Abandoned/Forsaken

Matthew 27:45-46, Mark 15:33-34

From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o'clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

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When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In Mark’s and Matthew’s passion narrative, as Jesus hung upon the cross, he felt forsaken and abandoned, even by God. The pain must have been more than anyone could endure. So, he prayed. And though he felt abandoned, we know, because we know the rest of the story, that Jesus was in fact not abandoned by God. For if he had been forsaken by God, he never would have risen from the dead.

When we feel abandoned or forsaken, even by God, we, too, can cry out, “Why have you forsaken me?” God can handle our despair, even our anger, because God already knows the ultimate outcome. God knows how things will end, even though we do not.

The promise of the resurrection is for us as it was for Jesus, that even when we can’t see, hear or feel the presence of God, God is there with us, even suffering with us as he did with his Son on the cross.

At the end of World War II, scrolled on the wall of one of the concentration camps was this saying. “I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining, I believe in love, even when I am alone, and I believe in God even when he is silent.” By praying to God, even when he felt forsaken and abandoned, Jesus reveals his faith that God is still listening not matter how it feels.