“My God, My God, Why?”
“My God, My God, Why?”
Matthew 27:32-56; Psalm 22
I approach this message with a bit of fear and trembling. That’s because there have been so many sermons on the “seven last words,” and this one in particular, all with a singular focus that has influenced the church in what I believe to be the wrong direction. It is particularly problematic when the message is preached from Matthew, because the usual interpretation goes contrary to Matthew’s purposes.
I’m also a bit nervous because I’m trying to compress into one message what might take us three or four, depending on which details we focus on and what we view as important here. And the problem is that we tend to skip over, or mention only in passing, parts of the story that are vital to us.
There are two or three details here that I want to treat quickly.
One is the utter exhaustion and weakness of Jesus. The beating we talked about two weeks ago was so severe that others had died from that alone. Jesus has been awake and active all the previous day and night, gone on trial, and been severely abused by the Roman guards. He is physically near death from loss of blood and the beating. He is exhausted physically and emotionally. He is a wreck. And now they want him to carry the heavy cross, or cross-beam, out of the city and up to the place of execution. He can’t do it, and falls under the load. So the Romans recruit Simon from Cyrene (Libya) to carry the cross. Then comes the actual crucifixion.
We’ll come back to some details in a bit, but we need to remark on the two crucifies with Jesus. The KJV calls them thieves. Other translations refer to them as robbers, bandits, or criminals. And that is one translation of the word. It is the same word used to describe Barabbas. The problem is that thieves weren’t normally crucified. But rebels were, and the other translation of the word is “revolutionary” or “insurrectionist.” These were likely men who had tried to incite revolt against the Romans. They may have been Zealots, we don’t know. Let’s just say they were violent men and hardened criminals.
According to Luke (23:39-43), the one curses Jesus and insults him, with the same words as some of the witnesses. , the other appears to recognized who Jesus is and begs to be remembered in the new kingdom. Jesus promises, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” And some preachers have made a meal of that, trying to develop all sorts of after-life scenarios based on that one sentence. We can’t do that, because we don’t know what Jesus meant beyond what he said. Both Matthew, however, just notes that Jesus was crucified between two criminals, without comment. Matthew has a different purpose in mind, which we will get to in a moment.
Then, at the moment of Jesus’ death, Matthew reports that the huge temple curtain, dividing the holy place from the Most Holy Place, was torn in two from top to bottom. That curtain was ninety feet tall and three feet thick. Preachers have made a meal of this, also, suggesting that it signified that man could now approach God’s throne with boldness (Heb 4:16). I have argued that it also let God out of the box Israel had put him in. But, according to my study Bible footnote, it probably implied the departure of God’s Presence from the temple, perhaps “prefiguring it’s destruction.”
Matthew also includes a resurrection story, centurions and others proclaiming that Jesus was God’s Son, and lists the several women who were witnesses to the events surrounding the crucifixion.
But the center, or pivot point of Matthew’s account is Jesus’ cry from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” In Aramaic, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”
Now, I’m sure you’ve heard sermons about the Father abandoning the Son at this critical time. Perhaps you’ve heard that, because Jesus carried the sin of the world, that the Father was too holy to look upon sin. We should abandon that idea instantly, just based on Scripture, beginning with the story of Noah. Genesis 6:12 records that God saw how corrupt the earth had become. God did not turn away, but selected righteous Noah as an instrument of salvation. In Genesis 18:20, we read, Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see ...” And then righteous Abraham pleads for the salvation of the righteous who may live in those wicked cities. God does not turn away when he sees sin; he does something about it. That’s the function of the prophets, from Samuel, to Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, and the rest. They tell us that God sees our sinfulness; God sees our corruption; God sees our rebellion – and does something about it. And Jesus is, in fact, God doing something about the problem of sin. So no, the Father did not abandon his Son.
So, why did Jesus cry out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” And that’s where Matthew’s purpose comes in. Remember that Matthew is, first of all, writing to prove that Jesus is the Messiah as attested by the fulfillment of prophecy. So, if God does not abandon Jesus, this must mean something else. And indeed it does.
Jesus cry is the first line of Psalm 22. Now, I want you to remember Matthew’s penchant for “stringing pearls.” The utterance of a part of a verse is meant to elicit memory of the rest of the verse. The utterance of a single line of a psalm is meant to elicit memory of the rest of the psalm. And if Jesus cry is the first verse of Psalm 22, then what is he trying to say? What are we to understand.
