Of all the words spoken by Jesus, His distressing cry to His Heavenly Father moments before His death intrigues me the most.  In Mark 15:34 we read that “At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  The word forsaken means exactly what it implies, deserted, abandoned, left alone.  I’ve wondered over these words for many years.  Partly because I know what it means but partly because it’s a theological mystery to me.

This is the moment Jesus has been dreading the most.  There are many heartaches that He experienced on His way to the Cross.  The betrayal, the rejection, the denial, the mockery, the scourging, the crown of thorns, and the crucifixion itself.  But of all the suffering that Jesus endured, this moment was the peak of His agony.

He lived His entire life, even from childhood, knowing that He was under the watchful eye of His Heavenly Father.  He was consciously aware of the Father’s love and presence throughout His whole life.  The harshest experience had not dulled His awareness of the Father’s care.  Until, that is, He cried out in pure agony, “Why have you forsaken me?”  This was His “God-forsaken curse.” 

A.T. Robertson says that “We are not able to enter into the fullness of the desolation felt by Jesus at this moment as the Father regarded Him as sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). This desolation was the deepest suffering. He did not cease to be the Son of God. That would be impossible.”

It’s precisely because He is the Son of God that this desolation was His deepest suffering.  We know that He always and only did what pleased and honoured His Father.  Even Pilate, upon examination of Jesus concluded that he “found no guilt in Him.”  As the beloved of the Father, this moment was the ultimate price to be paid as the Saviour of the world.

As the sin of the world was atoned, Jesus carried it away into the abyss of His isolation from the Father.  Christians believe in the “omnipresence” of God.  That simply means that He is everywhere present at all times.  It’s what David explained brought Him such peace in that famous Psalm (139).  God is present everywhere.  That means that there is nowhere that you can hide or run or be abandoned by God.

I have experienced enormous strength from the promise of Hebrews 13:5-6: “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  So, we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”  Knowing the presence of God is with you is the ultimate experience of peace.  Nothing can touch it.  NOTHING.

I know that you are making the connection.  Jesus was forsaken by God at the cross so that we don’t EVER have to be!  He was separated from God at the moment He became sin for us, so that we can be restored, forever, to the sweet, satisfying presence of our Heavenly Father.  From the Garden of Eden until the Cross, a great gulf, an abyss, existed between God and man.

The God-forsaken abyss of our sin was fully absorbed by Jesus at the Cross.  Mark’s Gospel tells us that moments after His cry Jesus “breathed His last . . . and the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”  His crushing, death inducing separation from God opened direct access into the presence of God.  The account was so moving that the Roman centurion blurted out, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”

Jesus was forsaken so that you can enter the presence of God by the sacrifice of Jesus.  Jesus was forsaken so that you can live fully aware of the presence of God “all the days of your life.”  “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11)

Here we are Church family about to enter another “passion week.”  Can’t wait to worship the Lord with you on Sunday at the 9 or 11 AM service.  See you then, God willing,

          ¹⁸ The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool.

      ¹⁹ When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

      ²⁰ The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; the heart of the wicked is of little worth.

      ²¹ The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of sense.