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Matthew 27: 45-56
45 Now from the sixth hour[a] there was darkness over all the land[b] until the ninth hour.[c] 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” 48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son[d] of God!”
55 There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, 56 among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
There are 3 cries in the dark, during Jesus' death.
The first cry- 9th hour, my God my God why have thou forsaken me. Jesus screamed to God. This has troubled many, because it sounds like Jesus has given up on God. A lot of people believe that the bible is made up, but why would people make up these words as Jesus' last words? Such an unheroic statement. What does it mean? The deepest revelation of the passion of Jesus. The original use of the word passion was suffering. We have a totally different meaning for it now. In today's world we equate it with love. What this passage shows us is that Jesus' love came with deep suffering. Jesus is also saying my God my God. He isn't complaining about his physical suffering, he has been beaten, nails have been driven through his hands and feet and he doesn't complain about his physical pain. He doesn't complain about his emotional pain, he doesn't cry out to his friends and family or the people who have betrayed him. He doesn't complain about how alone he must feel after most everyone has turned their back to him. Jesus is always poised and in complete control. He is always calm no matter what is happening to him. The fact that he cries out to God like this shows that something entirely different is happening to him. This is something that makes torture look like a mosquito bite. It is infinite spiritual suffering. The darkness that came down on the land, that was like the spiritual suffering that was coming down on Jesus. Jesus' soul is being plunged into utter spiritual darkness. There was a sense of being eternally lost in darkness. He experienced an eternity of suffering that we were supposed to suffer ourselves. The ultimate rejection. No one has ever been so one with someone else to feel the rejection Jesus felt. Jesus was one with the Father and was cast out for that moment. When the father cast out the son the experience would have been worse than anything we could ever imagine. Infinite suffering. Why though? This cry is a quote of Psalm 22.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
even the one who could not keep himself alive.
30 Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it.
This says two things, one is that he is being forsaken the other is that he knows there is a plan from God and that he is sticking with it. Why is he being forsaken? It's for us. We are Jesus' passion. When he cries out he is quoting something, he knows it's bigger, he knows he is being forsaken but he knows it's for a reason. Jesus is willing to take on infinite suffering out of infinite love for us. The modern problem in our society is that God has died in the minds of most people because of the tremendous suffering we've experienced in the 20th century. We have created a god through religion that says "do good and be good and good will come to you, do bad or evil and bad things will happen to you" Example, Hitler. Millions upon millions of people died at his hands and the god created through religion died because that "god" was aloof in that situation and horrible indescribable things happened to wonderful people.
Frederick Niche- the last man- he accepts the news that god is dead and goes on with life as if ideas like truth and falsehoods right and wrong justice and injustice good and evil, still make sense." If there is no god you never have warrant to tell anyone what they should and shouldn't do. People who do not believe that there is a god but still believe there is a reason to be good or that they still have a purpose are sorely mistaken. If God died with social injustice he took any reason for there to be justice with him.
After Nazi Germany was taken down and people of Germany started to see what had happened they started pointing fingers at each other to place blame for what happened. And each time someone was accused they'd point their finger up to whomever was ranked above them and a play was written about it and in the play they ultimately point their finger at God, it was God's fault this happened. God should be killed for this injustice. But the real God, the God of the gospel does die, but he does it willingly. He comes down and shares in the forsakeness that we feel in a broken world. He does it voluntarily, he does it with, us and for us. God says to Abraham, now I know you love me because you have not withheld your son from me. In the same way we know God loves us, he did not withhold his son from us.
This is the second human dilemma, Second cry- verse 50 (John 19- It is finished) 51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
The temples were highly sacred and Gentiles and women were only allowed so far into the temple and even the high priests weren't allowed all the way in. Highly guarded, no one was allowed to the center of where God was to dwell. The curtain of the temple was torn in two. Accepting everyone. Jesus paid the price for everyone. Buddah says strive without ceasing, Jesus says don't you dare, I've already done it for you.
We want to be good, we want to do right, we want to work hard, we want to do the best we can. But we want to have freedom, we want to do what we want. On the cross we have the great act of obedience. Jesus quotes scripture to the end. Every single time he is faced with anything he has scripture on his mind. Obey because it's finished, not to finish it.
People who are always going, always saying yes to everyone, always trying to do their best and people please. They're not doing it only out of 'obiedence' to God they're doing it to try and finish what Jesus has already finished for them. You're sinking because you're trying to make yourself worthy and acceptable. Keep living that way and you will be crushed by the bible. You'll never live up to it. Obey because it is finished, because you are overjoyed at what Jesus has done for you. The sheer magnitude of it gives you a giving heart a loving heart. Don't do it to earn what Jesus already did. Don't try to make what he did for you worthless. Slow down. Stop trying to finish what he's already done.
The last cry "surely he was the son of God" The pagans, the criminals, the gentiles they get it. The understand before the religious elite did. They thought he was crying out to Elijah and they had pity on him but they still didn't believe he was the son of God when he died.
Christians, we read our devotionals and we try to gain status through good works but we miss the point of the bible. The importance of it. Jesus based his whole life on it, in any situation he was completely emerged in scripture. If it was his life, why do we think we can get by without immersing ourselves in it as well. Jesus was going through the worst suffering man will ever experience and he still quoted the bible. We are sorely mistaken if we think we can get through life without it. If Jesus needed it so do we.
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