Did God Forsake Jesus?

Biblegems #298

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Question: In Matthew 27:46 Jesus is quoted as saying from the cross, "My God, why have you forsaken me?" If Jesus is God, how can God forsake himself?

Even though the question itself is rhetorical, the fact remains that this quote from Jesus is one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted verses in Scripture.

Matthew 27:26 reads:

“About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema  sabachthani?’ (which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’).”

Jesus was only minutes—perhaps seconds—away from death (v.50), yet He had the presence of mind to quote Psalm 22:1 in His native tongue of Aramaic. Why this Psalm? Why this verse?

Psalm 22 was written as a song by king David for already existing music (Ps. 22:0). In this song David describes his own feeling of rejection by God (vv.1-5), as well as rejection and ridicule by his own people (vv. 6-8). He had been raised from birth to trust God (vv. 9-10). To suddenly be deserted by God, and by God’s people, left him so emotionally and spiritually drained that he felt as if his heart was being drained from his body like melting wax. His mouth got so dry he could barely speak (vv. 14-17). All the while, his enemies gloated over him:

         Ps. 22:17-18  “…All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.”

David’s agonizing experience foreshadowed what Jesus would experience centuries later on far greater scale upon the cross. Yet even in the midst of his feeling of abandonment David did not give up calling upon God to rescue him (vv. 19-21). In fact, he fully expected to be delivered by God; and he fully expected one day to personally and publically praise God for his deliverance (vv.22-25). David knew, even in the midst of personal agony and feeling forsaken by God that God would one day work out all things for good (vv. 29-31).

For Jesus’ followers and family at the foot of the cross to hear “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me…” coming from Jesus’ parched, dying lips, the words would have sounded very familiar—much the same as “Jesus loves me, this I know…” would sound to us today, bringing to mind the entire song and its reminder of God’s faithfulness and promised salvation.

Jesus, who never sinned, needed to experience separation from God that sin caused—the greatest depth of human weakness—on a personal level:

         Heb. 4:15  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

It is ironic that Jesus, who was fully human, yet “being in very nature God” (Phil 2:6), demonstrated His Divine nature by not taking advantage of it. Instead, taking the sin of the human race and the separation from God it caused, Jesus willingly “humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8b)!

Hallelujah! What a savior!

Is Jesus Less Than God?

Biblegems #240

Question: If Jesus is God in human form, why did Jesus say, "the Father is greater than I"?

This question touches on one of the most profound mysteries ever: the nature of God. Jesus spoke often on this subject, and of His own unique relationship to God. The quote above comes from the Gospel of John:

         John 14:28   You heard me say, “I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.”

Jesus frequently described His relationship with God as that of father and son, as he does in this verse. God, of course, is not a human father. So, while Jesus is the son of Mary biologically, He is the Son of God spiritually. That is, God—who is spirit—took on human form in the womb of the virgin, Mary. As the Scripture says:

         Luke 1:35   The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

Taking on a human body took nothing away from who God is as Spirit. He was not diminished in any way. He did not cease to be God in Spirit; rather He revealed Himself in human form while still maintaining His eternal nature. That’s why Jesus could accurately speak of Himself as the great “I Am”—Yahweh—who called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees and who gave Moses the Ten Commandments:

         John 8:58   “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

And yet, He could also refer to Himself in John 10:30 as a being separated from God by self-imposed physical limitations in His human form (“I” and “the Father”) — while still being perfectly united with God in the Spirit:

         John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.”

Jesus’ self-description of His uninterrupted unity with God, while acknowledging the limitations that He willingly placed upon Himself as a human being, is what captured the apostle Paul with wonder and awe:

Phil. 2:5-8   Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!

The ironic thing in all this is that the very same people who say things like, “Why doesn’t God reveal Himself in a tangible, human form to prove He is God,” are often the same people who ridicule the Good News that God has indeed done just that:

         Col. 1:19-20  For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

The Centurion’s Words At The Cross

Biblegems #179

Question: According to the Gospel of Matthew the centurion at the cross called Jesus “the son of God,” while Luke reports the centurion calling Jesus “a righteous man.” Why the difference?

