Grace Under Pressure: Why Have You Forsaken Me? (Matthew 27:45-56)

The Annoying “Why?”

What’s the most annoying question that your kids repeatedly ask you? Many parents might say “Are we there yet?” Others might say “Can I do whatever it is you’ve told me I cannot do a million times?” “Can I?” But there is one universal question children ask that, at some point, will test the parent: “Why?” Why can’t we go to Chuckie Cheese every night for dinner?” “Why can’t we listen to that song one more time?” “Why is she allowed to use real glue and I have to use a glue stick?” “Why? Why? Why?”

“Why” may be annoying, but “why” is also very, very human. Children ask “why?” in order to learn the unknown. And they learn that from adults. Adults are always asking “why”. “Why” is asked to bridge the unknown. “Why” is always aimed at knowing the reason. In fact, I tend to think we ask “why?” even more often than “How?”, and we are absolutely wired to ask the “how?” questions in our work-oriented society. The “how?” question will only get you so far. Pretty soon, you want to know reasons behind stuff, and “why?” takes center stage. We always want to know “why?”

Have you ever stopped to consider the number of times that you’ve asked God the question “why?” We may not pray this way. We may not say it out loud. But we want to know “why?” things happen, especially the bad things. And I’ll say this up front… beware of the preacher or church or expert that claims to know “why?” things happen to you. Because the Bible doesn’t give us much to go on when it comes to the “why” questions for specific situations. Except for some broad generalizations, we know very little of the “why” in this world or even the next.

One of the lines of a famous song says “farther along we’ll know all about it, farther along we’ll understand why.” The Bible doesn’t promise this. There’s only One Who Knows All About It, and he has not promised to share all He Knows With Us, either in this life or the next. We’re never promised that we will ever know the answers to all the “why?” questions that we have. For us to understand it all, we’d have to be God. And we aren’t. And we’ll never be God, knowing all the “why?s”.

Do we understand that the saddest, darkest, most painful “why?” question ever asked was never answered? We just read it moments ago. Now, we have some good ideas for the answer to the “why?” And we’ll talk about those. But even as we consider this mother of all “why?” questions, we have to note that in this text, God does not answer the question. In fact, those at the cross who hear the question, are way off base in their answer to the question. They cannot answer the question. “He’s calling for Elijah”. They either mishear Jesus or they are mocking Jesus, but either way, they have no answer.

The Saddest Words Ever

Up to this point, Jesus has spoken words of kindness and grace on the cross.

Father, forgive them.

You will be with me in paradise.

Behold, your mother and son.

Jesus has words for his enemies. He has words for the criminal hanging next to him. He has words for his family and friends. All of this is grace filled speech under the most pressure anyone has ever endured. He is being unjustly executed as a criminal, and yet his heart is for those around him, including his executioners.

But look at that second statement. “You will be with me.” The desire of the creator to be with humanity. The desire for community and relationship. “You will be with me” says everything you need to know about the heart of Jesus. Because what Jesus says next is that very thought and that very heart shattered into a million pieces.

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

The very heart that desires community is now faced with the reality of broken community. This is so dark, this is so terrible, that Matthew, who is the biographer writing this, doesn’t pen any more words of Jesus from the cross. As far as Matthew is concerned, these are the last words of Jesus on the cross. It’s as if Jesus says nothing more. That there’s no more to say. The unbelievable has happened.

There is darkness

All of this is set up with the very first sentence in this paragraph. It’s a summary statement of everything that follows:

Matthew 27:45 From noon until three in the afternoon, darkness came over the whole land.

For three hours, there is nothing but darkness everywhere. This sets the scene. When there should be sun there is none. This statement cannot be simply explained by extraordinary cloudiness. This is unexplained darkness. Supernatural darkness. It’s as if creation itself, cannot bear to watch what is happening. The unthinkable is happening. The Messiah is being crucified.

Throughout the Bible, darkness is how evil is portrayed. Where there is evil there is darkness. And now, there is an ultimate darkness. The worst evil ever is present. God is being killed. The Creator himself is on the cross, being executed on false charges. The very world he created recoils in horror as the Creator suffers at the hands of sinners.

