Daddy Where You At?
Matthew 27:46
The 4th Word of the 7 last words
Jesus, the one who had the perfect fellowship with God the Father for all eternity-- "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30) " they had perfect fellowship: perfect communication: acted and thought in unison. Sometimes it is easy to think of Jesus as something more than a man, since we know He had perfect fellowship with the Father. Some might even question, how did Jesus, the perfect one, have the audacity to question where God was. But if we were to take off our sanctified hats, we would have to say we have felt this very way at some point in our life, and the truth be know, some of us feel that way today. But one thing we must remember is that it is clear that Jesus was a man... " In John 1:14 is states “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” And though we can tell by the word he differed from us in that he was born without sin, still he was a man, who hurt, who grieved, who experienced joy, who experience pain. We dwell so much on the part that Jesus knew His fate and that He voluntarily went to the cross. We have read that -He told the disciples he would go-- "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:" (John 3:14) "
We understand that Jesus knew he had a date with the cross--He was in perfect obedience to God the Father. And Perhaps it is the fact that Jesus had all of these perfect characteristics, we sometimes have trouble relating to Jesus moment of what could be seen as “weakness” in His final hour. Here we find Jesus on the cross. Truth be known, if it had of been us, it would have never gotten to this point. We would have shouted “Daddy where you at” when we were informed we would leave our mansion and status to be born in a manger and stench. It would have never made it to the cross. We wouldn’t have gotten past the fact that the crew we ran with were the same ones that in many instances had shown they were more concerned about status and protocol than they were about the teachings of Jesus, that would have made us yell “Daddy where you at”. The fact that one of our close associates was going to turn us in and a partner was going to deny us three times would have been enough for us to cancel out our cross date. We would have yelled “Daddy where you at” when we was in the garden and found our friends couldn’t watch our back for a moment or two. The cross would not have ever come into the picture – because as soon as we heard the crowd yell out convict him, knowing we had healed some of them, partied and brought the wine to some of their parties, and even served them a bad tuna casserole and sent them home with leftovers – would have been enough for us to say “Daddy, where you at.” So really and truly, Jesus had every right here at the ninth hour to yell out “Daddy Where You At?” Jesus had in actuality at that moment done something that is monumental – the word that became flesh, now became sin-- "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2Corinthians 5:21)
Jesus at this point did more than become one of us-- He now had become all of our mistakes. Jesus in essence took on all the sin that had been, that was, and that was to come, in His own innocent body, to cleanse us, to give us a right standing with God, and to heal us. Jesus allowed everything that makes us fall short of God’s perfection to be taken to the cross! "Daddy Where You At?” Look carefully at those words. Jesus Himself for the first time in His life had become separated from God. Have you ever lost God’s presence and wondered where He went? Now we need to understand something, God is not gone, but what happens to us is that we temporarily have fallen from faith in the Word of God. The Bible says that God never leaves us]....”I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (Hebrews 13:5)
But in the case of Jesus and in our case it is the sin that surrounds us, the doubt that envelopes us, the fear that takes over us that causes us to no longer feel the presence of the one who is there all the time. Jesus was separated by the sin that had been drawn to him like metal to a magnet.
Are you in a situation that seems impossible? And you keep crying out Daddy where you at and it seems as if He does not hear you--which He has forgotten all about you? Have you ever been disappointed by loved ones, discouraged by friends, pushed aside by those who are close. Jesus know what it feels like to be separated--abandoned--in a way that is deeper than anything we would have to go through. He who had perfect fellowship with God felt abandoned--dying-stripped-beaten. But, there is a reason to rejoice, there is a celebration in this moment of desperation…. Jesus took all those things – pain, agony, verbal and physical abuse, rejection, dejection, and separation, so we may be healed. He bore our griefs and sorrow, our pain and stress, our afflictions--physical, spiritual and emotional duress. Jesus understands what it means to feel abandoned and forsaken by someone you love. He knows what it means to lose something or someone close. He knows what it means to cry out to God and not hear an answer. We truly have a Savior who understands what we feel. Jesus understands perfectly what you are going through. He, though completely innocent, was tempted, hurt and abandoned in exactly the way we are, in fact in a deeper way than any of us can truly claim, as none of us is without sin as He was. But we can celebrate the fact that even in the moments that we can’t feel God, He is there all the time…. Because the death of Jesus nullified our disconnection notice…. And when we feel all hope is gone and wanna yell out “Daddy Where Ya At’… simply stop and think about the cross… and how Jesus kept the date… and his agony of separation has guaranteed the saints of God total connection so we don’t have to ask Daddy where you at…. Because we know, he is right here with us
