Following the Way of Jesus Series on Matthew's Gospel.

The Cry of Dereliction - Why Have You Forsaken Me? - Jesus is Crucified.

Matthew 27:1–54 (ESV)

When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.

Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”

Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You have said so.” But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.” Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”

So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.

As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

I. THE CONTEXT OF THE CRY OF DERELICTION:

There is so much in this passage that deserves attention but unfortunately we cannot cover everything in a single sermon, so I want to as briefly as possible do a runnign commentary on the text before narrowing down and focusing on the GREAT QUESTION that our Lord Jesus asked: “My God, My God why have you forsaken me”(Matt 27:46) for knowing the answer to this and really experiencing the answer to this so it becomes an article of saving faith for you, is absolutely vital for the good of your never-dying soul!

SO here we go....

Verses 1-2: Gives us the Context:

At the conclusion of their all-night trial in the Sanhedrin (see on Matt 26:57–68) the Jewish authorities needed to find a way of having their verdict implemented because the death penalty could only be imposed by order of the Roman governor (John 18:31). And so they needed to think of a charge that would compel Pilate to act for Pilate was well known for his stubborn unwillingness to accommodate Jewish prejudices. , and would not likely condemn Jesus for ‘blasphemy’, a religious charget that would carry no weight with him. Sedition, possibly; sirring up the people to riot, possibly; Jesus claiming to be a king! Likely! But blasphemy? No!

Verses 3-10 - The Remorse & Death of Judas:

Matthew wants to fill in the gaps of the story concerning Judas who we last saw kissing His friend Jesus in order to identify Him to His enemies and have Him arrested(Matt 26:48,49).

It appears that the decision of the Sanhedrin to condemn Jesus in Matt 27:1–2, is the cause of Judas’ regret and remorse, so one wonders what Judas actually expected the outcome to be with regard to the treatment of Jesus? Was he hoping that this would somehow force Jesus’ hand and lead to a change of heart on His part or an acceptance on the part of the Sanhedrin that He really was the Messiah?

Whatever the cause of his regret, there is clear remorse on his part “I have sinned…for I have betrayed innocent blood(v4). Innocent blood is an Old Testament expression, occurring in Jeremiah 19:4. It is something that appears familiar in the Roman world to and leads to Pilate to wash his hands so as not to beart the responsibility for the ‘blood’ of Jesus in Matt 27:24-25.

The Priest’s reply t Judas is , “What is that to us…That’s your responsibility”(v4) or more literally “See to it yourself” leaving Judas remorseful but unable to off-load his guilt.

In response, Judas threw “down the pieces of silver”(v5) in the temple, which echoes Zechariah 11:13, where the rejected shepherd defies the authorities of the nation. Judas wants to be free of blood-guilt and his actions are an attempt to implicate the Sanhedrin in this shared crime! And Judas went out and “hanged himself"(v5), which is even more graphically described in Acts 1:18.

This leaves the Priests with a problem - what to do with the “blood-money”. The money that had been paid to Judas, is now unclean so they make a decision to buy a potter’s field, a burial ground called “Akeldama”, Field of Blood (Acts 1:18–19) in the valley of Hinnom, which was a source of potter’s clay, but which also, according to Jeremiah 19:1–13 wbecomes a place of burial and one “filled with innocent blood’, so it came to be called the ‘valley of Slaughter’. (see also Zechariah 11:13).

Matthew’s focus on Judas (Matt 26:14–16, 21–25, 47–50) serves to warn us agains the terrible dangers of deliberate apostasy, wjich is strikingly different to Peter’s temporary fall under pressure and their respective fates are very different. Each fulfil Jesus’ prediction (Judas in Matt 26:24 and Peter in Matt 26:34), but Peter’s bitter weeping of repentance (see on Matt 26:75) contrasts with Judas’ despairing remorse and suicide. Judas sadly literally ‘regretted’, or ‘changed his mind’(v3) but it did not result in a change of heart - see Matt 21:29, 32; 2 Cor. 7:8; Heb. 7:21 and Paul warns us of a “wordly sorrow that leads to death” which is not the same as a “godly sorrow which leads to repentance that produces salvation”(2 Cor 7:10-11)

Verses 11-26 - The Roman trial:

This is the official trial of Jesus, as opposed to the illegal and kangaroo court of the Sanhedrin. We have already noted the reason it got to this, namely that Pilate, alone has the authority to condemn Jesus to death. At first he engages in an attempt at a formal examination - Are you the King of the Jews?”(v11), repeating the charge presented to Pilate by the Jewish leaders (cf. Luke 23:2). “Yes it is as you say”(v11), but clearly, Jesus had a totally different conception of ‘kingship’, as described on more detail in John 18:33–37. where Jesus makes it clear that His “kingdom is not of this world” and offers no threat to Pilate or Rome!