There is crying out

It’s not just what can be seen that is dark. What is heard also matches the darkness of the event. There is crying out. And it’s not the people around the cross who are crying out. This cry comes from the One dying on the cross.

Matthew 27:46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice...

Piercing through the darkness is a cry of suffering and agony. This is suffering the world has never seen. The earth’s darkest day has the earth’s most anguished cry. Whatever is going on with the darkness, whatever is happening with the suffering, it is enough to produce a terrible cry, a scream that shocks the senses of those standing there. And what is it that warrants an outburst of agony on the cross? It’s not physical pain. It’s heartbreak.

There is abandonment

And the heartbreak that shrieks speaks of the ultimate pain, the pain and suffering of abandonment.

Matthew 27:46 Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

The very Emmanuel who came to earth from heaven to be with his people, the very Jesus who promised the criminal that he would be with him in paradise is himself abandoned. There is no “with” here. God has abandoned the crucified one. No wonder it is dark. No wonder there is a piercing shriek. The unthinkable crucifixion of the Creator now has the ultimate unthinkable moment: God abandons.

All throughout the Old Testament God promised to be with His people. “I will be your God and you will be my people”. At one point, one Old Testament hero, Ruth, says of this communion and community, “Your God will be my God.” MY GOD. Here in the ultimate darkness, there is no “My God”. There is no communion. There is no dwelling. Only isolation. God himself has left the scene. God abandons God. It’s the ultimate hell. When there is pain and there is suffering and there is cruelty and mocking, you want God there and present. That is hope. But here, that’s exactly what is not here.

This is unprecedented. And it really is hard for us to begin to imagine the suffering here. The Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, were always in perfect harmony. They always had perfect communion. Until that moment. We will never know the full impact of what happened there. All we have is a suffering Savior speaking words that are unthinkable.

Some have tried to dampen this a bit with the suggestion that Jesus was only feeling like God had abandoned him. But the text doesn’t allow us to go there. Matthew isn’t interested in that kind of conjecture. In fact, what follows only reinforces the fact that Jesus died in total isolation.

There is violence.

Jesus dies. And this is what follows:

The curtain of the sanctuary was torn

The earth quaked

The rocks were split

The tombs were opened

Creation itself comes unglued. You have darkness. You have earthquakes. You have rocks splitting. You have the curtain, which was at least a foot thick, tearing in two. The Creator dies isolated from God. There is no one to save Jesus. There is no one to rescue Jesus. And creation shakes in horror.

Why?

Why have you abandoned me? Jesus asks that horrific question. And God doesn’t answer. Matthew doesn’t provide an answer in the details of the story. However, at the beginning of his biography, Matthew tells us Jesus’ mission:

Matthew 1:21 “Jesus will save his people from their sins.”

Jesus will save his people from their sins. Sin separates. Elsewhere we are told that the wages of sin is death. Separation from God is at the heart of the very definitions of sin and death. Jesus suffers for our sin and in so doing, fellowship with God himself is broken. Jesus experiences the isolation and alienation that sin creates between the creature and Creator. Sin caused the abandonment. No Jesus’ sins, but our sins.

But in being abandoned, and saving us from sin, there’s this. You and I will never be abandoned. Ever. Jesus dies. Jesus rises from the dead. That’s also part of this story. And then Jesus has a conversation with his best friends, the disciples. And here’s how Matthew ends his biography of Jesus:

Matthew 28:20 “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

I am with you always. Always. The one who was abandoned died in isolation so that we would never ever be in that position. When was the last time you felt like God just wasn’t with you? When was the last time you cried out, God where are you? We’ve all been there. We’ve all had those moments when God was nowhere to be found. God went missing. Or so we thought. The reality is that it’s a lie. Whenver you think that, that’s the devil talking. That’s the devil whispering, he’s not here. he’s not with you.

For that whisper there is a shriek that pierces the night and darkness FOR US: My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me? Have you ever thought why did Jesus actually say that out loud? He cried out for us, knowing that we would hear them and believe that he was forsaken so that we would never be forsaken. Jesus cries out that cry in grace… when we hear those words, we hear those words knowing full well that because Jesus speaks them they will never, ever be true for us. Only for Jesus. He was forsaken so that we would never be. That’s his heart for us, that’s his love for us. That is grace under pressure.

Let’s Pray.