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“MY GOD, WHY?” – THE WORD OF SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT
Prayer: O loving and blessed Jesus! For me, You experienced what it means to be utterly forsaken. For me, You cried: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” All this You endured, in order that I might be delivered from similar distresses through You, so that I might never be forsaken, whether in afflictions, in needs, in death, before Your judgment on the last day, here in time, or there in eternity. Do not be forgetful of me, but be my Help in trouble. When I cry, do not be silent to me. I beg You, do not hide from me the gracious light of Your countenance. Yes, speak to me words of comfort in my afflictions. Leave me not, neither forsake me. Let me remember the joyful end which crowned Your sufferings, and bring me firmly to trust in Your mercy. Amen.
The Text, St. Matthew 27:45-46. Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, there was darkness over all the land. And 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?”
Lord, this is Your Word, and these are Your words. Sanctify us by the truth. Your Word is truth. Amen.
In the name of Jesus, who was forsaken on the cross that we might not be forsaken eternally:
Being “forsaken” means to be left alone, or left behind, to have everyone turn their back on you. This is incredibly hurtful. The parable of the good Samaritan shows this, that as much as the robbers hurt the traveler when they beat him up, it hurt equally that the priest and Levite saw him and passed by.
We don’t understand as we hear Jesus cry out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Why must Jesus be forsaken and be hurt like this? Some people, often they’re non-Christians and unbelievers, charge God with cruelty for treating Jesus, the beloved Son of God, so unmercifully, as to forsake and turn His back on Him on the cross. This is the worst of Jesus’ suffering. Along with Jesus, even we want to ask, “Why?”
Is it cruel for God the Father to do this to His Son? The question shows a misunderstanding of what God is doing. This is happening because God has placed all the sin of the world onto His Son. God must punish all sin. So, although Jesus is His beloved Son, the cost of Jesus’ righteousness being given to us is that all our sin is placed on Him, and all God’s anger over sin must be poured out on Him. This is what it means to bear the punishment for our sin. It can all be neatly organized doctrinally and explained in a systematic way; but Jesus now experiences this pouring out of God’s anger, and Jesus now feels the full weight of God’s anger over sin, not just on one person but that full amount for every single person in the world.
And so, on the cross, He says: “My God, why?” Of course, this “why” that He speaks doesn’t really come from not-knowing. He came down from heaven for us and for our salvation. He did this willingly. As a member of the Trinity, the God to whom He cries out, He was in on the planning of our salvation. He came down to suffer and die. This separation from the Father was part of it, all along. Jesus knows this. However, on the cross He has completely laid aside the full use of His divine powers – including what He knows as God, His omniscience – the ability to know all things. He asks “Why?” not as the God who knows and is in control, but as the Son, the Child, who laid aside the control and the doing, and is only being “done to.”
This “why” is simply a complaint that comes from a place of deep hurt and loneliness. He is alone and forsaken. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” shows Jesus being forsaken by God. It’s far worse than all other forsakenness. This is what we deserve. Not to be forsaken by a person but by God. Not for a brief time but forever.
This is why Jesus’ question is not just a complaint. It’s a complaint He doesn’t want God to answer. In His will, He doesn’t actually want the Father to stop pouring out His anger on Him, as much as this hurts. It really is Jesus’ will to be forsaken. And yet it feels like it is too much.
It’s the greatest, worst temptation, and the worst darkness, to be without God, without mercy. We have a name for that condition and reality: it’s hell. That’s what hell is: total separation from God, an existence that receives none of God’s mercy and never sees God’s face. It’s so horrible, we don’t want it for anyone. This also tells us why Jesus lets this be done to Him, lets Himself be swallowed up by this darkness. He doesn’t want this for anyone else.
This word from the cross is the word of substitutionary atonement.
In being forsaken by God, Jesus is making “atonement” – making full payment for what we deserve. He can only do this by being our “substitute,” taking our place as the recipient of what we deserve. He steps in between us and the punishment so it falls on Him. He saw you being left behind for eternity. He saw God turning His back on you. This isn’t what God wants to do, but what He must do – what you deserve – because of your sins.
The answer to Jesus’ question, “My God, My God, why are You forsaking Me?” – the answer to “Why?” – is: Us. I am the answer, you are. Our sins are. God must fully punish all sin. This punishment includes being separated from God. That’s what hell is. This is what Jesus is suffering on the cross.
It’s as if God the Father points His finger at you, me, your child, your spouse, your parent, and says: “See that person there? If I do not forsake You now, My Son, then I must forsake him/her. I will have no choice but to turn My back on that person, and when Eternity’s Day dawns, I must leave them behind, forever.” So Jesus, the Father’s only Son, sees you and loves you even as the Father loves you. He willingly approaches the Father and says: “Turn Your face of anger over this person’s sin onto Me instead. Turn Your back on Me instead. Forsake Me.”
This is hard for Jesus to do. This is why He cries out the words of Psalm 22 verse 1, and – as Psalm 22 verse 2 says – the Father does not hear, will not listen. As Jesus refuses to come down from the cross, He can see each of us – you too, your child, your sibling, your parent, your spouse – being not forsaken, but embraced by the Father and going in with Him to Paradise.
Not only are you not forsaken by God, but this atonement by Jesus also takes care of all the otherforsaking done to you. None of it will last. Your identity in Christ is: someone who is not forsaken. His words don’t allow you to believe that you are forsaken or alone in this world. His words put into your heart the faith that God is with you, you’re always in His presence, never alone, always embraced. If you struggle to believe it, Jesus’ words – “My God, why have You forsaken Me?” – powerfully impart to you that He was forsaken, not you, not ever you.
This also tells us our responsibility as Christians and His Church: to defend and protect the victims, the forsaken, and the unloved. Children and young adults, you are Christians – so at school, as students, wherever you are, don’t let anyone be left out, left behind, unhelped. To all of us: where someone has been abused or abandoned, we have a duty to our Lord to defend and protect them, giving them the embrace that He has earned for us. Jesus’ forsakenness also gives you strength to keep from giving up on people and forsaking them. His heart gives you a new heart that will not forsake others, by the help and strength that the Holy Spirit gives you.
That is the Church that this word from the cross creates: the one place where no one is unloved, left all alone, abandoned, or forsaken; but where all are loved, accompanied, brought in, borne with, and where we stand by each other, living the unforsaken and unforsaking life Christ won for us. Amen!