However increasingly the trial turns into a farce and events overtake Pilate, with his being increasingly pressured into making a decision that natural justice, his wife and his own conscience, told him was wrong! (see on John 18:28–19:16).

When the “chief priests and elders” accuse Him, Jesus “made no reply”(see vs12–14), another fulfilment of Scripture in Isaiah 53:7, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” Pilate was amazed at this, not only because a condemned person usually defends himself but also because ‘Roman judges disliked sentencing an undefended man’ (Holzman cf. Acts 25:16), and their “courts established the practice of offering a defendant three opportunities to respond before convicting by default (Sherwin-White, pp. 25–26).

Pilate did try to get out of the trap he was increasingly falling into in verses 15-18 by offering a pardon to either Jesus or a notorius crimial and insurrectionist named Barabbas. Barabbas (‘Son of Abbas’) which in Aramaic sounds ironically very like ‘Son of the Father’, is offered as an alternative to Jesus, the Son of God!

verse 19 mentions Pilate’s wife and her dream. It is not known whether she had any prior knowledge of Jesus or was a sympathiser to the Jewish faith, but her dream had made her decidely uncomfortable and she warns her increasingly pressured husnad to “have nothing to do with that innocent man”. Again reaffirming Jesus’ innocence as well as a Gentile openess to the voice of God, whilst the Jewish leaders are deaf to it.

verses 20–23 shows the Jewish leaders persuading the people to shot for “Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.” n stressing that In unison, the vast majority of the crowd call for Barabbas to be released to them and for Jesus to be crucified! Let him be crucified is remarkable on the lips of a Jewish crowd, for crucifixion was a Roman punishment, abhorrent to most Jews who saw the hanging on a treee as a “curse” (see Gal 3:13).

The ‘crowds’ of Matt 21:9, 46; 22:33; 23:1) which had welcomed Jesus as the “Son of David”, now rejected their Messaih saying and indicating that popular sentiment has turned against Jesus and the majority are rejecting Him saying His blood on us and on our children!’V25).

“Sometimes they strew His way, and His sweet praises sing; resounding all the day hosannas to their King. Then “Crucify!” is all their breath, and for His death they thirst and cry.

Why, what hath my Lord done? What makes this rage and spite? He made the lame to run; He gave the blind their sight. Sweet injuries! Yet they at these themselves displease, and 'gainst Him rise.

They rise, and needs will have my dear Lord made away. A murderer they save; the Prince of Life they slay. Yet cheerful He to suff'ring goes, that He His foes from thence might free.

Here might I stay and sing– no story so divine! Never was love, dear King, never was grief like Thine. This is my Friend, in whose sweet praise I all my days could gladly spend.”

(Samuel Crossman: My Song is Love Unknown. 1664).

Verse 24 depicts Pilate’s dramatic gesture and the washing of his hands to try and alleviate this responsibility! The symbolic washing of hands recalls the ritual prescribed in Deuteronomy 21:6–9, and the metaphorical language of Psalms 26:6; 73:13. The symbolism is an attempt to remove blood-guilt, (remember Lady Macbeth’s “Out, damned spot! out, I say!--One: two: why,then, 'tis time to do't.”(Act 5 scene 1!). Pilate aims to exonerate himself from what he clearly regards as an unjust killing.

Then the horrible curse that the people invoke on themselves and their future generations - Verse 25, ‘His blood on us and on our children!’ They accept the responsibility. Jesus has been ‘convicted’ under Jewish law, and they will therefore be answerable for his death to Rome or to anyone else. Little did they realise that God Himself will hold them responsible. (see Josh. 2:19; Deut. 19:10, 13; Ezek. 18:13; 33:4–6; Acts 18:6.) Peter drew attention to this in his sermon at Pentecost: “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”(Acts 2:22-24). The only way of escape from such a curse is to “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”. Jesus became “a curse for us”(Acyts 2:38-39). in order to “redeem us from the curse of the law”(Gal 3:13).

