Readers, get ready. I'm about to share with you one of the coolest pieces of information I learned during my time in seminary. It completely revolutionized the way I think about Jesus' final hours on the cross, about the relationship between the Father and the Son, and about the selflessness of Jesus' sacrifice. Yeah, it's that big.
Both Mark and Matthew record the following episode:
"And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Mark 15:33-34)
"Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:45-46)
Immediately after this moment, Jesus breathes His last and dies, calling out, "Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46)
When I was younger, I was very confused by this whole exchange. Why would Jesus feel forsaken by the Father? Why would He cry out in anguish that they were separated, but then with His next breath give His Spirit to the Father? It didn't make sense to me. I even, when I was an atheist, used to argue that Jesus' cry proved that God was ignoring Him, and therefore He couldn't be the Son of God.
I have heard sermons explain that Jesus at this moment was experiencing the separation from God that resulted from His taking on all the sin of the world. I agree that sin separates humans from God, but if you believe that God the Father "forsakes" His Son, who is acting in full obedience and is Himself 100% divine as well as 100% human, you get into some murky theological waters. It's a puzzling, and when explained this way, troubling passage.
Troubling, that is, until I heard the following simple yet groundbreaking explanation from several of my professors at seminary. You know how, in our Bibles, all the psalms have handy numbers at the top? I can say "Psalm 23" in a crowded room, and a fair number of people will know I am talking about the psalm that begins, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."
Well, those handy numbers didn't exist in the Scriptures in Jesus' day. Instead, the psalms were known by their first lines, which acted as titles. So Jesus, with His almost final breath, is not railing in anguish at an absent Father. He is yelling out, "Psalm 22!" He is using that excruciatingly painful breath to point the witnesses, the evil-intentioned, the confused, and the faithful, to the message of Psalm 22. And that message is not that the Father forsakes sinners. It is that He spares Himself nothing to rescue them, and points them to His hope with His final breath. Check it out:
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
Yet You are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In You our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and You delivered them.
To You they cried and were rescued;
in You they trusted and were not put to shame.
But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
“He trusts in the LORD; let Him deliver him;
let Him rescue him, for he delights in Him!”
Yet You are He who took me from the womb;
You made me trust You at my mother's breasts.
On You was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother's womb You have been my God.
Be not far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is none to help.
Many bulls encompass me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
You lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
But You, O LORD, do not be far off!
O You my help, come quickly to my aid!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dog!
Save me from the mouth of the lion!
You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
I will tell of Your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise You:
You who fear the LORD, praise Him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify Him,
and stand in awe of Him, all you offspring of Israel!
For He has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted,
and He has not hidden His face from him,
but has heard, when he cried to Him.
From You comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will perform before those who fear Him.
The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek Him shall praise the LORD!
May your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before You.
For kingship belongs to the LORD,
and He rules over the nations.
All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before Him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
even the one who could not keep himself alive.
Posterity shall serve Him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
they shall come and proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that He has done it.
That is the God I serve. That is the God I adore. The God who stooped low, who poured Himself out to bring wretched sinners into righteousness. And that is why I will joyfully proclaim His righteousness to people just recently born tomorrow. May our preschool room resound with His praises!!
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