gift of His salvation and peace into your heart today, In Jesus Name…the bread of life and peace!

All the way from Bethlehem to Jerusalem receive His bread of life and peace! Shalom! Shalom!

~Marla Shaw O’Neill April 7, 2023