This phrase is uttered by Jesus on the cross and is often translated in the Bible verse as meaning:
My God, My God, why have you forsaken me!
It was always explained to me that Jesus said that because God had turned away from him because God couldn't look at sin, however, that really makes no sense. Why? Well, for one thing, Jesus is God, just in another form. So if that is true how can one form not look at sin, but the other be on a cross bearing the sin of the world? Also, if God's whole point of creation is to have a relationship with humans, by nature, sinful creatures, how can that work if God can't look at sin? It just doesn't seem to fit the character of God or the rest of the Bible. Turns out, its been misquoted.
I've mentioned before that I am reading, Light Through An Eastern Window, by Bishop K.C. Pillai and while I was reading in Chapter 5 (page 67) where he discusses this very passage above. I then opened my Peshitta Bible translation to follow along and see that Eli, Eli, lemana shabakthani, is actually mistranslated. What is really says is, My God, My God, for this I was spared, or this is my destiny or even, it is fulfilled.
That translation makes more sense when in John 19:30 Jesus is quoted as saying, It is finished. Jesus like any man on a mission, was stating that he had finished what He was sent to do. I love this!
So what does this have to do with self-care? Well, last month our theme was goals and I think this Bible passage is a great message in the middle of everything we've been talking about.
God had a mission: make a way for humans to get back to him. Jesus came as the final sacrifice, atonement if you will, so that our relationship established in the Garden of Eden could be restored. Satan, our enemy, had gotten in there and blocked our path, but God protected us from our enemy and in true God form, provoked his enemy to help him fulfill his mission so that he could go on the cross, die for us, then 3 days later come back to life and go back up to heaven, leaving the other form of God - the Holy Spirit, with those of us who accepted this gift.
Jesus knew his goal, he knew what he was here to do and he did it. Along the way he trained leaders, met the needs of the people he created and loved, and he pissed the religious leaders off, you know the ones claiming to represent him, but really just living for themselves and using religious laws to get what they wanted.
Jesus, is recorded in various passages in the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) as going to a solitary place and getting away from the crowds. He met physical as well as spiritual needs when he was with crowds, because in the midst of meeting the mission, he knew the value of taking care of our physical bodies.
You will never meet your goals and fulfill your life mission if you neglect your body, your spirit and your soul. Self-care is not just a plain way of talking about pampering. Its actually being mindful of the tools we need and using them with wisdom. Our body is the vessel that houses our spirit. It has needs of food, water, rest. The spirit and mind need quiet meditation and time from the go, go, go and draining moments of emotions of others or even our own.
Let us learn from Jesus, and not only stay focused on our job, our mission in life, but also care for the needs of ourselves and those who cross our path.
Where are you lacking? Do you have goals and a life mission or are you aimlessly floating through life? That is easy to do, we have more distractions than any other time in history. Are you staying focused on that mission and are you caring for your needs so that you can do what you were called to do? What would it mean for your mission to be completed? If you can't answer that, maybe its time to get in prayer and Bible study and ask God to show you. Maybe you don't know who you are? Then its time to take the personality tests and learn about how you tick, what you need and what kinds of things bring you joy or get you excited to go out and conquer the world. Life is hard, like we discussed last week, so stay encouraged and keep going!!! Happy Wednesday!
No comments:
Post a Comment