My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?

Have you ever heard the first words of a song and the rest of the words followed in your mind?

Matthew and Mark record one of Jesus’ final statements on the cross:

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" 

That is the first line of a Psalm of lament that Jews in Jesus’ time would have known by heart. We know it as Psalm 22. When Jesus said the first line, the rest would have followed in their minds.

So, what was Jesus saying? Let’s step through Psalm 22 to get a richer understanding.

"Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?" 

Jesus was definitely in anguish. He felt every rip on his skin from the flogging, every hole in his scalp from the crown of thorns. He felt the nails driven through his feet and wrist joints. He felt his lungs collapsing from hanging on a cross.

All that pain, and God is not intervening. But the next line takes a turn:

 "Yet You are enthroned as the Holy One." 

God has a long history with the people of Israel, starting with the promise He made to their ancestor, Abraham. He promised that all the people on earth would be blessed through Abraham. Jesus is a descendant of Abraham, and he IS the fulfillment of that promise.

No one saw Jesus as a blessing that day. They mocked him in his pain.

All who see me sneer at me. "Let the LORD rescue him, since he delights in him!"

But Jesus knew who he was, and he knew God was worthy of trust.

The next few verses, 11-18, give an uncannily detailed description of what happened to Jesus. Keep in mind, the pslam was written over 1000 years before Jesus was crucified!

They have pierced my hands and my feet...They divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots.

And this is my favorite part – then the song turns to praise!

"I will declare Your name in the assembly. In the assembly I will praise You...He has not despised the affliction of the afflicted. He has not hidden his face from him, but when he cried, he heard."

What beautiful thoughts of trust and praise coming from Jesus as he hung on the cross!

And this will be the result: Jesus will be praised.

From You will come my praise in the great assembly. 

And people will be blessed.

The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him

All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—

And the message and praise will be passed from one generation to the next.

Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!

You and I are part of those future generations. And I’ll do my part to fulfill that scripture when I say Jesus has done it!

What He did was sacrifice himself on the cross and take the punishment for our sin upon himself. His body felt the full weight of the punishment all human sin over all time deserves. He experienced death so we who trust in him won’t have to.

But God did not forsake His Son. Jesus is fully God as well as fully man. It’s a mystery beyond our understanding, nevertheless, it’s true. And you can’t kill God or separate God from Himself. That is the only reason Jesus was able to express both the anguish and hope of Psalm 22 while he hung on a cross.

Jesus didn’t have to go through the anguish of death in order to return to God. He was never apart from Him. But He suffered the anguish so we could join him. We are His joy!

For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

What a God worthy of worship!