And so Jesus fate is sealed - Verse 26 - Pilate hands Jesus over the “be flogged and...crucified” The flogging being no ordinary whipping, but a scourging in which the victim is ‘flayed to the bone’; sometimes so viciously that by itself it could be fatal.

Verses 27-56 - The crucifixion of Jesus:

i. The mockery by the soldiers (Matt 27:27–31)

The mockery by “the whole company of soliders”(see John 19:1–5). amounts to around 600 men, out in force to alleviate any trouble from the excitable crowds that day! Many of these provided a mock ‘guard of honour’ to humiliate Jesus even more, using a “scarlet robe” to parody the emperor’s purple robe and putting a “crown of thorns” on his head and “a staff in his right hand” to mock this Royal Pretender, whilst they shout, “Hail, King of the Jews! a parody of the formal greeting, Ave Caesar, which then degenerates in v30 into physical abuse, hitting and spitting at Him “again and again” before leading him away to be crucified!

ii. The crucifixion (Matt 27:32–44)

verse 32 - Though we sometimes see depictions of Jesus dragging the traditional shaped cross through the narrow streets of Jerusalem, it is most likely that he onoy carried the cross-beam to the place of execution, as the upright woiuld be already in position. Even so, the weight of the cross bean was considerable, even more so when we consider the wounds and lacerations, the aches and the pains and the bruises that covered Jesus upper body as a result of the scourging, as well as the weariness of it all. Hence, it became necessary to co-opt an unwilling bystander to carry the cross for Jesus and the unfortunate (but in the long-run, not so unfortunate) Simon of Cyrene was commandeered (Mark 15:21) as the fact that Mark names him, sugests that he may have joined the disciples of Jesus as a result of this experience.

Jesus is taken to “Golgotha” probably the regular place of execution outside the city, in a prominent public place so that the deterrent effect of crucifixion could operate. (The site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, outside the old city wall of Herodian Jerusalem, seems the most likely location).

The offering of “wine to drink mixed with gall”(v34) served as a drug to reduce the pain of crucifixion, and Sanhedrin 43 a tells us that such a drink was offered by the noble ladies of Jerusalem to those about to be executed, a practice inspired by Prov. 31:6–7: “Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to othose in bitter distress; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.” Jesus’ refusal to drink it after tasting it, shows that He was determined to undergo his suffering, fully conscious of the pain. ness. This reminds Matthew of Psalm 69:21 “They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.”

Crucifixion, was a common form of execution for non-Romans from the first century BC onwards, particularly for political rebels and violent criminals. It was carried out with maximum publicity so as to be a deterrent to others. It was an abhorrent form of turtue, slow-death but interestingly the Gospel writers do not dwell on the harrowing detail and nature of the suffering inflicted by this barbarous punishment, because it is much more important to udnerstanding the meaning of the crucifixion of Jesus than it is to understand the nature of His suffering. For this reason, Matthew even spares us details about how he was fastened to the cross by the nails, simply telling us that “they crucified Him”(v35). This is important for us to grasp, lest we miss the point by our natural empathy and feeligns of horror at the event itself, losing sight of its significance for us and our sins.

verses 35–36 reveal a common practice of sharing the belongings of an executed man, and again Matthew refers us to Psalm 22:18.

verse 37 - The written charge (or titulus) was normally carried before a criminal on the way to execution, or hung around his neck, and would then be fixed to his cross, thus reinforcing the deterrent effect of the punishment. King of the Jews in such a context is of course ironical, a warning to other would-be liberators; but no doubt Matthew expects his readers to see behind the irony to the paradoxical truth of Jesus’ kingship achieved through his death. Over his head perhaps indicates that Jesus’ cross was of the traditional †-shape, rather than the T-shape frequently used.

