The Seven Last Words of Jesus #5
“My God… Why?!”
Entering Jerusalem on a donkey to observe the Jewish Passover, the masses celebrated and heralded Jesus as King. After sharing the Passover meal, Jesus requested His closest friends accompany Him to Gethsemane, where, grieving, He asked God to stop what He knew was about to happen. And those closest to Him fell asleep.
In the early morning hours, Judas, one of those closest to Jesus, came to the “prayer meeting” and used the opportunity to turn Jesus over to the priests and temple guard. His friends all fled. Even when Peter “the rock,” one of those closest to Jesus, was recognized as a friend, Peter vehemently denied He’d ever known Him.
Not wanting to kill Him, Pilate offered an opportunity to free either Jesus or a hardened criminal, Barabus. Jealous yet influential, the respected religious leaders, full of hate, had Jesus beaten. Under their influence, the masses, which had waved palms and paraded His entry into the city just days before, chose to release Barabus. And by their choice, Jesus would be crucified.
Then at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, not holding the actions of the day against the people, Jesus called out,
“My God, My God, Why have YOU forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46, Mark 15:34)
No one was able to stand with Jesus in the way that He needed and so desired! Out of self-preservation (sin), there was no friend able to enter into Jesus’ experience and offer support. Yet, understanding their blindness and offering forgiveness, Jesus placed the responsibility where it should lie, on God. The responsibility for all that happened rested on God. God refrained to intervene, and Jesus felt feelings of violation, scorn and abandonment.
Despising the shame (Heb 12:1-3), Jesus understood: God’s plans are much bigger than one man’s experience. His plans are for the redemption of all men (John 3:16-18). Jesus’ suffering was temporary and for the good of all. His death is not the end of His story. Instead, His death is the inception of hope for eternity.
Choosing to stick with the plan, Jesus accepted the consequences of the broken relationships between God and man (John 10:11-18). Similarly, God chooses to allow mankind to suffer the consequence of His choices. Knowing that in broken experiences, we’ll join Christ in asking, “Why?” God gives the final answer: We are more than conquerors! NOTHING can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:31-39, Colossians 3:1-4, Phillippians 1:3-11). Jesus made sure of that.
Mark 15:33-34, Heb 12:1-3, John 3:16-18, John 10:11-18, Colossians 3:1-4, Philippians 1:3-11, Mark 15:27-39