Hard Sayings of Jesus: My God, my God ... where have you gone?

Text: Matthew 27:45-50

Theme: How do we understand this passage — that God the Father, for however brief the time — withdrew His presence from the son. Jesus took upon himself the sins of the world, and God could not bear to watch.

Of all the hard sayings of Jesus, this one is perhaps the hardest to understand. At the crucifixion, Jesus became what his cousin John had prophesied — Jesus, the unblemished, Lamb of God (1 Peter 1:19), slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8), became sin for us (1 Cor. 5:21), to redeem us from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13).

We sang about it this morning ... How Deep the Father’s Love for Us.” In the second half of the 1st stanza we sing, “How great the pain of searing loss; The Father turns His face away;

As wounds which mar the Chosen One; Bring many sons to glory.”

The Cross was the culmination of God’s Plan to redeem sinners. It seems unimaginable that God would turn his back on His Son at such a crucial point in his life. It just doesn’t line up theologically. Did the Father really turn His face away from the Son, at the very moment of the Son’s greatest obedience?

The cry of Jesus from the cross from Matthew 27 is the opening line of Psalm 22. While the Psalm opens with a cry of utter desolation, it is really an expression of faith and thanksgiving. The deliverance of God, long awaited and even despaired of, comes at last. This is not a cry of seeming defeat and abandonment, but an expression of faith that God has been with him the entire time. “For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.” (Psalm 22:24, ESV).

But in the crucifixion, all the weight of our sin was laid on the sinless Son of God. God’s judgmental wrath — a wrath that we deserve — was poured out on Jesus, and Jesus discovered, in an excruciating way, what it is like to be us. We rejoice that his righteousness was imputed to us. But we cannot begin to contemplate what it meant for all our sin to be imputed to him. He who knew no sin now became sin for us. We take our sin and sinfulness for granted. Jesus had never known the weight of sin ... the sinfulness of sin ... the consequences of sin. At the cross Jesus feels an alienated from the God, to the point where it seems that the Father has abandoned him. But Psalm 22 is actually our Lord’s great confession of faith that this is not so.

The psalm falls into two easily discernible sections. The first is Messiah’s description of the crucifixion (vv. 1–21a). The second is Messiah’s exultation in the results of the cross.

I. JESUS’ GRIEVOUS CRUCIFIXION (22:1–21)

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame." (Psalm 22:1-5, ESV)

A. THE SOURCE OF JESUS’ TRAVAIL

1. Divinely from God (22:1–5) “My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?”

ILLUS. William MacDonald, in his commentary on this Psalm, writes: “Approach this Psalm with the utmost solemnity and reverence, because you have probably never stood on holier ground before. You have come to Golgotha where the Good Shepherd is giving His life for the sheep. For three hours the earth has been enveloped in thick darkness. Now “Immanuel’s orphaned cry” echoes through the universe: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

a. the Eternal Son who had always been the object of His Father’s delight now feels utterly abandoned by the Father

1) on two occasions — His baptism and His transfiguration — the heavenly voice had boomed “This is my beloved son ... listen to Him.”

2) now the voice is silent, and the presence of God in His life is absent

3) He knew it was coming; He knew it was part of the penalty that had to be paid for sinners; and yet when the abandonment actually comes it had to be heart-rending to the Son

b. the Perfect Man who unfailingly did the will of God feels the terrible desolation of being cut off from God

1) the opening utterance of the psalm furnished Jesus with the agonizing cry of his dying hour (Matt 27:45ff.)

2) the word "groaning" at the end of verse one is a strong word used of the shrieking of a person in intense pain

3) even in this awful moment, Jesus is fully aware of the Scriptures and what they say about His life, death, and coming resurrection

c. despite his suffering; Jesus remains confident in God the Father

1) He acknowledges the Father’s holiness and sovereignty (v. 3)

a) in these words, Jesus explains the reason for His forsakenness

b) the love of God demanded that sin’s wages be paid

c) God’s love provided what His holiness demanded

d) He sent His Son to die as a substitutionary sacrifice

2) He acknowledges the Father’s deliverance (vv. 4-5)

a) just as the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob trusted in God for their deliverance and God came through, so God the Son will trust God the Father

b) He has cried out, and He will be delivered

c) He has trusted in God the Father and he will not be disappointed

d. for our sake, God the Father crushed God the Son like a worm

"But I am a worm and not a man, ... ." (Psalm 22:6, ESV)

1) this is one of the more fascinating verses in the Psalm, which, when you understand, speaks wonderfully of God’s redemptive work on our behalf

ILLUS. The word worm in this passage is the Hebrew tolaat. In Palestine and Syria, these worms were collected and crushed in a basin because their blood was used as a dye to create the brilliant scarlet vestments worn by the priests. In fact the word scarlet in the Old Testament literally translates as the splendor of a worm.