Matthew then mentions the “robbers” (v38), the same word (Grk: lēstēs) used by Jesus of Himself at Gethsemane in Matt 26:55 and the word also used to describe Barabbas in John 18:40. Jesus used the word to describe the robbers who mugged the man on the road to Jericho in the Parable of the Good Samaritan(Luke 10:30) and Paul uses the words to describe the “robbers’ who were a danger to him as he travelled (2 Cor. 11:26). Hence thesae robbers where not petty criminals but possibly part of Barabbas gang, violent, political insurgents, condemned with Jesus as enemies of the State of Rome! Appropriate that the “friend of sinners” should die in the middle of two notorious sinners, but not only die with them, but as one of them would discover, die for Him to ensure He was able to enter “Paradise” with Him!

Still the mockery continues, this time from the Jews not the Romans - the focus in the claim to destroy and rebuild the Temple and the Devil-like temptation of coming down from the cross, “if you are the Son of God”(verses 39–43 see Matt 4:3-6)! Again this echoes Psalm 22 this time Psalm 22:7 “All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads.” And its not just the common people who engage in such rude mockery, the Jewish dignitaries are out in force as well sneering at His claim to “save others” but apparently unable to save Himself! Some, “King of Israel”; some “Son of God”! Again, this echoes Psalm 22 this time verse 8 ““He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”” Even, the crucified criminals, joined in at first, before the reality of their own desperate condition became apparent to them!

iii. The death of Jesus (27:45–54)

After the initial grusome excitement dies down, the long wait for death takes a hold of the scene. It becomes as dark as it is grim! “From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land” - a miracle! It could not have been a natural eclipse of the sun becasue these only last around 7 minutes and 30 seconds! Indeed NASA’s website make this claim: “Total solar eclipses last anywhere from 10 seconds to about 7.5 minutes. In the span of 12,000 years from 4000 BCE to 8000 CE, the longest total solar eclipse will occur on July 16, 2186, and will last 7 minutes 29 seconds.” (Wow that’s some faith claim!!!- https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eclipses/about-eclipses/faq). Neither could it have been a natural eclipse because Jesus is crucified during Passover which takes place during a full Moon when the Sun is directly opposite the moon and the earth is orbiting between the two! Eclipses take place during a New Moon, when the Sun lines up with the Moon with the earth being on the opposite side so the Moon orbits between the earth and the Sun - “A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, casting the Moon's shadow on Earth. A solar eclipse can only happen during a New Moon. The Moon's orbit is titled 5 degrees to Earth's orbit around the Sun.” (https:// www.weather.gov/fsd/suneclipse). Could the “darkness” then have been caused by a dust storm, or heavy cloud cover, possibly but Matthew wants us to see this as a direct sign of God’s displeasure and a fulfillment of Amos 8:9. “And on that day,” declares the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.” The fact that this lasted 3 hours and was soon to be accompanied by an earthquake which led to “many holy people who had died” being “raised to life”(vs 51-53) confirms this interpretation! (Note: In the Old Testament an earthquake is a symbol of God’s mighty acts (e.g. Judg. 5:4; Ps. 114:7–8), especially in judgment (e.g. Joel 3:16; Nah. 1:5–6).

The sequence from vs46-50 is a shift in focus away from the mockers to Jesus Himself, suffering on the cross. The suddeness and loudness of the cry must have pierced the dakrness and surpised the crowds. The word for “cried” (Grk: anaboaō, used only here in the New Testament) is a strong verb indicating a powerful emotion or appeal to God. We will come back to His words but again there is a reference to Psalm 22, but the fact that Jesus can still appeal to ‘my God’ places his sense of abandonment poles apart from a nihilistic despair; this is the ‘cup’ which he has willingly accepted from his Father’s hand (Matt 26:36–46).

Mark 15:34 presents Jesus’ words in an Aramaic form. Matthew’s Eli (which seems necessary to explain the misunderstanding that he was calling on Elijah. Elijah was an important figure in Jewish eschatological expectation (see on Matt 11:14; 17:3, 10–13) with the Jews of Jesus’ day beleiving that his appearance from heaven to help in time of need would be a precursor of a sesimic change in Israel’s fortunes. Those listening to Him at the cross perhaps thought this could be the time for bringing in the age of fulfilment, when Elijah was to appear. So they rushed to give him a sponge filled drink of “wine vinegar”(vs 48–49), not here a narcotic but ‘the poska, wine vinegar diluted with water, the usual refreshing drink of labourers and soldiers’ (Blinzler, p. 255) which the soldiers guarding the cross would have for their own use. It was offered as an act of kindness, but also excitement at the possible turning up of Elijah!

v50 - Though most people who were crucifed would die a slow agonising death with a gradual loss of consciousness, Matthew makes it clear what John 10:18 reveals, that no one is taking Jesus’ life from Him, He is laying it down of His own accord. The loud voice, like that of v46, suggests considerable remaining strength, and Matthew’s unusual expression that Jesus “gave up his spirit” indicates a deliberate act of will. (see on Luke 23:46.) Matthew gives no indication what His final cry was but we know from John 19:30 that it was a ‘cry’ of triumph, ‘It is finished’!

