The first three words of Jesus were about individuals. The last four are personal and directed towards God, the Father. He begins with a heart-wrenching plea that is like so many who are suffering to the point of death.
“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
It is
noon, and for the next three hours, Jesus is going through agonizing pain and
suffering. Matthew and Mark (written from Peter’s memory) record these words,
and both make a point to say that darkness had descended upon the land. The sky turned a deep, deep grayish black as
if a storm was coming. Jesus, who is
Christ, the Messiah, is also the Son of God, and his cry is one of separation –
the feeling of being separated from the Father as he takes on the Sin of all
mankind.
The
Father did not abandon, or leave his Son, but Jesus felt the full weight of the
Sin of the World, and the justice of God against that Sin. In his human/divine nature, Jesus had never
sinned and didn’t know what Sin, guilt, or shame from Sin felt like. The words Jesus speaks are a quote from Psalm
22:1, where David wrote them at a time when he felt alone, under the weight of
trying to survive as King Saul repeatedly hunted him in order to kill him. King David is confessing that God will not
abandon him, even if he cannot see what he is doing.
Many of
the Church Fathers experienced what they referred to as a “dark night of the
soul”, which has to do with the experience of being in the “dark”, they
couldn’t find God amid their turmoil and suffering. When I read these words Jesus spoke, I think
of soldiers on a battlefield who lay dying of their wounds and cry out for
their mother, or their father. They just
want someone they know loves them to be alongside their suffering.
The
Father did not abandon his Son, but he allowed him to experience the suffering
that would pay for the Sins of the world.
While Psalm 22 recounts this suffering, Jesus’ quoting from it surely
reminded him and us that God would deliver him from the suffering and that as a
result, all nations would worship God.
“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”.
(Psalm 22:26-28).
Jesus’
words cry out to the Father, confident in hope that his suffering was not in
vain and that his death will lead to the nations of the world to faith in
God.
Are you
in a dark time? Does God seem far
away? Let’s remember that God is
faithful…trust in Him. Offering your
suffering up to God, who will never “leave you nor forsake you”.
Peace
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