My God, my God, why have you forsaken me (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34)
The fourth statement from the cross is both deep and terrible. Mark puts it in its context as follows: ‘At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).’ Two things stand out: the intense universal darkness and the cry, so appalling that it was remembered by the first Christians in its original language of Aramaic.
It is worth noticing that, even in this darkest hour, Jesus does pray. Although in agony and in despair, he keeps faith.
Yet it is how Jesus prays here that is most striking. As we were reminded in the first statement from the cross, ‘Father, forgive’, Jesus normally addressed God with that word of close family trust, ‘Abba’ or ‘Father’. But here, in the midst of a darkness, Jesus is reduced to praying with the formal address of ‘God’.
It is a quotation from Psalm 22, but that cannot conceal a real sense of desolation and separation. No human being can understand fully what was going on here. The best interpretation is that Jesus, united with the Father for all eternity, is now experiencing separation from God the Father.
These words express the great principle of exchange that runs throughout the Gospel. On the cross, for those three hours, Jesus took upon himself our sin, became separated from God the Father and bore the punishment that should have been ours.
Christ’s separation as the Son of God allowed our adoption as children of God.
As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21, ‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.’
Jesus went to a place of separation so that we might never need to be separated from God. He cried out these words of abandonment precisely to ensure that his followers should never have to say them.
Ponder: Jesus carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds we are healed.
1 Peter 2:24, NLT
Prayer: Dear Jesus, as we read of the agony you went through for us, all we can do is say thank you. Thank you that at the moments we feel isolated and alone you are with us. Help us to reach out to others with your love and compassion. Amen.
