"My God, my God why have you forsaken me?"

Just a few hours ago, I got the chance to see the story of Mark’s Gospel as told by one Christian actor, and, while it was interesting and mostly well done, there are two specific things I’m going to remember about the night. One is that the Brooklyn-born actor apparently does all his acting and public speaking in a British accent (only in New York, right?). But also, and much more importantly, I’m going to remember the actor’s explanation afterwards of a particular struggle he had while memorizing the book of Mark. For years, he couldn’t understand why Jesus, the Son of God, would, in 15:34, suddenly complain and question the Father with “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, while in the process of finally culminating the divine plan he knew all along and boldly saving sinners from the wrath of God.

This admission hit me, because I’ve often wondered the same thing. Stephen, Peter, and many other martyrs for Christ were tortured to death and apparently never voiced anything similar in the process. And some even suffered much longer and even more gruesome deaths than Jesus did. Of course, there’s already this current false cultural idea of an effeminate wimpy Jesus with feathery hair who drank decaf and always insisted on a game of two-hand touch over tackle, and this quote doesn’t seem to help change that image. So why was Jesus the one of all these guys who cried out and questioned God?

To me, it boils down to two things. First, Jesus not only suffered physical pain on the cross, but also took on all the sins of the world in this one moment. Martin Luther once said, “Jesus became the greatest liar, perjurer, thief, adulterer, and murderer that mankind has ever known – not because he committed these sins but because he was actually made sin for us.” Having himself never known or experienced sin before, he suddenly felt the pain, the regret, and the anger towards all the wrongs we’ve ever committed. The actual physical pain he was dealing with must have paled in comparison to this- he was actually experiencing the torments of a condemned and forsaken man. Not only that, but Scripture says a darkness came over Calvary just before that moment. Jesus had prevously always and eternally enjoyed communion with the Father but was suddenly, for the first time, devoid of His presence. Although he had been forsaken by men, Jesus could before still say, “I am not alone, for my Father is with me” (John 16:32). But not now. Not at this moment. Instead, Jesus was actually and completely forsaken and tortured. Tortured by unimaginable, excruciating physical pain from a full day’s worth of beatings, cuts, whiplashes, and constant suffocation. Tortured by all of humanity’s mistakes, problems, and sins to which he had a complete and utter hatred. And, most of all, tortured by the absence of the presence of God.

This should then mean to things:

First, a true grasp of this reality must add a whole new dimension to our understanding of the Cross! Most people understand something about the physical pain Jesus suffered but not the rest of it. The inclusion of Jesus’ cry in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark seem to have been, in fact, for this purpose.

Second, this understanding must contribute to a reshaping of our concepts of both our sin and God’s love. Think about it- knowing Jesus agreed to suffer such a terrible and agonizing death, how offensive must our sin be to him and how loving must he be?

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