Why Have You Forsaken Me?

Introduction

NT Wright

The 1700s was a time of great optimism, especially Christian optimism. Mission work was growing to the extent that people believed that the Kingdom of God was growing and expanding so much that Jesus would soon be heralded Lord around the world.

Handel composed his most famous oratorio Messiah. The climax of the second part of that magnificent piece ends with the Hallelujah Chorus declaring “the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our God.”

All that optimism came crashing down, literally, with the All Saints Day earthquake which struck Lisbon, Portugal in 1755. That quake destroyed 85% of the city and killed 1/5 of the cities population. Many of those who dies had gathered in churches for All Saints Day worship. Many others who began rushing down to the sea to escape the falling rubble were met by a the tsunami the earthquake triggered. Thousands more were killed in Spain and Morocco. Optimism came crashing down (see N.T. Wright History and Eschatology, pp 4-6).

Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are not new, but they cause us to reach out for answers.

Some secular thinkers like Voltaire, Rousseau, Marx, and Nietzsche dealt with this kind of evil by claiming that either God does not exist or He has nothing do with our world. (NT Wright, Evil and the Justice of God, p. 6)

9/11

In our own generation we could point to the 9/11 attacks. The whys were not so much focused on why the tragedy happened, we know that, but why so many people died and others seem to have escaped. Why would God allow some people to die and others to escape?

Why do some people escape catastrophes, illness, and evil and others do not?

It raises an even bigger issue, how do we deal with hardships beyond our control.

Jesus

This statement from Jesus can sometimes cause us to ask why as well. That is unless we opt for the cliched cop-out, “Well that was Jesus.”

If anyone ever had a legitimate reason to ask “Why me?” if was Jesus. On some level we really do know the reason.

Jesus’ entire ministry was about revealing the Father to a people who had lost sight of the mission God gave them from the beginning to be “a light to the nations” (cf. Isa42:6 Isa 49:6, Isa 51:4).

Jesus came and demonstrated God’s love and mercy to the people through healing, teaching, and raising the dead. But all the while he what was waiting for him — the cross.

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus famously prayed:

Mark 14:36 NRSV

He said, “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.”

And so, for Jesus to accomplish his mission he had to go to the cross.

The Reality of Sin

Jesus suffered everything he did to bear the reality and penalty of our sin for our sake.

The fact that Jesus wonders why the Father seems to have forsaken him should cause us to ponder the gravity of our sin.

Mine are not really that bad

Other people’s sins maybe

But it was ours, mine.

Cliched response: “Better than I deserve.”

That saved a wretch like me.

We don’t do well with sin, we want to rush past it to forgiveness.

But we must dwell on it a bit.

The New Revised Standard Version Romans 3:10–12

“There is no one who is righteous, not even one;

there is no one who has understanding,

there is no one who seeks God.

All have turned aside, together they have become worthless;

there is no one who shows kindness,

there is not even one.”

The New Revised Standard Version Isaiah 53:4–6

Surely he has borne our infirmities

and carried our diseases;

yet we accounted him stricken,

struck down by God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions,

crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the punishment that made us whole,

and by his bruises we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have all turned to our own way,

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

As Paul puts it, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin….” (2 Cor 5:21a)

In that moment Jesus experienced something he had never experienced, separation from his Father. The second member of the Trinity was separated from the Father and the Spirit. And he felt the pain of that separation to the core of his being.

He knew there was no other way to accomplish the mission and so he cried out in the way countless other faithful Jews had in the past, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”The opening words of Psalm 22.

Psalm 22 is one of a number of Psalms of Lament. There are 48 Psalms of lament in Scripture - 32% - of them. A lament is a way of expressing our complaints to God and pain to God. We have an entire book of them from the pen of the Prophet Jeremiah, Lamentations.

Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings 1.2. Closer Scrutiny of the Genre: Lament, Complaint, Petition or Prayer?

A lament may be thought of as mourning an unchangeable crisis, as at a funeral.

To utter that phrase would have called to mind the entire Psalm in minds of devout Jews.

Psalm 22:1–8 NRSV

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame. But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people. All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads; “Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver— let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”

Some of the bystanders misunderstood him, they thought he was calling out for Elijah to rescue him. The opening words could be mistaken for Elijah if they believe Jesus was speaking Aramaic in stead of the original Hebrew.

