Forsaken Question

(Today’s audio reading on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1zaCcrfqOqpwbRIKOMQt8s)

“Eli, Eli, Lema Sabacthani?”(Matthew 27:46)

The effects of the cross took Jesus to the point of uttering perhaps the most poignant question of all time. It was earthy, real, gut level. A deep, stirring cry from a broken man.

Jesus was experiencing:

the depth of despair (even to the point of depression?)

feeling of separation (know anyone who has? have you?)

reality of abandonment (isn’t there a feeling of a certain finality to this?)

All of this in his darkest hour.

His human side (the Son of Man side?!) comes shining through. I’ll take the liberty to expand his question to these possible sidebar thoughts which go with his forsaken-question: “God, why?! Are you kidding me! After all I’ve done in God’s name, all I’ve been through, all I’ve bucked up and endured, and now this? This is the ending? Have you left me alone to die a naked death in front of these scoundrels who are no better than the common thieves that I’m nailed between?“

Lema Sabacthani  was a piercing question, spoken from the depths of the human heart, perhaps like no other in history. The posing of this question of abandonment by the Son of God shatters any illusion that “Sure, he was Jesus, he could handle it! Death on the cross was nothing for him! He just kept praying, kept believing, he kept confessing, he kept doing whatever, and it was all good…”

No, it wasn’t all good. In a real sense, the cross revealed the recesses of despair within his soul. He crossed over to a place of darkest despair to even utter the words, “My God WHY have you left me here?” This question shatters any illusion that one might have that Jesus was super-human, above any and all natural forces, oblivious to the effects of emotional and psychological trauma experienced during intense suffering.

I’m trying to wrap my mind around how was it possible for the One whose biographers Matthew, Mark, Luke and John portrayed as seemingly able to do anything at any time for any purpose, how could he come to a point of uttering the forsaken question? How does that make sense?

God hasn’t abandoned us, and He does care. We don’t understand what He’s doing nor can we see the full picture of what’s happening around us. He welcomes our questions, and comforts us in our pain. And I believe He weeps with us.

“Father, I confess I have a hard time getting my head around the abandonment that Jesus felt in his darkest hour—thank you for seeing him through that awful experience.”