Bible Text: Matthew 26-27 | Preacher: Pastor Andrew Richard
It is a tradition in the Church, from time out of mind, to read the Passion according to Matthew on Sunday of Holy Week, the Passion according to Mark on Tuesday, the Passion according to Luke on Wednesday, and the Passion according to John on Good Friday. The Church loves to hear the mighty works of her Lord, and so we occupy ourselves with His mightiest of works this week.
Yet with so much set before us today, what shall serve as the focus of our meditation on our Lord’s Passion? There are many things that Jesus suffers. In accord with the Scriptures, Jesus was much more passive than active as He bore the sins of the world and endured the wrath of God, as it says in Isaiah 53, “He was despised… He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities… He was oppressed and He was afflicted… He was led as a lamb to the slaughter… He was cut off from the land of the living” (Is. 53:3-8). But there is one thing that Jesus very actively does in the midst of His Passion: He speaks. He chooses words for our instruction and He teaches us from His cross.
Jesus speaks seven words, or seven sayings, from the cross. He says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk. 23:34), showing that He wants to be merciful even to those who hate Him. As His mother and the Apostle John stand before the cross, Jesus says to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” and to John, “Behold your mother!” (Jn.19:26-27). Jesus keeps the Fourth Commandment, honoring His mother and making sure she will receive care. At the same time Jesus is leaving His Father and his mother to hold fast to His wife, giving of Himself for His bride, the Church. Jesus says to the thief on the cross, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Lk. 23:43), showing that the forgiveness of sins is not based on our good works, but that men are saved by grace, through faith, for the sake of Christ alone. Jesus says, “I thirst” (Jn. 19:28), showing that He is a man, that He has our human nature, and that He takes our place under the wrath of God. Jesus says, “It is finished” (Jn. 19:30), teaching us that all God’s promises have been fulfilled, that He has accomplished our redemption, and that nothing else is necessary for our salvation. Jesus says, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Lk. 23:46), teaching us what to say in the hour of death and giving us confidence that our Father in heaven will receive us to Himself.
That’s six of the seven words that Jesus speaks from the cross. Three of them were from Luke, and only appear in Luke: “Father, forgive them,” “Today you will be with Me in Paradise,” and, “Into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Three of them were from John, and only appear in John, “Woman, behold your son,” “I thirst,” and, “It is finished.” We find the final word in Matthew and Mark, which is actually the central of the seven words, standing in the middle position among the rest, and it is the only word of Jesus from the cross that those two evangelists record. We sang this word of Jesus in the Introit and the Tract, and we heard Jesus Himself say it, both in the Aramaic tongue in which He spoke it and in translation. This central word of Jesus from the cross is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mt. 27:46).
Now in these words is a great mystery. “I and My Father are one,” Jesus says. Therefore we confess in the Nicene Creed that Jesus is “of one substance with the Father.” Certainly the Father and the Son are distinct persons; Jesus speaks of “I” and “My Father.” Yet they are one, both in their essence, “I and My Father are one,” and in their will, as Jesus says, “I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” (Jn. 5:30). So how can Jesus say, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” How can God forsake God?
We are not given to know how this could be, just that it was indeed the case, for our Lord does not lie. The Father forsook His Son, and this was a worse suffering than any of the physical pain Jesus suffered. Being forsaken by God is the very torment of hell. And yet when Jesus was forsaken by God, it was even worse than the torment of hell, for he suffered hell not merely as those in hell do. The damned suffer hell for their own sins, but Jesus suffered hell for the sins of the whole world. Not even those in hell are forsaken by God as grievously and horrifyingly as Jesus was on the cross. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Jesus cries, and no other man, not even the worst sinner in hell, will ever have to cry it out in such utter misery as Jesus did.
Now it is noteworthy that the chief word that Jesus speaks from the cross is not a statement, but a question. He asks, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Of course Jesus knew the answer. He knows all things. So why ask it? This question is like the one that Jesus asks Philip in John 6, “‘Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?’ But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do” (Jn. 6:6). Jesus knows, but here Jesus tests us to see if we know. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” And thanks be to God, we do know.
I know, Jesus, why God has forsaken You. It is because the Father did not desire the death of the wicked, wicked though I was, but desired my life. It is because sinners still needed to be punished, for the Lord does not clear the guilty. But instead of laying my well-deserved punishment on me, the Father has laid it on You, as You foretold through Isaiah, “the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Is. 53:6). I know, Jesus, why God has forsaken You. It is because You willed it so, because You wanted to take my place in order to save me from sin and death. I’m the one who should be forsaken, but You were forsaken, because You would not have me forsaken, but held fast, not lost, but found, not cursed, but blessed. And so You became the curse for me. That’s why You cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” so that I would never have to cry those words. I know why. It’s because You love me.
What a blessed answer Jesus gives us to His question! What a gracious Lord, who, even as He suffers the full wrath of God and the entire pain of hell, still has His mind on us and seeks to teach us and lead us to such blessed conclusions! “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Jesus said, and we shall never be forsaken, for He Himself has said in Hebrews 13, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).
Yet what of those times when you feel that God has forsaken you, when you feel that your sins have come up to your neck and hidden you from the sight of God, when you feel that the weight of your crosses has buried you in the earth away from God? When the people of Israel were in exile in Babylon, they feared that the Lord had abandoned them. They cried out in Isaiah 49, “The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me” (Is. 49:14). To which the Lord immediately says, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands” (Is. 49:15-16).
The Lord will likewise never forget or forsake you. How could He forget? Even when Jesus was raised from the dead He did not put off the mark of the nails in His hands. With those hands He healed others, yet He did not consider that His own scars needed healing. You’ve probably written something on your hand at some point so that you wouldn’t forget about it. Jesus has no danger of forgetting anything and doesn’t need our memory techniques. Yet He uses this one anyway, not for His sake, but to show us how sincere He is that He will never forget us nor forsake us. Jesus looks at the marks of the nails in His hands and holds them up to you and says, “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands. You have been written here with an iron pen—yes, you—for the blood that flowed from this inscription was shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. I will never forget you. Indeed, I am with you always. I am the one who was forsaken so that you will never be.”
This is the glorious message of Holy Week. It is what Jesus teaches us from the cross. It is our comfort in the midst of every sin and distress. Jesus does not forget you. Jesus does not forsake you. To God He cries, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” and to you He says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” May our Lord Jesus grant you a fruitful remembrance of His Passion this week, and grant you to see how you were on His mind through it all. In the name of Jesus. Amen.