Why Have You Forsaken Me?

Q

About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?” Matthew 27:46

In the ninth hour on the cross why did Jesus cry out? I know why I would cry out but it seems so unlike Jesus. It could be interpreted as a lack of faith and I’m puzzled. Thank you for your answer.

A

From the 6th hour till the ninth hour (noon to 3PM) darkness had come over the land in fulfillment of Amos 8:9.

“In that day,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.”

Most scholars believe that this was the time during which the sins of the world were heaped upon Jesus, making Him into the physical embodiment of sin (2 Cor. 5:21) This required the Father and Holy Spirit to abandon Him for the first time in all of eternity, and that’s what caused the light to be withdrawn from the world. Through all the beatings and other abuse Jesus never said a word, but the involuntary separation from His Father was too much for Him to bear silently.

We’ve always been separated from the Father because of our sin nature and don’t know what it’s like to be one with Him. Being sinless, Jesus had always been one with His Father and didn’t know what it was like to be separated from Him. The loss He felt was overwhelming, and shows the devastating effect of sin in our lives.