Forsaken

Thank you. My name is Mark. I'm one of the pastors. I hope you are doing well and we are so glad that you're with us here, here in the room, joining us on the live stream. Some weeks ago I conducted a memorial which isn't all that unusual in my line of work, but in this instance it was for someone who is very dear to our family, someone who died tragically at only 17 years old. So we've been processing this grief which kind of follows its own course and its own schedule.

But among the things that I count on is this. Jesus understands. He understands in ways we can't even begin to comprehend because after six hours on the cross, Jesus is suffering and his sorrow is so intense that Matthew tells us that he cries out in agony, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani," which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Now this scripture, this story is familiar for many of us, but for a moment try to imagine what it was like to hear those words on the very first Good Friday.

Matthew's gospel was written in Greek, but he wants us to hear the actual words in Aramaic just as Jesus spoke them, rising above the insults of the crowd or even the sobs of those who love him, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" Now we know where the story goes. They didn't. We have Sunday morning, Easter morning. They only had Friday. So to their ears, what did these words mean? I mean, was Jesus questioning everything? What he believed about himself as Messiah, King, Son of God in the agony of the cross, did he figure out too late that he was wrong? Or was he perhaps trying to locate God in the midst of the chaos and the suffering and the pain because you know you can believe in God's existence and yet still find yourself saying, "Where are you? Where are you in the midst of this, Lord? Why have you forsaken me?"

And ever since, for some 2,000 years, theories and theological models have emerged trying to explain exactly what Jesus meant. But you know, none of these theories were around for the very first people who heard this, who heard these words live, right? What they did have was their scriptures, what we call the Old Testament. And if they memorized any of it, which they often did, they memorized the Psalms. These were their songs. And over time, we've lost the melodies, but we still have the lyrics.

Now we refer to them by numbers, Psalm 1, Psalm 2, and so on. But they reference them by the very first line. So if I were to say, for example, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want," many of you would know I'm referring to what? Psalm 23. And if you didn't know that, it's okay because now you do. So follow me here. When Jesus cries out as He does, it's not just an expression of deep anguish, and of course it is, but it's also the first line of another psalm, Psalm 22, which begins, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" That's right. This was written by King David a thousand years before Jesus was nailed to the cross.

So when Jesus says this first line, all of these light bulbs come on, and suddenly people are reminded of all of the lines of this psalm that describe what's happening before their very eyes. In our term, we would say Jesus has set a hyperlink from the cross to Psalm 22. Like this verse, Psalm 22 verse 18, "They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment." Now, wait, wait, wait, time out. When did this ever happen to David? The Bible never mentions it, and yet the four Gospels all record this happening to Jesus, like here in Matthew 27, 35, "When they had crucified Him, they divided up His clothes by casting lots." Or how about this, Psalm 22, 16, "Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me." Now, David's talking about his enemies, what he calls dogs.

But in fact, feral dogs and carrion birds would definitely show up at crucifixions, and if the loved ones did not retrieve the bodies of the dead, the animals would. Which is why archeologists have discovered very few remains of people who had been crucified, even though the Romans killed many thousands of people this way over hundreds of years. But look at what else David says about these dogs who surround and encircle him. It says, "They pierce my hands and my feet." Now, whatever David's talking about here, it's poetic, it's not personal. Because crucifixion wasn't even invented when David was alive. David died at a ripe old age in his own bed.

But a thousand years later, what happened to Jesus? They crucified Him. They pierced His hands and His feet. So do you see what's going on? David's not just writing poetry, he's writing prophecy in Psalm 22 too. And there's more, like verses 7 and 8. "All who see me mock me, they hurl insults, shaking their heads. 'He trusts in the Lord,' they say. 'Let the Lord rescue him. Let Him deliver him since He delights in him.'" Or as Matthew says in chapter 27, "Those who pass by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads. 'He trusts in God. Let God rescue him if He wants him.'" And I could go on and on.

But for the sake of time, I just encourage you to read all of Psalm 22 and do so with Matthew 27 right alongside it or any of the other gospel narratives of the crucifixion. Because whether you believe in God or not, you will be amazed at how words written a thousand years earlier are fulfilled in graphic detail at the crucifixion of Jesus, which raises the question, why? Why would Jesus call attention to a thousand-year-old song while He is dying on the cross? Could it be that He was sending a message that despite all appearances, God was actually still very much in control?

And what looks like Jesus going down in terrible defeat is actually the greatest victory ever. I mean, doesn't this just kind of blow your mind? And after all, wasn't it God's plan all along to save us from our sins and our sorrows? Isn't that what the angel said to Joseph while Mary was still pregnant with Jesus, saying, "You are to give Him the name Jesus because He will save His people from their sins"? And also that He will be called "Emmanuel, God with us," which is key to the heart of this story.

Because perhaps you're here tonight and your world has been shaken to the core. And you honestly wonder, "Where are you, God? Where are you?" Or perhaps, if you're honest, you've got a trail of regrets that just dog you to this day. They haunt you. Maybe it's not a lot of things. Maybe it's just one thing. One choice. One statement. One moment. And if you could go back and erase it, you would leap at that opportunity, but you know you can't. You can't. So you feel pain, guilt, shame. You feel alienated, forsaken, which is why Jesus calls us back to the cross tonight.

To the moment when He may not have even felt the presence of His Father, but He calls on Him nonetheless. In what looks like at first glance even a lack of faith is in fact faith at its deepest level calling out to God when everything in your experience tells you He's not there. And yet that's Jesus in this moment. And of course God was there. And if God was there in the most excruciating moment of His Son, you can be sure He's here this moment. And every single moment that you go through. He's here now. Here to take your sin and your sorrow. Will you let Him? Will you?

Because you can be sure of this. He's able to. As Psalm 22 ends, "For He has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one. He has not hidden His face from Him, but has listened to His cry for help. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before Him. They will proclaim His righteousness declaring to a people not yet unborn." He has done it. Indeed He's done it. Amen. As Jesus declared in His dying breath John's Gospel, "It is finished." All on account of His amazing love, He has done it. Which means that you and I will never be forsaken. Hallelujah.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for what is both the beauty and horror of the cross. This mystery of Your love. Love that would give Your one and only Son so that we could have life. And so Lord we just want to bask in that. We want to honor as best we can the life, the blood of Jesus that was shed for the remission, the removal of our sins.

And Father I pray for each and every person in this room or within the sound of my voice and they carry with them this burden. Whether it's a burden of guilt or it's a sense that whatever sorrows they have that they will just carry those in an unbearable way forever. I pray Lord that You would remind them that You were pierced for our transgressions. The punishment that we deserve fell upon Your Son and that by His stripes, His wounds, we are healed.

So Lord I pray that You would replace anything that gets in the way of the joy and the peace of knowing this and You would replace it with a fresh sense of Your love, Your grace. So infinite, so vast that Your Son, Jesus, our Lord and Savior would die on the cross for us. We pray this in His beautiful and matchless name and all God's people said. Amen.