My God, My God! Why?
Leon Bonnat - The Crucifixion
Day 24: The 40-Day Challenge
Read Mark 15:15–41
Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified. Jesus had prophesied this would happen: the Son of Man would be handed over into human hands to be killed (Mark 9:31). Isaiah also prophesied that the Suffering Servant would be handed over for the sake of our sins (Isaiah 53). In the Old Testament, God handed his people over to the Gentiles as judgment for their sin. “God is ultimately behind this handing over.” Th is is God’s plan, that Jesus will die, not for his sins, but for ours.
Like the Servant in Isaiah, Jesus submitted to his Father’s will and went in silence. He hung on the cross, deserted by people, deserted by God—alone. At noon, darkness covered the land for three hours—a sign of God’s wrath. Out of the darkness, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Words can’t describe what was happening here, but we must try. Yes, Jesus identified with suffering humanity. He entered into our world and experienced the worst this world can do—the depths of human tragedy. But there is more. Forsaken, he cried out to God, “Why have you forsaken me?” Not “I feel forsaken,” but “Why have you forsaken me?” Jesus was under the judgment of God. His cry was the fulfilment of his Servant mission.
Was the Son separated from the Father? No. “Father, Son and Spirit, are united together and cannot be divided … or set one against another.” This is a deep mystery. There is no rift in God, yet Jesus died under the curse of God. The Father did not rescue him. In Christ, God took upon himself the guilt and shame of our sin. In Christ, God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—condemned our sin. God turned his face away and poured out his wrath. It was the Lord’s will to crush him; his life was an offering for sin (Isaiah 53:10).
Jesus’ cry of abandonment came from the depths of God’s heart. “ The Father, Son and Holy Spirit were in this cry.” Jesus cried out as one of us, broken and alienated from God’s holy love. He stood in our place and experienced the might of God’s opposition to evil. He bore our sin. He won our freedom. His love is beyond comprehension.
It is finished.
With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last, and the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. e purpose of the temple has been fulfilled and surpassed by Jesus. Now there is free access to God through the work of his Son on the cross.
The pagan centurion who crucified Jesus stepped forward. Looking up at the tortured body of a Galilean carpenter on a Roman cross, he declared, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”
Th is man under God’s judgment is God’s Son, revealing God’s plan of salvation to the world. Th is is the good news that must go to the nations. This is God’s glory revealed. Th is is God’s story, and we are called to play our part in making it known—everywhere.
An extract from Your Part in God’s Story: 40 Days from Genesis to Revelation, Day 24.
