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Matthew 27: 29-42

We ponder on the word of God and how it describes this great event that took place so long ago. We picture it in our minds, different people in different ways. You can imagine the big crowd there, watching. In those days, it was probably the only entertainment they had. Attending this execution of the Lord Jesus Christ we have the curious, the crowd followers, the passers-by – so hardened to the suffering of others. Crucifixion was entertainment. They were guilty of saying things amongst the crowd they would not say otherwise. They were guilty of being one of the gang. Passers-by became a mob.

What had changed peaceful citizens into a mob crying for blood? A week earlier they had cried out ‘Hosanna,’ now ‘Crucify Him!’ These people may have had nothing against Christianity, but joined in with the crowd so they didn’t feel left out. We see crowds like this today, for example, at football matches. Were these passers-by responsible for the death of an innocent man? Yes! As we all are. On judgement day you will need to give a personal account, not be part of a crowd.

In His agony Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Forsaken by God! Who on earth can understand that? Jesus was crucified at 9:00 a.m., the third hour, the hour of the morning sacrifice. At noon, when the sun burnt so brightly, darkness fell until the 9th hour, 3 p.m. This was the time of the evening sacrifice when the lamb was offered as a daily sacrifice in the temple. This was a foreshadowing of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, the Lamb slain for the world. During that time of darkness, no sound came from Jesus on the cross. There was absolute silence. When the darkness had passed, that was when Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

How can we understand that dramatic scene? How can we express its meaning? We can grasp some of it by examining the following:

1. The desperation of the cross.

Was there ever a cry so filled with desolation? Many people misunderstood and thought He was calling for Elijah. From childhood He had been misunderstood (Luke 2, John 2:19). The crowd laughed, they mocked and jeered. The religious leaders were quite correct when they said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.” (Matthew 27:42). He saved others but He could not save Himself because He set His heart on saving others. “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.”(Hebrews 9:22). He came to this world to save you and me, to obtain forgiveness for sinners.

• Separation from the Father.

This is a mystery. Forsaken – heart rendering. Being forsaken was no new experience for Jesus; all His life He had been forsaken. His own family turned away from Him, His own nation rejected Him, the disciples forsake Him and fled. He knew what it was to be forsaken, yet He was always conscious that He was not alone, for the Father was always with Him.

He told His disciples at the Last Supper in the Upper Room, “Behold the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” (John 16:32).

Yet, now on the cross He cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Nobody stood by Him. There is no opening of the heavens. There is no voice of God. There was no strengthening angel by His side as it was in Gethsemane. He is completely alone, forsaken by God. But does God ever forsake His own? All history, all human experience, all scripture indicates not. God has promised, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ Yet He forsook Christ at Calvary. What can it mean?

The answer is to be found in the significance of the death of Christ. It wasn’t an eternal separation from God. The divine nature cannot be separated from the human nature. Jesus was eternally God.  The Father couldn’t be separated from the Son in the Godhead. It could not mean that the Father had forsaken the Son in the sense that He no longer loved Him, because God truly was well-pleased with Jesus for sacrificing Himself on the cross on behalf of others, and carrying out God’s will even unto the point of death. It was because all the sin of humanity was placed on Jesus. Therefore, God abandoned His Son; in His holiness He could not look upon sin. Jesus was obedient unto death.

The sins of the world separated the Father from the Son. Sin separates us from God. Jesus was the substitute for our sin, taking our place on the cross. All of the sin and iniquities of the whole world was placed on Him. Think upon on that – all the greed, all the hate, all the lust – Christ bore the sins of the world. Isaiah 53 foretold it. Consequently, all the wrath of God was poured out on Christ. Every nail driven into His body, every stripe on His back, every thorn – all this He endured for us, for our sin.

He stood between a sinful world and a righteous God. He suffered in our place. Christ still said, in spite of His suffering, “My God, my God.” He held strongly to His faith in God. God always stands near to those who can cry out, ‘My God. my God.’ Our Lord Jesus Christ, like Job, was saying, ‘Thou He slay me, yet I will trust in Him.’

It was a cry of victory. Here, Jesus was completing the work He came to carry out. He was accomplishing the will of the Father. This was His supreme moment of triumph. God authenticated it by accepting the sacrifice that was offered. The veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom, as if God was reaching down from heaven to tear it apart and say to mankind, ‘Come to me now through the sacrifice of My Son. You have no need anymore of an earthly priest to intercede for you. Instead, you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

We are told salvation is found in no-one else, for these is no other name under heaven given about men whereby we must be saved. Jesus Christ was born as Saviour. He has accepted the penalty on your behalf. He has suffered for us. We can look to Him and no other, for salvation. Turn to God in repentance and confess your sins and you can be numbered among those for whom Christ died.

A closing thought. On that day there were three men on three different crosses: one not caring about the damage he had caused by his awful life, defiant to the end. One next to him whose death was intended to repair the damage caused by centuries of sin. And one who regretted the life he led and, although he was at the point of death, truly felt sorrow for the sins of his life and wishing he could atone for those sins. He turned to the one who hung next to him, who was truly the Son of God, who was able to tell him not only where he was going, but when, ‘This day thou shalt be with me in paradise.’

That promise is also for us if we truly repent of our sins. We too need to turn to the Saviour, to seek the forgiveness that was purchased for us at such a high price.