Infinitely Alone

Several years ago the elders of our (then) church joined with the pastor during Lent preaching on the words of Christ on the cross. I was assigned the passage "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me" (Matt 27:46). I have seen the movie The Passion of the Christ and left the theater physically exhausted. As I prepared for this sermon, I had much the same experience meditating on the most dreadful part of our Lord's suffering: the separation from the Father. This was the inspiration for the title. Jesus, on the cross, went to a place that Psa 139 tells us does not exist - a place where God is not present. Though thoroughly Irish, the muses have not blessed me with the gift of poetic speech. I tried to come up with words to describe this dereliction that caused Jesus to cry out those terrible words. I finally went to my comfort zone:engineering/science. Following is the best I could muster.

The Weight of Sin
Have you considered recently what sin is? Man is God’s prized creation — made in His image. And yet, one sin — one act of rebellion against God was sufficient to cast this prized creation into a state of eternal damnation. We understand that one single sin is enough to sentence us to hell for eternity. But none of us have committed just one sin. Our sins are countless and each one is worthy of eternal damnation. Are we not most foolish when we imagine trying to satisfy or suffer the punishment for all our sins?

Most of you have heard about what scientists call ‘black holes.’ If their theories are correct, a black hole is a star that has collapsed in on itself and it mass has become so concentrated that the gravitational field will not let light escape. The mass is so concentrated that an object made from this material the size of a child’s marble would weigh 800 million tons. If I could hold that marble in my hand and then let it fall, it would not only pass through the floor but it would quickly pass through the dirt and bedrock as it moves rapidly to the center of the earth. Its gravitational pull would be so great that the Mississippi River and the Smokey Mountains would feel the pull and move towards this place we now gather.

If you could some how weigh my sin on a spiritual scale it would be similar to that marble — and so would yours. Jesus has "bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed." 1 Peter 2:24. It is like He has taken these marbles, our sins, strung them together in a necklace, and hung them around his neck. The incredible weight is pulling Him down with such force that it is pulling Him out of the hands of the Father who He loves with an infinite love.

Isaiah 53:5-6
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.


The physical suffering of Jesus was horrendous and none of us want to dwell on it for any extended time. But the spiritual suffering of having the Father remove His gaze of blessing was much more painful - more than we can ever imagine. It is this suffering that caused Jesus to sweat blood in the garden - and it is this suffering that purchased our redemption.

Truly this is a Good Friday!