Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?
Amid the agony of the crucifixion, Jesus uttered a cry that echoes through history, drawing on the opening verse of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
The psalmist is wrestling with what seems to him an inexplicable contradiction. God’s people trusted in him, called upon him, and were delivered; Their confidence was not disappointed. Yet when he himself cries out, God was silent. “Why,” he asks, “have you forsaken me?”
What an unimaginable cry of anguish from the Son of God! God the Father forsakes his beloved Son, leaving him exposed to the mockery and contempt of his enemies. It is a cry of profound suffering, yet not a cry of unbelief. Far from it. Twice Jesus addresses him as “My God.” Even in the darkness of abandonment, he continues to trust in his Father.
Why did Jesus cry these words aloud? Why were they heard, remembered, and recorded for us? Surely so that we might ask the question Calvary demands of us: why did the Father forsake his Son?
Why, then, did the Father forsake his beloved Son?
- Not because Jesus was an impostor, as his enemies claimed.
- Not because he had committed some crime worthy of punishment.
- He was forsaken because he stood in the place of sinners. The Lord laid our iniquity upon him, and he bore the punishment that was due to us.
I too have a question to ask: “My God, my God, why have you received me?”
The answer is Jesus!
God has received me because he forsook his Son upon the cross! Oh, that I may live and die in gratitude for such incredible love!
And if ever I doubt God’s love for me, let me quickly remember that God had this choice before him: to forsake me, a sinner, or his beloved Son. Wonder of wonders! God forsook his Son so that he might receive and embrace me!