We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
Why Did Jesus Cry Out that God Had Forsaken Him?
At the climax of Jesus’ suffering on the cross, Jesus cries out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46) It’s a jarring moment in the narrative. To forsake is to abandon. Did Jesus really believe that God had abandoned him? Was Jesus right about this? If he was right, what does that say about God? If he was wrong, what does that say about his connection with the father (about his standing within the trinity)?
Jesus had committed himself to doing the Father’s will, even though he anticipated it would involve a cup of great suffering (Mt 26:39). Paul tells us that, on the cross, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us” (2 Cor 5:21). This means that, on Calvary, the all-holy God was totally saturated in our sin! Not only that, but Paul also teaches that, on the cross, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal 3:13). One who is cursed is estranged from God, which is why, when Jesus took on with our cursed state, he cried out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46). Jesus experienced the separation from God that we deserved, while experiencing abandonment on an infinitely more profound level than we could ever experience. And this means that, on Calvary, God, whose very nature is the perfect, loving union of Father, Son and Spirit, experienced the profound disruption of our God-forsakenness.
Yes, Jesus was abandoned, but the abandonment was a momentary horror that Jesus offered himself into. Furthermore, it was a rupture that overthrew Satan (1 John 3:8), and established our salvation (Hebrews 9:27-28). It was, to summarize, the greatest possible act of love.
Category: General
Tags: Cross, Crucifixion, The Cross
Verse: Matthew 27
Related Reading
A Cruciform Dialectic
One of the most important aspects of God’s action on Calvary, I believe, is this: God revealed himself not just by acting toward humans, but by allowing himself to be acted on by humans as well as the fallen Powers. God certainly took the initiative in devising the plan of salvation that included the Son…
Was Jesus Abandoned by the Father on the Cross?
As Jesus hung on the cross, he cried, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (Mt 27:46). This is the cry of our God who stooped to the furthest possible depths to experience his own antithesis, as the all-holy God becomes the sin of the world (2 Cor 5:21) and the perfectly united God becomes the curse of…
Why Should I Say Jesus Died in My Place? (podcast)
Greg considers how Jesus’s death on the cross saved each of us. Episode 581 http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0581.mp3 4
What the Resurrection Says About the Cross
As with every other aspect of Jesus’ life and ministry, even the resurrection must be understood in light of the cross. This event was not just the resuscitation of a random corpse. It was the resurrection of the Incarnate Son of God who had fulfilled the human side of the God-human covenant by living a sinless…
10 Problems with the Penal Substitution View of the Atonement
If asked what Jesus came to do and how he did it, most contemporary Western Christians would automatically say something like, “Jesus took the punishment from God that I deserved.” This is what’s usually called the “Penal Substitution” view of the atonement, for it emphasizes that Jesus was punished by God in our place. His…
The Most Quoted Old Testament Verse
No other passage from the Old Testament is quoted more by New Testament authors than Psalm 110:1. Its frequent citation should cause us to pay attention to what is being said. It reads: The Lord says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” In David’s day, it…