The Gospel of Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary Crucifixion—The Extreme Penalty

There was widespread belief that Elijah would come in times of need to protect the innocent and rescue the righteous.

But also, the OT said Elijah would return at the end of all things, so could this be it? Will God come and finally set things right? No.

Why?

There is another dynamic in this passage. Which Jesus himself expresses.

Why would Jesus, the Son of God utter something like this?

Has he lost his faith? Is he doubting God?

Sometimes we think, “No, this was Jesus. He knew better.”

We often put Jesus in a completely different category and diminish his humanity. So, we become just like the ancient heresy called Docetism. Docetism taught that Jesus only appeared to be human and die on the cross.

But Jesus was fully human AND fully Devine.

So what do we do with our whys?

Our Why

We have no problem with evil in the world out there. We hear of famines, earthquakes, tsunamis, wars, slavery, human trafficking, and disease and have no problem coming up with a why. We can be pretty callus and dismissive when it comes to the pain in other’s lives.

But when it happens to us —well that is another matter.

We in the affluent West can often be entitled. We think we deserve good and comfortable things.

We forget that most of the world does not experience that.

We seem to need a reason for bad things happening. We look for someone to blame.

If things don’t happen the way I want then God is unloving or unkind —and maybe I don’t want to worship Him anymore.

Among all the ways we try to deal with pain and hardship we can begin to blame God for not keeping us healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Like the Christians of the 18th century we have become used to comfort and progress.

When things don’t go our way, we can begin to blame God. The internet is full with stories of people who have turned their backs on God, because God did not live up to their expectations.

With that mindset we have gone back to the Garden of Eden thinking we can do a better job of running the universe than God can. And all of that is based not on the needs of the world, but the needs in our very small world.

So, as NT Wright remarks, We scramble for comfort, isolate ourselves, turn on Netflix and declare, “this too shall pass.”

Sometimes we tend to think if God would just tell us why a particular thing had to happen, we would be OK with it. But, would we? Or, would we find fault with that?

In that way we end up just like Job.

We start out by saying that we should praise God no matter what happens. By the end of the story, Job wants to take God to court.

Many of our problems come about because we have forgotten our place and our relationship. That is where Lament comes in. Our model is the Psalms, Job, and Jesus

How to Lament

We are children of God, we are not God’s judges. We are creatures.

We lament from our relationship with God

We are not trying to coax God into doing something

We cry out because God is our Father and he cares for us.

We cry out to God because of our pain and maybe even use the Psalms to help us.

We continue in worship, because where else can we go?

Psalm 22:10–11 (NRSV)

On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God.

Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.

Be Honest about the pain

Lament is not the time for perfect King James language or flowery language.

Psalm 88:4–7 (NRSV)

I am counted among those who go down to the Pit;

I am like those who have no help, like those forsaken among the dead,

like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more,

for they are cut off from your hand.

You have put me in the depths of the Pit, in the regions dark and deep.

Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah

Lament is the time for reality and rawness

It is time to be real with God — not necessarily everyone else around us.

Psalm 102:3–5 (NRSV)

For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. My heart is stricken and withered like grass;

I am too wasted to eat my bread.

Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my skin.

Be transparent about the pain

We give voice to the pain we are experiencing, every bit of it.

Psalm 55:4–5 (NRSV)

My heart is in anguish within me, the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me.

Psalm 69:1–3 (NRSV)

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.

I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.

I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched.

My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.

Often we have to give verbal expression to our pain like lancing a boil.

When we keep the pain on the inside we constantly rehearse the pain and heal from it. We can often get bitter and resentful. The pain becomes the totality of our world and we can see nothing else.

Begin to give praise for who God is, and his character.

At some point the Psalms of Lament turn to praise.

Psalm 57:1 NRSV

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, until the destroying storms pass by.

Psalm 57:9–10 NRSV

I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is as high as the heavens; your faithfulness extends to the clouds.

Psalm 69:30–32 NRSV

I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs. Let the oppressed see it and be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

Pledge to serve God regardless

Psalm 94:17–19 NRSV

If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. When I thought, “My foot is slipping,” your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

Psalm 80:17–19 NRSV

But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself. Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name. Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Isaiah 30:15–16 NRSV

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength. But you refused and said, “No! We will flee upon horses”— therefore you shall flee! and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”— therefore your pursuers shall be swift!

Isaiah 30:20–21 NRSV

Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

Conclusion