Why would Jesus say those words then? Would you not think he would have said them before this moment? Did he finally get up the courage to make that plea? Was it a final act of desperation? How could God, in the person of Jesus, be forsaken by his Father? What does it mean to be forsaken?
I have a lot more questions about these words from Jesus than I have answers. Well, here are a few things that I think I know. They help me make a little sense of all this anyway.
* This is a 'quote' from Psalm 22:1. This chapter of Psalms is woven throughout the crucifixion narrative. Could it be that Jesus was being comforted by Scripture even at this horrible time?
* There is a period of darkness of about 3 hours. It seems that there is a connection between this darkness and the darkness of Exodus 10; The Plague of Darkness.
* This could very well be the final moments of his separation from God on our behalf. If he bore our sins and experienced the separation from God that we should experience, this is when it might have happened.
* This is the moments, probably minutes, before he breathed his last. Can you imagine the thoughts & feelings that were running through him?
* This is the only time in the Synoptic gospels that Jesus does not refer to God as 'Father'.
* The physical pain of the cross would be quite horrible. There have been a variety of doctors study the effects of the cross on the body according to historical records of what the Roman soldiers used to inflic, with pain. Jesus' death was extraordinaly quick because of God's timing. Had he not died so quickly, the Roman soldiers would have finished the job a little later. Some criminals that were executed were left up for days before they were removed.
Well, Jesus cried out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt that God had forsaken you?
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