He Will Never Forsake Us

Matt. 27:46 “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

I don’t know about you but this verse has left me puzzled every time I’ve read it. There just seems to be something “off” about it. It doesn’t sound like something Jesus would say. Why would Jesus, who has remained unhumanly strong throughout His crucifixion, only near the end cry out in such a manner? Wouldn’t you think it would have been when He was getting whipped or nailed to the cross? And then there’s that verse about how God will never leave us or forsake us.
It has never shaken my belief in Jesus but it has confused me.

To switch topics for a second, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind when I say, “The LORD is my Shepard”? I imagine you probably think of the next verse, “I shall not want.” Then you think about green pastures and walking through the valley of the shadow of death and fearing no evil and so forth and so on. Some of you will even know that the reference is the 23^rd Psalm. However, back then, before the Bible was constructed into a single volume not long after the death of Emperor Constantine, they didn’t have numbers for each chapter. They didn’t know it as the 23^rd Psalm. They knew it like you knew it just now: by the first verse. Even with us now, if I mentioned the 23^rd Psalm I would get some confused looks but if I said the first verse then you would most likely be able to tell me the gist of the rest.

Now, to switch topics back, Jesus was at the end of His life. Then, out of nowhere, He spouts out some random phrase. He cries it out so that everyone can hear Him. According to Matthew, some of the Romans thought that he was calling to Elijah, who they thought of as one of the Hebrew Gods, no doubt, since the Romans couldn’t imagine having only one God. However, what was the first thing the Hebrews standing there thought? All these people who had called for His death. All these people who had spit on Him and called Him cruel names. They stood there to watch Him die. They watched with amusement at every cruel thing the Romans did to Him. Then, Jesus calls out this statement near the end. They all know it is near the end and hence are listening intently. The question is, was the statement an actual calling out to God or was it something else? Could it be the first verse of a Psalm?

Psalm 22:1 “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”

You may be thinking to yourself how I can think that those standing around would know the entire Psalm by heart. Those of you that go to church, if I started singing a praise and worship song, would you not be able to start singing it with me? Those of you who don’t go to church, can you not quote the lyrics of nearly any song that comes on the radio, including those you don’t like (I’m thinking of “Drops of Jupiter” here).
The Hebrews sang these Psalms every week. They knew them well.
So how do we know Jesus was pointing out this Psalm? By what is in the Psalm.

Psalm 22:16 “For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet.” 17 “I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me;”

Can you imagine what those standing around must have been thinking? They did not believe Jesus was who He said He was but here they were witnessing something that was written about a thousand or more years before.

Verse 18 “They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.”

Matthew 27:35 “And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots;”

Jesus wasn’t crying out to God, imploring Him why He had forsaken His only son. Rather, Jesus, in His final hours, was pointing out to those around Him that He was indeed who He said He was. However, He forgave them because what He did had to be done. There was no forsaking… and there never will be.

Autumn Kisses

We kiss Autumn so much, I think she is starting to get the idea.