#118 - Things are Really that Bad {Reflections}

What if the most faithful prayer you can pray sounds like a complaint? We lean into Jesus’ searing words from the cross—“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”—and ask what it means to tell the truth about suffering without reaching for easy answers. Rather than treating Psalm 22 as a shortcut to positivity, we explore why letting Good Friday be dark actually strengthens hope, because it refuses to pretend that evil is secretly good or that pain is just a lesson wrapped in disguise.

Together we talk about the difference between cheap silver linings and real resurrection. Some things are simply bad—abuse, betrayal, violence, shattered relationships—and they do not become good by spin or sentiment. The Christian claim is bolder and more honest: God meets us in the depths, not by erasing the past, but by bringing beauty from what is not beautiful and weaving restoration through what felt beyond repair. Drawing on the laments of Job and Jonah, the scholarship of N. T. Wright, and the theology of Jürgen Moltmann, we hold space for grief as an act of faith. Lament is prayer with the volume turned up, the sound of trust refusing to go silent.

We also take a clear look at the pattern that shapes every disciple’s journey: Good Friday before Easter Sunday. You cannot leap from wound to triumph without passing through the ache. Yet the promise of resurrection remains steady, not as a silver lining but as a new creation that tells the final truth over our broken stories. If the resurrection is true, then restoration is not wishful thinking—it is our future. Until then, we practice resilient faith: naming pain, standing with the suffering, and trusting that God is at work even when we cannot see it.

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Chapters

• 0:16 Framing The Sermon Reflection
• 0:45 The Meaning Of Jesus’ Cry
• 1:14 Psalm 22 And Misread Comfort
• 2:02 Letting The Darkness Be Dark
• 3:37 When Bad Is Truly Bad
• 4:57 Grief, Lament, And Honest Faith
• 6:15 Good Friday Before Easter Sunday
• 7:35 Suffering, Hope, And The Crucified God
• 8:18 Invitation To Share And Join