2) in the Psalm, the Anointed One cries out, I am the tolaat and was an epitaph I think he wore proudly

a) First, the title reminds us of our Lord’s humiliation at the hands of men

b) to that epitaph he adds and not a man implying that he is a nobody in contrast to being a somebody as far as the Jewish authorities are concerned

"who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:6-8, ESV)

c) Second, the title reminds us that He had to be crushed in death, and His blood had to be poured out so that you and I might be clothed in glory

2. Physically from Man (vv. 22:6b–18)

a. the last half of verse six through verse eighteen refers to the travail that Jesus suffered at the hands of men

1) He is scorned and despised (22:6)

2) He is mocked and insulted (22:7–8)

ILLUS Do you hear the taunts of the Jewish religious elite in these verses as they sneer, He saved others. Let him save himself and come down off the cross!

a) vv. 7-8 are virtually word-for-word what the jeering crowd said at Calvary

3) He is viciously attacked by his enemies (22:12–13, 16)

ILLUS. The Prophet Amos compares the leaders of the Jewish nation to the cattle of Bashan, and castigates them for oppressing the poor and crushing the needy. These bovines represent the chief priests and scribes who were responsible for the arrest and illegal trial of Jesus, and who handed Him over to Pilate and the Roman government for execution.

4) His life is poured out like water (22:14)

5) His bones are out of joint (22:14, 17)

6) His heart is melted like wax (22:14)

7) His strength is totally dried up (22:15)

8) His hands and feet are pierced (22:16)

9) His clothes are divided up and gambled for (22:18)

3. Diabolically from Satan (vv. 19-21a)

"But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!" (Psalm 22:19-21, ESV)

a. Jesus refers to three enemies in this passage: the dog, the lion and the wild ox

1) the dogs (plural of v. 16) most likely refers to the Roman soldiers who carried out the execution

2) the dog (singular of v. 20) is probably a prophetic reference to Pilate, who, even though he finds “no fault” with Jesus, sentences him to death of the cross

3) the lion is a representation of Satan who in 1 Pet. 5:8 is called a roaring lion

a) at the end of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness the bible says that Satan left him for a season

ILLUS. Now he has returned and he is the roaring lion: He has personally entered Judas in order to accomplish his nefarious work; He has whipped the crowed into a frenzy—first before Pilate, and then at Calvary; he gleefully guides the hands of the Roman soldiers as the nails pierce his hands and feet; he instigates the Jewish leader in their taunts.

4) the wild ox is a picture of crucifixion itself

ILLUS. The Auroch was a huge wild ox that stood six feet tall at the shoulder that roamed throughout Europe, Asia and North Africa. Picture a Texan Longhorn and you’ve got a picture of what they looked like. In the near east, the Auroch was often used as a means of torturing and executing a person. Condemned victims, were bound, impaled upon the sharp horns and then the ox was released into the desert to run about until the man died.

a) the Psalmist writes that crucifixion was like impaling a man upon the horns of a wild ox

4. as Jesus walked with the disciples on the Road to Emmaus, the Bible says that

“Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in the Scriptures concerning himself.”

a. I have a feeling he lingered on Psalm 22

II. JESUS’ GLORIOUS CORONATION (vv. 22:22–31)

ILLUS James Boice, in his commentary on this Psalm, writes: the second half of Psalm 22 is a throbbing, soaring anticipation of the expanding proclamation of the gospel and of the growing and triumphant Christian church.

A. HE TESTIFIES OF GOD’S GLORIOUS GRACE

"I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him." (Psalm 22:22-25, ESV)

1. this grace is going to bring many sons to glory

a. this part of the Psalm is quoted in Hebrews chapter 2

"But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”" (Hebrews 2:9-12, ESV)

2. God’s grace is represented in three phases in this Psalm

a. My brothers (vv. 22-24) — Jews

b. The Great Assembly (vv. 25-29) — Jews and Gentiles

c. Future Generations (v. 30) — to a people who will be born

ILLUS. Here is a hint of the Great Commission in the Old Testament.

The great liberal quest of the last two centuries has been to establish Christianity as a faith without a divine Christ, an atoning Savior, or a reigning Lord. The Missouri theologian, Richard Niebuhr, summed up the growing theological liberalism in our culture, when he wrote that what most Americans want is, “A God without wrath bringing men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross”. (The Kingdom of God in America).

Personally, I prefer the old fashioned religion of Isaac Watts. In one of the great hymns of the church he writes: Alas, and did my Savior bleed And did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head For sinners such as I? At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, And the burden of my heart rolled away, It was there by faith I received my sight, And now I am happy all the day!