Week 8: Day 3

Intro: Hello, welcome to orbit. My name is Beth and I am loving being with you this week, reading Mark and sharing some thoughts. Orbit is a short reflection to help you put God at the centre of your life.

Bible: Today we’re looking at Mark 15:33-39

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!”

Thoughts: Throughout the whole of Jesus’ life, people have got the wrong end of the stick about him, or about what he came to do. The pharisees, a group of Jewish men, expected Jesus to be exactly like them and follow what they taught, they were astounded when the sabbath Jesus took looked like healing people and eating differently to them. The Jewish people were expecting the messiah to be a warrior who would overthrow the Romans, when in fact he was born into a stable as somebody who had to flee his country. The disciples were more often than not baffled and confused about what Jesus did and so often misunderstood who he was and what he said.

Even in this part of the Bible, people misunderstood Jesus. It says, ‘when some of those standing near heard this they said, “listen, he’s calling Elijah.” It’s thought that the people who heard him saying this misunderstood Jesus and thought that he was saying Elijah, when he was saying ‘Eloi.’

So often we misunderstand God, or expect him to work in a certain way, and he so often does what we don’t expect him to do. Maybe you expect God to speak to you in a certain way, and get frustrated when he doesn’t, or you expected that he would guide you in one way and at the last minute he makes a U-turn and guides you in another way.

There’s a quote from Narnia - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - which says ‘But amid all these rejoicings Aslan himself quietly slipped away. And when the Kings and Queens noticed that he wasn’t there they said nothing about it. For Mr. Beaver had warned them, ‘He’ll be coming and going’ he had said. ‘One day you’ll see him and another you won’t. He doesn’t like being tied down—and of course he has other countries to attend to. It’s quite all right. He’ll often drop in. Only you mustn’t press him. He’s wild you know. Not like a tame lion.’

We so often put God in a box and expect him to act or move in a certain way and we so often misunderstand him or get frustrated by him when he moves in a way that we just do understand. What we know of God is that he doesn’t always do what we expect him to do, but he is always good.

Prayer:

Action: When you’re spending time with God today ask him what he is doing today that is unexpected and how he would like you to follow him. I would love to encourage you to take a leap and be obedient to where he is guiding you and follow what he is doing today.