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:16

What is up, everybody? Hey, this is Ryan, and welcome to our Reflections Podcast. Hey, I had a couple thoughts about a sermon I gave last weekend. It was on the scripture when Jesus cries out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? We're doing a series, we just wrapped it up actually, where we explore uh just a handful of the 300 questions that Jesus asks in the gospels. So we don't explore every one, just a couple of them. And um, and that was the one that I wanted to kind of end with. We actually didn't end with it, but it's the second to last one. But here's the thing when Jesus cries out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? There's all kinds of ways to think about what he was doing, what it meant, and lots of commentary on it. But I wanted to give a sermon that I, you know, kind of how I read the scripture, and that is this that when Jesus cries out on the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He absolutely meant it. It was like the the realest, real cry that he uh cries on the cross. There are some scholars, for example, that say, well, Jesus is quoting Psalm 22, which he was, and he quotes the first line David writes in Psalm 22, that same line, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But then Psalm 22, it's a lengthy psalm, at the end, it ends on a high note that Jesus or that uh David kind of ends with this declaration of faith. And so some scholars believe that when Jesus quotes this, that he's quoting the whole psalm, and he's actually saying from the cross, not just my God, my God, why have you forsaken me, but he's saying in this kind of mystical way or this coded way, it's a declaration of faith. And I'm like, I just don't think that's what's going on there. I otherwise, why wouldn't Jesus have just said that? Like, why wouldn't he have just declared his faith aloud? Instead, he declares this experience of God forsakenness. And in some ways, I wanted to preach a sermon that let the darkness of that moment be dark. Like I wanted it to be this overwhelmingly emotional, God forsaken moment that we all felt because in life we've all felt that. There's this beautiful, so N. T. Wright, one of my favorite and uh New Testament scholars, says that in his little commentary on that verse, he said, it's so funny. He's like, hey, this passage was just that. It wasn't, it wasn't God sort of um, you know, leaning down. He actually mentions the footprints in the sand poem, which is a great poem. If you don't know it, you can Google it, but there's this footprints in the sand poem where there's a man walking on the beach and there's two sets of prints. And then um he notices though that it's a it's like a uh a metaphor for his life. And he notices though that during the hardest moments of his life, there's only one set of prints. And so God is like, yeah, that's me and you walking together through your life. And then he goes, Well, why in the hardest moments were there only one set of footprints? Why'd you leave me? And then God says, It wasn't I didn't leave you, it's in those moments that I carried you, and like, oh, that's so sweet, you know. Like there's a silver lining in this story, it's great. And I love the poem, but N.T. Wright, and I would argue as well, says, that's not the point of this story. When Jesus cries out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It's really bad. It's actually that bad. And it's not like God is like, Don't worry, Jesus, I'm actually carrying you right now, and in the end, we're gonna be okay. No, in that moment, there is this experience of God forsakenness. And I wanted to let that linger because I want, I don't want to just gloss over the dark moments of our lives. There's nothing in the Bible really that says, hey, you know what? Every cloud does have a silver lining. You know, it's gonna be okay. Like this looks bad, but you know what? It's actually a blessing in disguise. No, some things in the Bible are just bad. Some things in life are just bad, and the bad things are bad, and the evil things are are evil, and they stay bad, and they stay evil. Um, what the Bible does say is that look, at the end of the things that are actually bad, there's not a silver lining, they're they're bad. But out of those things, God is able to bring something beautiful out of them. And I like that because I feel like in our own lives, it's the same way. The things that happen to us that are bad, whether it's abuse or violence or just catastrophic rupture in relationships, these things that are bad, they really are bad. And it's like it's not like Jesus will just lean over, like, hey, it's it's okay, chum, you'll be fine. No, this is bad. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I don't want to jump over the cross just to get to Sunday, uh Easter Sunday. And like the cross that Friday was a horrible, horrific rupture. It was so dark and bad that like the sun is blotted out for hours, we're told, on that Friday, that good Friday. And uh things were really bad. And Jesus cries out from the cross, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And he really meant it. And the things in our life really are that bad. Now, here's what I would say though. So, what I will say is this the moments in life that are bad, they really are bad. And the moments in life that are evil, they really are, and they they kind of stay that way. But I do believe that God is at work taking those things and bringing them towards something that is ultimately in the end good. But it isn't like, hey, just find the bright side of this dark moment. Like, no, maybe the moment it really is that dark, and you should lament it and grieve it and cry and shake your fist and yell at the sky or at God and do all the things that David does and Job does and Jonah and Jesus for sure, and like me and like you and many others. Yeah, do that, echo those same cries. But know that ultimately God is moving this thing and is putting the pieces back together. And there is an Easter Sunday to come. And look, we evangelicals, we love Easter Sunday, but I also want to remind folks that you can't get to Easter Sunday except through Good Friday. And for a brief moment, it looks like all is lost. It really does. And it's painful and horrific, and there's crying and rending of clothes and weeping and lost feeling, and uh just everyone runs and hides for fear of their own lives. It's like a horrific moment. And that is what leads to Resurrection Sunday. So it's in our own lives. I'm not saying embrace the darkness or the bad things, I'm just saying that's part of life. It's not the only part of life. There's also beauty and wonder and goodness, but that's that part of life. And sometimes we want to stuff those things or hide them or neglect them or not, you know, not accept them, you know, because we want to be, we want to be winners, to be frank. We don't like being losers. We want to win and be champions. And but the way that Jesus wins is going through death. And so why should we be any different? And in this world, we will have trouble. That's the way that it goes. There will be suffering and pain and sorrow, if not for you, for someone you know. That's how life is. It's full of these kinds of things. But in the end, in the very end, yes, there is a resurrection. And uh Jesus promises to restore and renew and recreate all things. And somehow in the suffering, God is working for our good. But the suffering really is suffering. It really is bad sometimes. And then I don't ever want to gloss over that or ignore that or try to like cheapen it or just make it seem like it's not that bad. No, it is that bad, and it's okay to acknowledge that. But trust and know that God is at work, even in those things. And that's where, you know, what Jürgen Moltmann says, that God is the God hanging there in the gallows. Um, he's the one, he's the crucified God hanging on the cross. That's where he is. He's there in the sorrow, in the suffering, and we can cry out to him. I love that Jonah and Job and Jesus, they cry out to God. It's an actually, it's a cry of faith. Even in their God-forsaken moments, they cry out to God and uh and are seeking God in those moments because that's where God is found. God is the God on the cross, crucified, the crucified God. Some things in life really are bad, and I don't want to ever gloss over them. They are bad. Um, but in the end, Jesus promises to restore all things and renew all things, Revelation 21 and 22, and to redeem all things and retell all these stories. And if the resurrection is true, which I believe it is, I believe the resurrection is true, then someday down the road, we are going to be okay. All right, love you guys. Peace. Hey, if you enjoy this show, I'd love to have you share it with some friends. And don't forget you are always welcome to join us in person at Central in Elk River at 8 30, which is our liturgical gathering, or at 10 o'clock, our modern gathering. Or you can check us out online at clcelkriver.org. Peace.