Matthew 27:46. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
This is one of the hardest prayers of Jesus to understand. On the cross Jesus prays My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But how can God forsake Jesus? How can God forsake God?
To understand this, we need to remember that Jesus was both God and man. On the cross, Jesus the human being was forsaken by God. Why? Because we all deserve to be forsaken by God because of our sin.
Have you ever sinned? Have you sinned today? Have you sinned in the last hour?
Me too.
And that means that we deserve the punishment for sin: Death. But not just dying physically, also dying spiritually. That’s what it means to be forsaken by God – to be separated from him. Rejected by him.
But here’s the good news: Because Jesus was forsaken by God we never have to be forsaken by God. You see, Jesus wasn’t forsaken by God forever. If he was, he would still be in the tomb. But the tomb is empty. He’s alive! Jesus did not stay dead and he did not stay forsaken. God raised him from the dead and now Jesus is back in Heaven with God the Father forever.
And we can be there too! With the Father, with the Son, with the Holy Spirit. We can be accepted and never rejected when we accept Jesus as our Savior and ask him to forgive us and give us his new life. Have you done that?
When Jesus cries My God, my God, why have you forsaken me, he is accomplishing our salvation for us. How? By taking our place. By taking what we deserve. That’s what happened on the cross, Jesus was punished in our place. He was our substitute.
We are guilty – Jesus was declared guilty.
We should be ashamed of ourselves – Jesus was shamed and embarrassed on the cross.
We deserve to be made fun of – Jesus was mocked.
We deserve to be punished – Jesus was punished in our place.
We are unworthy of God’s love – Jesus was rejected by God for us.
Jesus took everything we deserve so that we can have everything that he deserves. Look at how the Apostle Paul says it in 2 Corinthians:
2 Corinthians 5:21. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus cried out My God, my God, why have you forsaken me so that you and I would never, ever have to pray that prayer again. We never have to feel alone. We never have to feel abandoned by God. Even in life’s hardest moments, we know that God is always with us when we have Jesus. God will never forsake Jesus again, and God will never forsake those who have Jesus in their hearts.
You: Do you ever feel forsaken, ignored, rejected by God? When do you feel this way?
You with Jesus: How does knowing that God will never forsake you help you to trust him more?
Prayer: Jesus, you took my place on the cross, everything I deserve you let happen to you. And now I will never be forsaken by God. Thank you! Help me to trust this great love more and more. Amen.
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