My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

It can't have been often that Martin Luther was lost for words, but it is recorded that after studying Matthew 27:46 all he could say was, 'God forsaken by God. Who can explain that?' I have been given eight hundred words to explore this, but Luther in eight words tells us that he thinks that it is beyond our comprehension. I think he is right, but still we must explore as far as we can and dare.

These words are shocking words. If we were reading the gospel accounts for the first time, we would find them so out of place. Everything that Jesus has said in life has spoken of his close, indivisible union with the Father. And he who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do the things that please him (John 8:29 NKJV). I and my Father are one (John 10:30). In life, Jesus abides in his Father's love, but now in death he cries out in utter dereliction and the Father says nothing!

Some have sought to make this more palatable by suggesting that Jesus' physical and mental anguish were so great that he felt as though he had been abandoned, when in fact the Father was as close as ever. We might sometimes feel that God has left us, when in fact with hindsight we discover that he was actually carrying us through the trial. However, that is not what Jesus is going through. He doesn't merely feel abandoned; he is abandoned!

These are terrifying words. This is the loneliest cry of the loneliest man in history. There has been a systematic abandoning of Jesus. The crowds who flocked to him five days ago have forsaken him. His disciples have all forsaken him and fled, and now the Father has forsaken him. Jesus is utterly alone. However, I think we must differentiate between the way in which the disciples have forsaken Jesus in Matthew 26:56 and the way in which the Father forsakes his Son. Indeed, Matthew makes a distinction by using different verbs in each case. The disciples are afraid and no longer want to be associated with Jesus. The Father is angry and is actually standing against his Son. He has certainly turned his smile away, but not his attention. This is a scene of judgement. The darkness that has covered the land for the past three hours reminds us of the penultimate judgement on Egypt. It was leading up to the death of the firstborn sons of Egypt. Now the Father is about to smite not Pharaoh's son, but his own.

The Father is not passive in this abandonment of his Son. We must think of those words of Isaiah,      Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrow; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:4-6). That is the best commentary on the question 'Why?' in our text. It was for our sin that Jesus was forsaken. The Father has commissioned the one that he loves so much to be the sin bearer and take the place of those that he must judge in his entire holy wrath. There is another question 'Why?' that I can't begin to answer. Why was the Father prepared to do that to him for us?

These words are terrifying because they give us just a tiny glimpse into hell. Jesus is receiving all that my sin deserves, and that involves being cut off from the mercy of God and abandoned to the judgement of God. When we are tempted to think lightly of sin, think carefully about this cry of utter dereliction. This is what our sin did to God's Son. Then these words are comforting words. We might wonder how such words of dereliction could be comforting, but for believers they most certainly are. If Jesus has cried these words, we will never have to nor be able to! He was in this fearful place so that we might never go there. He said these words for us, and we say them in him, and they can never ever be uttered again by the people of God. What takes place here, makes real and certain the promise that he will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). This cry shows the awful evil of our sin, the awesome heights of divine justice, and then a sacrificial love that satisfies justice and purges sin.