In these past few lessons, we have been standing at the foot of the cross and listening to the final words spoken by our Beloved Jesus, leaning in, as it were, to hear His final thoughts before He gave up His Spirit and died. We have been encouraged by the last words of forgiveness, acceptance, hope, life, love, and care that Jesus prayed and spoke. But now, we have come to Christ’s pinnacle of pain. At this point in the narrative, most want to turn and run from what they see and hear, the sorrow is too palpable, but if we stay and keep listening, we will find that these words of Jesus, though filled with misery and torment, also translate to words of promise for us who believe. Hear the words of your Lord:
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?" Matthew 27:46
Years ago, after my wife gave birth to our twin daughters, she was struck with Bell's palsy, which caused pain and paralysis on the left side of her face. She no longer looked like herself because the functioning muscles in her face pulled while the weak side of her face yielded. When she went out in public, people would quickly avert their gaze when they saw the distortion of her face. And while she understood their discomfort, it was hurtful to experience the revulsion of strangers for something over which she had no control. Because of my love for her, my heart suffered along with her. This small suffering we can comprehend, but how can we even articulate the momentous moment where God forsook His "beloved Son" in whom He was well pleased?
Jesus hung on His cross, distorted not by His sins but by the sins of the whole world - past, present, and future - by your sins and mine, and it was not strangers that turned away from Him, but His Father with Whom He had enjoyed eternal fellowship since before the world began.
Previously Jesus had prayed, "Father, forgive..." but now He cries out, "My God, my God!" Jesus became sin on the cross, and keenly felt the broken fellowship with the Father as a result. He no longer prays to His Father; now He cries out in torment, "My God!" His agony is beyond our understanding.
But God, the Father, did not turn away from Jesus because of personal discomfort. It was not as if Jesus were just something unpleasant to see. God had to turn away from Jesus because God is holy! God is so holy that He "cannot look on sin" (Habakkuk 1:13). And because God is holy, He cannot allow sin to go unpunished for that would not be holy or righteous. God rightly demands justice for all sin committed, and Romans 6:23 tells us that all sin merits death.