Elijah

Scripture Reading Matthew 27:45-50

That Jesus' prayer from the Cross, “My God, My God…” was an agonizing cry is evidenced by the response of some who were there watching. They misheard and misunderstood Jesus' words. They thought He was calling for Elijah.

This was not an unwarranted or odd mistake they were making. It was logically a plausible interpretation of what they thought Jesus was saying. He had made Messianic claims. The Old Testament Scriptures indicated that the Messiah’s coming would be preceded by or accompanied by the return of Elijah (Malachi 4:5). The coming of Elijah was commonly taught by the scribes (Matthew 17:9-13).

Therefore, we can deduce that those who said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him,” were not being sarcastic. They were, I believe, genuinely, though skeptically, entertaining the possibility that Jesus was the Messiah. They seemed to be suggesting they would believe if Elijah miraculously appeared and intervened to rescue Him.

There is a shift in mood and attitude towards Jesus that took place during the hours of His Passion. The prayers He prayed; the words He spoke, as brief and few as they were; His whole demeanor were all used by God to prick the consciences and soften the hearts of the people who watched and participated in Jesus’ death. The mocking mob was transformed into a trembling congregation.

We see this specifically in the thief on the cross and the centurion who said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” But note, that the centurion wasn’t alone in this assessment. It was the centurion “and those who were with him,” that “were filled with awe and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God.’”

There is a transformative power in the Cross of Jesus Christ. No wonder Paul committed himself to glory only in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 6:14). Paul wrote, “The message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God,” (1 Corinthians 1:18). In Paul’s scathing letter to the churches of Galatia, he described his early ministry among them this way:

It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified…

Paul had turned the ears of his listeners into eyes. He painted a picture of the crucified Jesus in vivid colors. It was through this message of the Cross that they were convinced of the saving power of Jesus through His death on the Cross.

This transformative/saving power of the Cross cannot be explained by mere human empathy for a suffering man, Jesus. Those who witnessed His crucifixion weren’t just feeling bad about what had been done to Jesus. They were being pricked to the heart; their consciences were being moved. Their hearts were turning toward the thought that what they had theretofore denied (that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God) may be true.

There is a mysterious and wonderful power in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to preach and sing the Cross. We need to pray, as the hymn says, “Jesus, keep me near the cross…”