Jesus and the Cross

Matthew 27:45–54 (ESV)

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!”

Infinity war (14,00,605 possibilities)

In a way… Jesus story is like that… There are probably more than 14 million differnet possibilites of how the world could have been.. but there was only one way that We could have been saved.... by jesus sacrificing himself on the cross for us...

but the difference in the story of the Bible and infinity war is… Iron died in such a cool way… he had a great funeral… and people remebers him as a hero....

But Jesus… whipped… mocked… spat on.. torchured.. nailed on the cross… and in the end… he Yells out a disturbing phrase....

ELI ELI LEMA SABACHTANI! MY God My GOD Why have You forsaken me!?

you know… people think iron man is so much cooler than Jesus… They think that what iron man did was so amazing… but you know what? Jesus did the same thing… and he didnt need the infinity stone to do it! lol...

he also saved the whole world instead of half of the world.....

So..

Today I want to answer the question… Why God Forsakes JEsus at the cross.... Why did he forsake Jesus at the cross...

First of all… Jesus wasnt yelling on the cross because of his phyiscal or emotional pain…

He was suffering physically because of the nails in him… crown of thorns… and all the beating and whippings....

He was suffering emotionally because his friends… his disciples all scattered and left him to be alone..... when Jesus needed them the most… the disciples abandoned him.....

Jesus was suffering greatly.... physically and emotionally.... but he does not lose it because of these sufferings…

He does not yell out… my hands my hands! My head my HEad! My friends my Friends!

He does not yell out because he is losing grip.... because he cant handle his worldly pains anymore....

So then… why does he scream out.. yell out all of a sudden? ELi Eli lema sabacthani! MY God My God Why have you forsaken me....

Something new was happening that we dont understand....

It is a new kind of suffering that JEsus was experiencing… He was experiecing spiritual suffering…

Nothing compares to this suffering.... everything compared to this suffering is infinietly small....

He is experiencing his father leaving him.... God leaving him.... This is spiritual suffering....

In the Bible… Hell is described as darkness… When Jesus calls out my god my god.... he was in utter darkenss… he went to hell…

Hell = no presence of God… When we think about hell… we think about fire and all the sufferings… and we dont want to go there because we dont want to suffer.... but the worst part of hell is… God is not there.... That is what hell is… no presence of God… That is infinetly worse than all the pains and suffering you recieve...

Jesus was going through hell.... Jesus takes all the sins with him.... he doesnt yell anything else… but he yells my god my god...

It is interesting… Hell is the ultimate punishment.... Nbody wants to go there… Non christians sometimes ask… why is there even a hell? If God is a God of love… why did he even create such thing? Shouldnt God just take everyone to heaven?

God can not do everything… he cant go back against his words… He created hell for satan… He tells us that we have free will...

We can choose to go to heaven or go to hell.... we can choose to have God in the center of our own lives… or choose to live our lives by being the masters of it....

People would rather rule in hell than be slaves in heaven.... but the irony is that there is nothing to rule in hell and there are no slaves in heaven....

So everyone either chooses to follow God or follow themselves.... People go to heaven because they choose to follow God… people go to hell… because they choose to follow the world...

But the one person who chose God.... who never chose the world even for a second.... who is faithful to God even during his dying breath.. yelling out to God.... MY God MY God… was Jesus....

He lived a perfect life… he was unselfish… the Bible says that if you follow God’s ways you are his people.... but Jesus was left alone… when he was dying on the cross....

He is still loving the God who rejected him in the end.... this is what spiritual suffering is..

Love in a bigger scale = more hurt

God’s love is infinite… His love with JEsus is infinetly more than anyone can experience… This is the suffering that broke Jesus… \

This is why when Jesus was praying in the garden of gesemene… before he got arrest… he was praying all night asking God to take away this cup from him!

Hematohidrosis.... capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands rupture, causing them to exude blood; it occurs under conditions of extreme physical or emotional stress.

He knew he was about to go through hell.....

So what is the answer to this question? My God My God why have you forsaken me?

Why did Jesus have to suffer infinitely?

The answer is... for us.....

Jesus suffered for us.... so that we can turn to God… So that we can have a relationship with God....

Many people ask what the purpose of humanity is..... the purpose of humanity is to enjoy God and glorify God forever… and we can do that because Jesus died on the cross for us....

Jesus sent us the holy spirit… Throuhgout this six week series… we learned about all that Jesus did for us…

Spoke in parables… did miracles as statements… explained what the living water is.... all so that we can have a relationship with God and enjoy him forever....

This is why we need to be excited.... our heart needs to skip a beat!

like When we watched the endgame and tony stark snapped his finger.... everyone was cheering at the theater....

Whenever we hear about Jesus dying on the cross for us… we need to be sooo grateful that he did that on the cross for us.... just so that we can have a relationship with God..

because of Jesus’ sacrifice… we can not enjoy God’s presence and enjoy everything that he does for us through gratitude...

so the question… why did God forsake jesus?

so that we can enjoy God and have a heart of gratitude....