Here are the two passages:

Matt. 27:54  When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

Luke 23:47  The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.”

There is no reason to doubt that the centurion used both terms of Jesus as he struggled to comprehend “all that had happened.”

Think of it—Jesus’ last words and last breath were accompanied by an earthquake so severe that the multi-layered, four-inch thick[i] “curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people” (Matt. 27:51-53).

When you combine these terrifying natural disasters and supernatural events with all the turmoil and commotion leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and death—the biting taunts of the other crucified men: “Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” (Matt. 27:40), and of the Jewish leaders: “Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” (Matt. 27:43)—it’s no wonder the Roman centurion concluded that Jesus was being vindicated by God as both righteous and divine.

Matthew, Mark and Luke all record the events surrounding Jesus’ death that directly and profoundly impacted this centurion who oversaw the crucifixion. Jesus’ last words would have come from eyewitnesses who were close enough to hear. Of the twelve disciples, only John stayed close to Jesus all the way to Golgatha and the crucifixion. The only others with him from Jesus’ core group of followers were four women: Jesus’ own mother, His aunt (Salome?),[ii] Mary of Magdala and another Mary, the wife of Clopas (Jn. 19:25).

Others at the scene may have become followers of Jesus after His death and resurrection, including the centurion, from whom Matthew, Mark and Luke would have learned certain details. For some standing near the cross it would have been the soldier’s declaration that he had presided over the execution of an innocent man that would have been the most memorable. As Peter would later write:

         1Pet. 3:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit…

For others near the cross, the soldier’s declaration that Jesus was indeed the Son of God would have been most unforgettable. In fact, Mark tells us the purpose of his Gospel account is to present Jesus as the “Son of God:”

         Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

What greater testimony of Jesus’ divine nature than from a calloused executioner!

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[i] According to rabbinic tradition, the temple veil was as thick as the breadth of a man’s hand.

[ii] See Matt 27:56; Mark 10:35; 15:40

Why "Jesus"—not "Immanuel"?

Biblegems #17

Here is a great question someone has submitted for this Christmas season: “Why did they name Him Jesus when the OT said His name would be Immanuel?”

“Immanuel” shows up in Scripture only three times (Is. 7:14; 8:8; Matt. 1:23), each time referring to the Messiah.

The first occurrence in Isaiah 7:14 prophecies that a “virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Matthew’s Gospel reports that the angel Gabriel, quoting this Scripture, announced to Joseph that Mary was the virgin of Isaiah’s prophecy, and that her child would be the “Immanuel” of that prophecy (Matt. 1:22). Yet it is also Gabriel who in the previous verse instructs Joseph to name the baby “Jesus” (Lit., Yahweh saves) because he will save his people from their sins (1:21).

So we know that Gabriel, as God’s messenger, understood “Immanuel” to be an adjective meaning “God with us,” not the Messiah’s name. Joseph also understood that naming the baby “Jesus” as the angel instructed did not contradict the Isaiah prophecy, but fulfilled it. This was further confirmed when the same angel instructed Mary to name the child “Jesus” (Lk. 1:31). Not only so, But Gabriel informs Mary that the child would be conceived through the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit, “so the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Lk. 1:35). In other words, the child would be God—with us!

Even the similarity in phrasing is interesting: Isaiah says that the virgin “will call him” Immanuel, and Gabriel says that the child “will be called” the Son of God. Neither time is the phrase meant to indicate the baby’s name, only what terms would be eventually applied to Jesus. The same can be said of another familiar Isaiah prophecy concerning the Messiah:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Is. 9:6).

So it is clear that the phrase “will be called” was never meant to mean “will be named.” “Immanuel” refers to what Jesus is—God with us; and the name “Jesus,” though likewise highly symbolic in its meaning, refers to Jesus’ identity as a person. It is one thing to know in theory that there might be a unique person somewhere in existence who is “God with us.” It is something else entirely to know who this specific person is by name, because: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

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