At that moment, the Temple’s curtain, that separated off the ‘holy of holies’, was “torn in two from top to bottom”(v51). Why is this significant? Because the Temple curtain was designed to separate the sinner from God, only the High Priest could go through this once a year into the presence of God, to make an atonement fro the sin of the people, but now it it torn by God Himself. He has taken the barrier away and provided an open way of access into His presence because His Son’s finished work on the Cross. As the writer to the Hebrews says: “when Christ appeared as a high priest gof the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)  he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of lthe blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if othe blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”(Heb 9:11-14).

In the tearing of the curtain, God has forever consigned the old system of worship to oblivion and so Jesus’ words about “destroying this temple and in three days rasing it up” make sense! The new and open way to God is through His body and thus the the coming destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in AD70, confirms that in Christ “the old has gone and the new has come”!

And then this extraordinary sequel to the earthquake in the rising up of dead saints, albeit for a time, so not the final resurrection that precedes Jesus’ second coming, occurs. Again this is a fulfilment of Scripture as Isaiah 26:19 and Daniel 12:2 speaks of a bodily resurrection in the last days and Ezek. 37:1–14 reminds us that God’s Holy Spirit will mkae the “dry bones” live! Hadn’t Jesus declared in John 5:25–29 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for van hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” The rising of the saints, however temporal is a precursor of the fact that ‘Jesus’ resurrection was the beginning of the general resurrection at the end of time’ (Dunn, p. 118 see 1 Corinthians 15:20ff).

“When Jesus hung on the cross, a great unseen cosmic battle raged in the heavens—and in the end, Christ triumphed over all the forces of evil and death and hell.” (Billy Graham)

Then this climatic verse which is so telling and apt in contrast to the Jewish mocking! Verse 54 “When the Centurion tand those with him who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and all that happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, ‘Surely He was was the Son of God.” It reminds us of John 1:11-13, ”He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” The Jews on the whole were filled with scorn at the idea of this claimed “King of Israel” and “Son of God” and mocked their dying Messiah; these Gentiles were filled with awe (Matt 17:6) at the manifestation of the power and grace of Almighty God. Now this Gospel would go out to the Gentiles and His disciplkes will “go into all the world and preach the gospel”(Matt 28:19).

II. THE MEANING OF THE CRY OF DERELICTION:

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”(v46).

Having commented on the passage as a whole I want to narrow down to this key question that helps us make sense of the WHY of the crucifixion: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”(v46).

Notice that Jesus “cried out with a loud voice” which is amazing in itself given the extent and severity of His suffering on the cross! This was not then the response of despair and desperation; of unbelief or disappointment and yet there is a real sense of forsakenness in the cry!

He was expressing desolation, more than He was asking for an answer, not out of theological curiousity but out of agony. After all, He knew that He had to suffer. His Father had sent him for this. Listen to these words from Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, in John 18:4, “Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, ‘Whom do you seek?’” (John 18:4). He gave himself up and allowed Himself to be bound and tried and mistreated. As He said to Pilate, “you would have no power over me, unless it was given to you from above” (John 19:11)

So, he knew the cross was coming. He knew of Divine necessity that He must “suffer many things”(Luke 17:25). He knew that at the Cross, He would be giving His “life as a ransom for many”(Matt 20:28) but like any experience, we can’t really know just how bad it really is going to until and unless we experience it, and Jesus had never experienced anything as horrific as this!

It is not the cry of protest at injustice; nor of incomprehension or bewilderment; it is the cry of desolation - a state of great emptiness and loneliness. it is the cry of dereliction - a state of abandonment! “Never before had anything come between him and his Father, but now the sin of the whole world has come between them, and he is caught in this dread-ful vortex of the curse.  It is not that Abba is not there, but that he is there, as the Judge of all the earth who could condone nothing and could not spare even his own Son ”(Donald McCleod).

