Truly this Man was the Son of God!

 

 Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.  And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"  Some of those who stood by, when they heard that, said, "Look, He is calling for Elijah!"  Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink, saying, "Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to take Him down."  And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last.  Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, "Truly this Man was the Son of God!"

 

- Mark 15:33–39 

 

 Yesterday we read that the Roman soldiers brought Jesus to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.  Then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it.  And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take.  Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.  And the inscription of His accusation was written above:  THE KING OF THE JEWS.  With Him they also crucified two robbers, one of His right and the other on His left.  So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And He was numbered with the transgressors."  And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "Aha!  You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!"  Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save.  Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe."  Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.

 

  Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.   The sixth hour is noon; the ninth hour is 3:00 in the afternoon.  This darkness comes at what is normally the peak hour of the sun's light.  It also happens in accordance with Scripture; see Zechariah 14:6-7; Amos 8:9.

 

 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"  Some of those who stood by, when they heard that, said, "Look, He is calling for Elijah!"  Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink, saying, "Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to take Him down."  Despite the misunderstanding of some of those who stood by, Christ is praying Psalm 22, which foretells the very details of the Crucifixion.  If we mistakenly take these words without the rest of the psalm, Christ's cry, "Why have You forsaken Me?" is misinterpreted as a cry of despair.  But we're to understand that Christ took on our nature, and therefore experiences our alienation from God in His humanity, my study Bible explains, and therefore knowing our suffering and distress, but He does not despair.  Jesus speaks these words, my study Bible notes, in the name of humanity.  He completely identifies with us in our condition, but in His divinity, He is never forsaken by God the Father.  

 

 And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last.  Matthew's Gospel reads that Christ "yielded up His spirit," therefore emphasizing the voluntary nature of His death.  My study Bible notes that even on the Cross, Christ's life could not be taken from Him against His will.  It explains that He accepts death on the Cross neither to receive the Father's punishment on our behalf, nor to satisfy the Father's need for blood-justice (as if God would demand such things), but so that by entering death as the divine Son of God, Christ can destroy this last enemy, which is death itself (1 Corinthians 15:20-28).  In Luke's version, Christ prays from Psalm 31:5 at this last moment, "Into Your hands I commit My spirit."

Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. My study Bible explains that the veil that separated the Most Holy Place from the rest of the temple was a symbol of the separation between God and human beings.  Christ's death opens the way into the presence of God for all people, thereby giving people access to that which is most holy of all:  God.  In many Orthodox churches, there is a curtain between the altar and the nave which is drawn open during liturgical services in order to emphasize that communion with God, which was at one time sealed off from human beings, is now available to all who approach in faith.  

 

 So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, "Truly this Man was the Son of God!"  The centurion is a Gentile, but recognizes the dominion of Christ over nature according to my study Bible, and therefore acknowledges Him as the Son of God.  In the tradition of the Church, this soldier is known as St. Longinos.

In Mark's chapter 13, when Jesus prophesies to His disciples about end times, and particularly about His return (or Second Coming), He tells them, "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken." We might note how these powers of heaven are shaken after that tribulation, and just prior to His return "with great power and glory."  See Mark 13:24-27.  Here in Mark's Gospel, these powers of heaven give evidence of being shaken, after Christ's great tribulation of crucifixion, and just before His spirit leaves the world.  Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom expressing the opening of heaven at His death -- Christ will return to God the Father, but in Resurrection will carry His humanity with Him.  Everything is completed in terms of His worldly life, so that we in turn may also rise with Him, and be gathered together by the angels "from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven" as His prophesy from chapter 13 tells us.  In the early Church, this was understood as the way we see the Crucifixion, as Christ taking on all the conditions and experience of humanity, so that humankind may be in turn raised with Him.  In his commentary titled "On the Incarnation," St. Athanasius (c. 296–373, Bishop of Alexandria) famously writes, "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God," and this is his meaning.  St. Gregory of Nazianzus (325-390, Archbishop of Constantinople), another pillar and theologian of the early Church, wrote, "For that which He has not assumed He has not healed; but that which is united to His Godhead is also saved."  If we are to understand Christ's Crucifixion and Resurrection, and His human life as well as His suffering, we need to take these two great sayings together, for they sum up for us what is happening as we read today's passage.  Christ entered the world, suffered together with us, even as One most sinful, dying a condemned person's most punishing sentence, but offers us His divinity to heal all that He assumed in His humanity, making it possible -- tearing that veil of the curtain that separates us from God -- so that we might be risen with Him.  This is not magic, and it is not automatic, and neither is it only about a promise for the future -- but it comes through our participation in Christ's life as offered to us through the sacraments of the Church, through faith, and through the power of God at work in us and in the world.  We become a part of His communion.  But it was made possible through His Passion, death, and Resurrection.  If we want to understand an answer to a fallen world, this is God's answer given to us.  Christ's willing sacrifice, to become fully human in this sense, while remaining divine, is an invitation of love for each one of us to be a part of His life, His family.  It enables us to be in communion so that we might participate fully in His life.  This does not mean we don't have to live as faithful Christians, but it implies the opposite:  that we participate in our faith through lives of service and devotion, living as He taught us to live, so that we may truly be with Him, even to an eternal life.  Let us consider the wisdom that founded our Church when it was one, for all of us, in one communion in Christ.  For even the centurion who stood at the foot of the Cross now becomes a part of that communion.