And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Matthew 27:46 (NKJV)
My social media platforms of choice are usually Instagram first, and then maybe Facebook or Twitter/X next, depending on what I feel like on the day. Tonight, I stumbled on to Threads. Threads is Meta’s/Facebook’s version of Twitter, only it allows for ‘threads’, a type of microblogging functionality that allows users to post on a continuous subject albeit with more characters than Twitter/X.
As opposed to Twitter/X devolving from a conversational platform to a megaphone platform, public discussion is vibrant. After seeing how power users “used” their social reach to turn it into said megaphone/soap box platform, thereby destroying the beauty of Twitter, I have been leery of Threads.
Tonight, however, I stopped to read a “thread” about CCM (Contemporary Christian Music). The thread referred to a Variety article regarding the founder of the singing group “Newsboys” suing World Vision, MercyMe, among other defendants.
Without having read the article myself (I did later), I started reading replies to this one particular thread on it. I should have stopped before I even started because it became a judgment forum not only on CCM, but in some cases, Christianity or “church” itself.
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Back in December 2024, I wrote a post titled, “Jesus Loved Judas” (see link above). In it, I wrote the following:
When Christians don’t meet our expectations of what they should do or who they should be, we take matters into our own hands. We leave the church. We leave a “building”, but we also leave the people that help make up the Body of Christ. We leave the people who are the “Church”, just like us.
Leaving a church because of offense is taking matters into your own hands. Judas took matters into his own hands. There are several theories as to why he betrayed Jesus. He loved the money that he was getting from following Jesus (helping himself to the money bag he was in charge of). Another theory also indicates that as opposition to Jesus grew and no “kingdom” was in sight, Judas forced Jesus’ hand.
I tend to think it was not only a combination of those two, but the devil’s influence over Judas was obvious. Judas received 30 shekels of silver only to be conscience-stricken to the point of trying to return the money to the Pharisees. Ultimately, out of guilt, he killed himself.
What does this have to do with what I read on Threads tonight? Everything and nothing.
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Bear the Marks – September 2023
I’ve endured some things in my life. Some would call them awful. Some would be shocked. Some would say that some things I did to myself, and I probably deserved it. Others would scoff at the “church hurt” that I have endured, despite the fact that it nearly killed me. While others would say, “See! That’s why I won’t go to church. You can’t trust Christians.”
That last line is the essence of what I read on Threads tonight. “You can’t trust Christians.”
And I would say, “You’re right. You can’t trust them.” But, the Bible doesn’t tell you to trust people though does it? As my mentor would say, “Trust God. Love people.”
I bear the marks of many a “church hurt”. Been there, done that. I quit church for a time, which led me down a very dark path away from God. Over a decade-plus removed from that time now, I understand my part in the hurt. Not that I or anyone deserves to be hurt, especially within the church, but my expectations played a part in it.
That’s the part that hardly anyone talks about. Their own personal responsibility.
Reading the replies, some of which were pretty detailed on what they saw behind the scenes of CCM, I kept saying in my head, “What were your expectations?”
See, whether we choose to admit it or not, every Christian has expectations. We have expectations of church leaders, fellow Christians, ourselves, and yes, of those Christians in the public eye. We place those in the public eye on some sort of pedestal as if they are somehow better Christians than us because they are in the spotlight.
Getting frustrated reading about the people who have left church and/or Christianity, I suddenly remembered something.
Jesus loved Judas.
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The one who betrayed Him, Jesus loved. Those who tortured Him, He loved. Those who rejected Him, He loved.
And then I thought about not the crucifixion, but the flogging. Let’s just say it…flogging is just an old way of saying torture. Jesus was tortured.
On YouTube, Dr. Chuck Swindoll has a gripping way of teaching what happened to Jesus during that time. Look for The Last Trials and Torture of Jesus | Msg 14/20. As I listen to it, I start shaking at the thought of what Jesus went through…..for me.
Isaiah 52:14 says, Just as many were astonished at you, So His visage was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men
That torture was bad enough, but nothing compares to what He endured on the cross.
Matthew 27:45-46 – Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Darkness covered the land. That darkness…was because Father could not look upon sin. Jesus bore the weight of all of OUR sin. Not just those at the time of Christ, but for all who were yet to come.
Jesus was One with Father. He KNEW Father. But on that cross, there came separation. The sins of humanity had to be atoned for. Jesus knew it. Father knew it. Father loved the Son. But sin required a sacrifice.
The prophet Habakkuk, in chapter 1 verse 13 asks this question:
You are of purer eyes than to behold evil,
And cannot look on wickedness.
Why do You look on those who deal treacherously,
And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours
A person more righteous than he?
Father could have saved Jesus from the torture and crucifixion. He could have dealt with those who dealt treacherously with Jesus. He could have spoken. But He didn’t. Why? Evil, wickedness, sin demanded atonement through Jesus’ sacrifice.
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Rather than getting mad about those judging Christianity as a whole based on their experience, I remembered the sacrifice.
God loves those who have left the church. God loves those who have to deconstruct their faith. God loves those who hate the church. Although Christianity is based on faith and relationship, God loves those who hate religion.
His love didn’t happen when we were born. Psalm 139:13 says, For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. He loved us before we even were thought of by our parents. He loved us before our first breath.
The other day I saw this picture in my mind of Jesus’ side being pierced in John 19:34. The Bible says that blood and water came out. The actual Greek word there is ἐξέρχομαι-exerchomai, which is Strong’s 1831; it means “come forth” or “come out”. As I pictured the blood coming out, it was as if my name was actually written in the blood.
That visual shook me. Not in a bad way, but a reverential, fear of the Lord kind of way. I know there is no Scripture for what I saw, but I believe that God gave me that visual just for this post.
The people whose threads and replies I was reading? Their names are written in Jesus’ blood too. You who are reading this post, yours too.
There is a lot wrong with Christianity today. There’s also a lot right, but it doesn’t get the spotlight. Yet, God so loved the world. God’s love is based in covenant, and covenant is sealed by blood. That blood was shed by choice. Jesus’ choice.
He endured the torture. He endured the cross. He endured the separation from Father.
I know that my name is written…
Selah.
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Sunny Cadwallader 
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