I have placed in your Harbormaster a side-by-side comparison of Psalm 22 and the events of the crucifixion.
Begin with verse 6 - But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. Look across the page at Matthew 27: 39 and 44 - Those who passed by hurled insults at him and In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
Look at verse 7 - All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. What does Matthew report? Matthew 27:39, 41 - Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads ... In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him.
Now, verse 8 - He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him. And Matthew reports that the chief priests and the elders mocked him, “He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him ...” Do you see what’s happening?
Jump down to verse 14 - I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint ... For this we have to go to the gospel of John 19:34 - one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
Psalm 22:15 - my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. John is the one who reports Jesus’ cry, “I thirst,” but Matthew has the answer: Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink (Mt 27:48). One of the soldiers, hearing Jesus complaint of thirst, soaked a sponge in wine vinegar, put it on the end of staff and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.
Go to verses 16-17, where the Psalmist complains ... a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. There is perhaps no better description of crucifixion than this – nails driven through the wrists just at the base of the palm, where there is a triangle of ligament and bone strong enough to suspend a body, and nails driven through the feet to make pushing up to breathe a torture all its own. As the body hangs, the ribcage protrudes, the abdomen is drawn in, and the pelvis is visible. Matthew says, simply, When they had crucified him ...
Now, the rest of verse 17 and verse 18: They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. You see on your bulletin insert four references, with Luke in small print. Matthew has the simplest statement: When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots (Mt. 27:35). Notice that John associates this with Psalm 22:18 - “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened so that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, “They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.” So this is what the soldiers did (Jn 19:24).
There is one more verse in Psalm 22 that you must see, and it is virtually the same in every translation of the Bible. If Jesus was pointing to Psalm 22 when he quoted the first verse, and if Matthew is being consistent in “stringing pearls,” then we cannot ignore this verse. In fact, this verse answers more questions than this: it answers the dilemma of suffering. If you have your Bible with you, I want you to see this for yourself. I don’t want you to take my word for it. I want you to read it in your own Bible, with your own eyes, so you know it’s true, and not just something the preacher said.
Open your Bible to Psalm 22, and find verse 24. I’ll give you just a moment.
Here it is from the NIV: For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. From the King James: For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard. From the NASB: For He has not despised nor scorned the suffering of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from him; But when he cried to Him for help, He heard.
If Psalm 22 is a prophecy of the crucifixion, we cannot avoid the truth that the Father did not turn away, did not hide his face, did not abandon the Son on the cross. And if Psalm 22 is merely the cry of David in his distress, the fact remains that God does not turn away from those who suffer. The answer to suffering is the presence of God, the tender mercies of God in the situation. The Father did not forsake Jesus on the cross, and the point of Jesus’ quote was not his feeling of abandonment, because he knew the Scriptures and he knew his Father. The loving Father does not abandon his child in a time of anguish and suffering. The loving Father is present and attentive to the cries of his hurting, anxious, frightened, and lonely child. God has promised never to abandon us (Heb. 13:5).
If this is true, and I believe it is, then when Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, he was not crying out to God, but was instead announcing something to the crowd. He was saying to the chief priests and elders, who knew the Scriptures very well, that they were part of the fulfillment of prophecy; that they were doing exactly what the Psalmist had predicted. You can see it from the chart. They would have known it by heart.
The pierced hands and feet, the Psalmist predicted. The mocking and insulting, the Psalmist predicted. The cry of abandonment. The casting of lots to divide his clothing. His thirst. The very words they used against him: “He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him” (Ps 22:8; Mt 27:43). And even the fact that they were shaking their heads as they mocked him. It’s almost eerie how perfect the Psalmist predicted the crucifixion, something, by the way, that we think the Psalmist actually knew nothing about.
But instead of seeing the truth, instead of realizing what they were doing, they mocked him for it. In Hebrew, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani.” They mocked, “He’s calling for Elijah” to come rescue him. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to rescue him.” They were blind to their own Scripture, and blind to their own faults. What Jesus said should have brought awareness, remorse, and repentance. What Jesus said should have brought them to faith in him as they realized what Matthew has been trying to show – that Jesus was their Messiah. In their pride and arrogance, they missed it.
Two things I want you to take with you:
First, pay attention to the Word. Jesus may be speaking to the need of your heart.
Second, when you suffer, God does not abandon you. Do not be afraid; do not be anxious. God is with you – even on the cross.