Question:  Hi Greg,

            Thank God for the wonderful work of service that He does through you.  Quick question: when Jesus was on the cross He said, “Why have you forsaken me?”  I have posed this question to others, but alas, I am still stuck.  Some say Jesus was simply reciting the Psalm e.g., but the issue of Him being literally forsaken by God or not is not clear to me because Jesus IS God.  Does the answer have to do with His dual nature (fully God and man) or am I missing the point all together? 

            Thanks again,

            Mitch

Answer:  Dear Mitch,

            First, I think you are right – we need to approach Matt. 27:46 with the background and core teaching that the New Testament provides – that Jesus Christ was very man and very God.  He was God in the flesh, the God man, the Son of God and the son of man.  This nature was not a mixture of divinity and humanity – for the two cannot be integrated, but in some unique “One and Only” (John 1:18) way, the incarnation of the Eternal Son of God, the second Person of the Godhead.  God never stopped being God, but added humanity, wrapped himself in our flesh, that he might save us.  Emmanuel – God with us – came to save us (Matt. 1:21-23) and to give his life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

            With that in mind – to this “saying on the cross”:

1.      These words are quoted from Psalms 22.

2.      Psalms 22 is not simply a psalm of discouragement, but in its totality an expression of faith.

3.      Some have postulated that Jesus only uttered this portion of Psalms 22 audibly, but completed the rest of this statement of faith and thanksgiving inaudibly.  We don’t know – only speculation.  But we do know that the context of Psalms 22 – and can rest assured that the Second Person of the Godhead, who had originally inspired David with those words know the context as well.

4.      We cannot ignore the reality of what was going on here – and we cannot pretend that we understand it.  We do not understand the dimensions of God – his nature and/or his attributes.  We do not understand his love on the one hand or his justice on the other.  We do not know how “heavy” the sin-bearing had to have been, when the full weight of all sin – past, present, and future rested on the shoulders of Christ on the cross.  We do not understand or comprehend the magnitude, the evil or the pain of our own sin – how can we understand what was going on here?

Jesus never sinned – for he was God in the flesh.  Yet in order to save us he took our collective sin upon him, and in his incarnate state – very man and very God – felt the reality of what that meant.  

            Perhaps that is part of the teaching for us – that when we feel like crying “God, why have you forsaken me”, we know that Jesus, in the flesh, cried out something similar.  We also know that he was the divine Author of the rest of the story – the rest of Psalms 22 – which clearly depicts the rest and faith we have in God, who delivers and comforts and cares for us.  He does so even in the midst of horrible times when humanly it seems there is no way out.

            Some thoughts – hope it is of some help.  May God bless you and be with you, Mitch.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht