“My God, My God, Why Have
You Forsaken Me?”
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen. Tonight in our sermon series “Questions at the Cross” we once again
journey to Jerusalem, this time to meditate on the only question actually FROM
the cross, uttered by Jesus as he hung dying, recorded in this evening’s Gospel
Reading. Matthew first gives this question as it was actually spoken by Jesus,
in the everyday language of Aramaic: “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” Then
Matthew explains for us what these words mean: “My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?” Each year during Lent we hear those words, meditate on those words, and
ask ourselves: “What does that mean? What does it mean for ME that Jesus
was forsaken by God?” When Jesus asked the only question from the cross, he was quoting from
Psalm 22, the psalm we read a few moments ago. Psalm 22 was written
hundreds of years before the crucifixion of Christ. But, it is an
amazingly detailed prediction, a prophecy of the extreme agony the Savior would
suffer on the cross. Verses 7 and 8 of Psalm 22 foretell the crowd around the cross,
taunting Jesus even while he is dying: “All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: ‘He
trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he
delights in him.’” Verses 14 and 15 describe the physical torture of crucifixion, the
bones yanked out of joint, the heart pounding under great stress, the body
dehydrated by a high fever: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My
heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. My strength is
dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.” Verses 16 and 18 prophesied the nails driven through the Savior’s hands
and feet, and his clothing divided among the soldiers by casting lots: “They have pierced my hands and my feet. . . They divide my
garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.” Hundreds of years before the fact, Psalm 22 describes in detail all
these events of our Savior’s suffering. But, the greatest suffering of all
came when Jesus cried out the only question from the cross, the first verse of
Psalm 22: “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”; “My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?” Why? Why did Jesus suffer and die? Why was he forsaken by God? Not
because he was a sinner. Not to pay the penalty for any wrong he had done. For,
Jesus Christ was without sin. He was completely innocent of any
wrongdoing. As the thief on cross next to Jesus testifies: “We are getting what
our deeds deserve, but this man has done nothing wrong.” The centurion
carrying out Jesus’ crucifixion exclaims: “Surely this was a righteous man.”
Even Pontius Pilate declares: “What crime has this man committed? I have found
in him no grounds for the death penalty.” Then why? Why did he suffer and die? Why was he forsaken by
God? He gave himself for us, as a sacrifice for our sin. As the Apostle John
says, “He appeared to take away our sins, and in him is no sin.” He paid
the penalty for all the wrongs we have done. He even suffered for us the
ultimate torture—the pain of being forsaken by God. To be forsaken by God is to be separated from God on account of sin.
That is what hell actually is: Separation from God for eternity on account of
sin. Jesus Christ literally went through hell as he hung on the cross, bearing
alone the guilt and sin of the whole world. Sin so black, guilt so ugly,
that God the Father could not look upon his Son. The ultimate punishment for sin is separation from God. For Jesus
Christ to completely suffer in our place the punishment that our sins deserved,
he had to endure for us even the pain of hell—the pain of separation from God.
Of course, Jesus himself is God, the second person of the Trinity, Father, Son
and Holy Spirit. Exactly how God himself was at the same time forsaken by God is
a mystery we don’t understand. But, we do know this: It did happen, Jesus did
suffer for us the punishment of hell, separation from God, at that moment on
Good Friday when he cried out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?” On Easter morn he rose from the dead. That is God’s way of telling the
world, “I have accepted the sacrifice of my Son. For a time he was forsaken by
me, for your sake, so that your punishment would be paid in full by him. Now he
is risen from the dead, winning for you the battle over sin, death and the
devil.” The Resurrection of Jesus means that the sins of the whole world are
forgiven. They are all forgiven because the punishment for sin has already been
suffered, the price for sin has already been paid in full by the Savior of the
world. Everything that had to be done to appease God’s wrath has been
accomplished by Jesus. That is what Jesus means when he cries out from the
cross, “It is finished.” He means that everything that had to be done to
appease God’s wrath has been done, it is finished, by him, for you. For he
suffered in your place even to the point of enduring the greatest agony of
all—separation from God, the torment of hell. The Roman philosopher Seneca lived at about the same time as Jesus.
This is what Seneca wrote about crucifixion, which was a common practice in the
Roman world: “Can any man be found willing to be fastened to the accursed
tree? Can any man be found who would waste away in pain, dying limb by
limb, losing his life drop by drop?”* Seneca didn’t know it, but even as
he wrote those words a thousand miles away in the Roman province of Palestine
there was indeed found a man willing to be nailed to the accursed tree, willing
to waste away in pain, dying limb by limb, losing his life drop by drop.
There was indeed found a man willing to literally go through hell for you, on
the cross. As Jesus said, “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down
of my own accord. . . For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” What does it mean for YOU that Jesus was forsaken by God? It
means you never will be punished by God for your sins. You never will be
separated from God on account of your guilt. You will not be condemned to hell,
because Jesus Christ already went through hell for you, on the cross.
Because Jesus was forsaken by God, you never will be. Because Jesus
suffered on the cross the torment of hell, you will enjoy forever the bliss of
heaven. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Why? For YOU
and your salvation. Amen. *Dale Meyer, “Can Anyone Be Found?” The Lutheran Layman, April, 1996, p. 2. Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office
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