Unlike Isaac, Jesus would not be spared! There is a real sense of ALONENESS about it all - this is the horror of it! There had never been a time when Jesus was not in the presence and fellowship of His Father - John 1:1-2 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”; John 10:30, “I and the Father are One.” and John 11:41-42, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”

Make no mistake about it; this is HELL for Jesus! “He bore in his soul, the terrible torments of a condemned and lost man.’ (Calvin’s Institutes, II:XVI, 10). The withdrawing of his Father’s presence was, for Christ, a completely new eperience. No person has ever known the love of the Father like the Son, which is why no person has felt such pain which resulted from the Father turning His face away, like Jesus, the Son of God! As John Flavel notes, "So upon Christ...there was not only an impression of wrath, but also a subtraction or withdrawing of all sensible favor and love" at a time when He most needed His Father, His Father, withdrew all comfort from Him. He was then left with only His faith in His Father’s promise and His ultimate triumph through resurrection: "He had nothing else now but his Father's covenant and promise to hang upon" (Flavel, Works, 1:410).

No wonder the earth is covered with darkness;its as if creation itself cannot bear to look upon the death of her Creator and its a remidner to us that whilst Christ was being “made sin for us”(2 Cor 5:21) the holy God who is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness”(Hab 1:3), turned away for the one and only time in all eternity, from His Son!

Why then was He forsaken? Let’s answer the question!

1. He was fulfilling Scripture.

These are the exact words of Psalm 22:1 a Psalm of David which is both prophetic and Messianic.nd that is important because Jesus seems to have known that the whole psalm, in some way or other, was about him. Indeed as we have already noted, at least three other parts of this psalm are quoted in the story of his death. (Psalm 22:1-2,7,16).

For Jesus the fulfilling of Scripture is so important because it is His Father’s word; His Father’s covenant promise and His Father’s will for Him - Mark 14:36 “Abba, Father, aall things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Ironically, Jesus is most deeply united with his Father precisely at the point of His abandonment: He experiences, ‘the loss of God for the love of God’(Rossé).

Matthew is at pains again and again to show that Scripture is being fulfileed. That this accords with the will of God and the purpose of God. That Jesus is not some helpless victim but is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”(John 1:29).

2. He is bearing our sin and judgment.

The judgment was to have God the Father pour out his wrath on Him, so it would not be poured out upon us. That is why He is abandoned. He bears the wrath of God as He suffers the weight of all the sins of all of his people and the judgment for those sins - Romans 3:25-26: “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Think about Paul’s description of Hell in 2 Thessalonians 1:9 “They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” But here is Jesus, forsaken by God being shut out fromthe presence of His Father for a time, so that we might not be shut out from the presence of God for all eternity!

And think of these words of Isaiah the prophet -this is done for you! Let them sink in: “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall bthe righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.”(Isa 53:6-11).

It is well for us if we can say with wholehearted and joyful conviction: Gal 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

“The cross is the suffering love of God bearing the guilt of man’s sin, which alone is able to melt the sinner’s heart and bring him to repentance for salvation.” (Billy Graham)

Thank God that because of Jesus, God will “never leave” us, “or forsake” us(Heb 13:5).

To be without God is unthinkable for the man or woman of God; It is to be without hope in this world and to be most miserable, as Isaac Watts said:

“My God, my life, my love, To thee, to thee I call: I cannot live, if thou remove, For thou art All-in-all.”

Perhaps you came here today thinking no one loves you or cares about you? It’s not true - 1 John 3:1, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God.”

We can say, “My God, My God, why have you blessed me?" because of Christ's words on our behalf, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

Indeed, it is because of Jesus that we can say along with Isaiah, though “Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.” But the Lord’s reply was, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget you. Behold, I have graven you upon the palms of my hands.” (Isaiah 49:16).

“Since he, for a little while, was separated from his Father, we may boldly cry, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” and, with the apostle Paul, we may confidently affirm that nothing in the whole universe “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”(C.H. Spurgeon).

“Bearing shame and scoffing rude;

in my place, condemned He stood;

Sealed my pardon with His blood,

Hallelujah, what a Saviour”

(Philip Bliss: Man of Sorrows)