Why Have You Forsaken Me?

Jesus’ fourth word from the cross—“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”—is sometimes called “the cry of dereliction,” or “the cry of abandonment.” It is by far the saddest and most haunting of his seven words. On first reading, it sounds as if Jesus has lost all hope, that he has completely despaired. The bleakness of the scene is intensified by the crowds’ callous response: they don’t understand what Jesus is saying, and just use it as another opportunity to ridicule him. Moments later, Jesus dies, draped in darkness, surrounded by enemies who don’t understand and don’t care. Why does Jesus give this awful cry? And what does it tell us about the cross?

Jesus is not the first to utter these words. He is quoting David, from Psalm 22. As God’s anointed king, David expected to experience God’s favor and blessing. But in Psalm 22, he finds himself suffering intensely and surrounded by enemies. In his pain, David cries out that it feels like God has abandoned him, disowned him, handed him over to the darkness. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.” (Psalm 22:1–2)

It makes sense that Jesus, having spent his life soaking his mind in the Scriptures, would express his heart in the words of Psalm 22 at the cross. Jesus was actually fulfilling David’s words in ways David could not have understood when he wrote Psalm 22. David’s poetic description of his sufferings in fact provide the most graphic prediction of Jesus’ sufferings at the cross in the whole Bible: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” (Psalm 22:14–18)

But there is another, more important way that Jesus is fulfilling Psalm 22 at the cross. David only felt abandoned by God, though the rest of the psalm makes clear that he really wasn’t. At the cross, Jesus does not just feel abandoned by God—he is. Mark’s gospel begins with the sun beaming down on Jesus at the Jordan River, God declaring “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11) Now, Jesus is swallowed in darkness (15:33), a picture of God’s judgment. Instead of turning his face toward Jesus in blessing (Num 6:24), God turns his face away from Jesus in anger. Instead of drawing near to Jesus, God abandons him. As God’s Son, nothing could be more horrifying. Until this moment, he has only known the Father's approval and affection. From all eternity, he has been “at the Father’s side,” (John 1:18) God’s “daily delight” (Prov 8:30), the radiance of his glory (Heb 1:1–2). Suddenly, he is abandoned.

Now we know why Jesus “fell down” in the Garden and begged the Father to “remove this cup from me” the night before (Mark 14:36) In the Bible, the “cup” is a symbol of God’s holy judgment against sin and evil (i.e., Psalm 75:8; Rev 14:10). This is the cup Jesus begged the Father to remove from him; as Jesus cries out with the words of Psalm 22, he is drinking that cup down to the bottom. The gospels give surprisingly little attention to Jesus’ physical sufferings, because the spiritual reality is far, far more intense and important. For three dark hours, Jesus descends into the horrors of hell. Why?

Jesus has already told his disciples why, though they couldn’t understand it at the time: “For the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
(Mark 10:45) Jesus came down from heaven to pay the ransom for sinners. The Bible tells us that we deserve what Jesus endures at the cross for our sin (Rom 6:23). We should be cast into the outer darkness. We should drink the cup of God’s wrath. We should experience God turning his face away from us forever. But God has shown his love for us in this: instead of giving us what we deserve, he sent his Beloved Son to take our place—while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8). At the cross, Jesus volunteered to be our Substitute, to “bear our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Pet 2:24). Jesus “became a curse” for us, so that God’s blessing could flow into our lives forever (Gal 3:13). Jesus “became sin” for us at the cross, so that he could give us his righteousness (2 Cor 5:21). He drank the bitter cup of God’s wrath, so that we could lift up the cup of God’s salvation (Psalm 116:13). God abandoned Jesus at the cross, so he could welcome us into heaven. In Jesus’ horrible cry from the cross, we hear the beautiful music of the gospel!

Have you received this wonderful exchange Jesus made for you in his death? The people at Calvary did not understand Jesus’ third word from the cross. And when you and I have been in heaven 10,000 years, we still will not fully understand the dark night of the soul through which he passed for us. But the little that we do understand is more than enough to move us to worship and adore him.

Jesus’ fourth word from the cross also shows us that we can trust God in our suffering. For all his pain in Psalm 22, David declares repeatedly that God is still holy, and will still keep all his promises. Though it may feel like God has cast him off at the moment, David knows God will rescue him, and he will live to declare God’s praises with God’s people. (Psalm 22:2–5, 22–31) Jesus knows all this when he quotes Psalm 22. And in his fourth word, Jesus announces that he still trusts God, even in the darkness. With Job, Jesus declares that though God slays him, yet he will hope in him (Job 13:15). Jesus’ hope in God will be vindicated on Sunday morning, when God raises him from the dead. God now welcomes his Son home as a conquering hero; he removes his shame by giving him a name above every name in the universe (Phil 2:5–11)! And one day, when Jesus is surrounded in heaven by all those he redeemed by his cross, he will again quote Psalm 22, with joy: “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” (Heb 2:12) But at the cross, Jesus must walk by faith.

Jesus trusted God in the darkness, and on Easter God brought him into the light. With Jesus as our Savior, we can trust God in the darkness too. He is not the last of God’s people to cry, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” As we follow Jesus through our broken world, we will sometimes feel abandoned by God. But Jesus’ fourth word reminds us that, no matter how deep the darkness, “he will never leave us or forsake us.” (Heb 13:5) Jesus lived as a man of sorrows, and now he can carry our griefs when we unburden our hearts to him (Isa 53:3). Jesus did not remain removed from our suffering; he is a merciful and sympathetic high priest (Heb 2: 17, 4:16). His friends left him all alone, but he is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Prov 18:24). He traveled the valley of the shadow of death without a shepherd, so that he could walk with us in every step of our journey. He experienced the anguish of Psalm 22, so that we could live in the comfort of Psalm 23.

Will you trust Jesus to shepherd you today?

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Article by Eric Smith
Senior Pastor, Sharon Baptist Church