By Pastor Steve Nickodemus

Forsaken for Me

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“About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice…. ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'”
Matthew 27:46 New International Version

At three in the afternoon, just outside the city walls, the sky grew dark as the Son of God hung upon a cross.  All had left Him and He feels death approaching.  He cries out in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”, a cry from the first verse of Psalm 22.  Why does Jesus utter this cry as His last words?  Consider these thoughts: Psalm 22 contains a description of a man who is dying in great distress as he continues to have faith in God.  At that moment, the Son of God feels the tearing of His connection with His Father.  And in that cry God’s own Son is forsaken so that we might not be abandoned by God.

You see, we deserve to be abandoned by the Creator God.  We are dead in our transgressions and sins and have fallen short of the glory of God.  We owe a debt to Him that we can never repay and for us there is nothing but wrath and condemnation and hell.

But in His mercy, God demonstrated His love for us by sending His own Son to die in our place, to be forsaken in our place, to take the full weight of God’s wrath that should have been ours and instead falls upon His Son.  The amazing love of God is displayed fully upon that cross in Jesus’ dying words.  And at that moment, the curtain in the temple is torn and the barrier of sin that separated us from God is broken and we are invited to enter into His presence.

Why was He forsaken?  So that we would be forgiven, accepted, and in God’s grace forevermore.  Praise God!  Amen.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church Colorado Springs, Colorado