Today, I will be continuing my Holy Week series on Jesus’ Final Words. Today, we will study The Enduring Life by examining Jesus’s words, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
If you have missed the previous entries in this series, click the links below:
Now, on to today’s post.
I have joyous news for you today: It’s baseball season! My beloved Cubs kickoff the new season tonight against the World Series Champions, the Texas Rangers. They say that baseball season is a marathon and not a sprint, and rightly so. Over the course of a grueling 162 game season it is certain that every team in baseball will face some sort of adversity. Every team will lose at least 50 games. Every team will have a losing streak. Every team will have to deal with injuries to key players. Every team will have to play in bad weather. Every player, by the time we reach September, will be exhausted.
But the great teams find a way to endure all of that adversity. The great teams find a way to overcome exhaustion and injuries and losing streaks. At some point, every player’s confidence in themselves and trust in their teammates will be put to the test. The great teams find a way to overcome those doubts and endure the long grueling race to October.
The Christian life is a marathon and not a sprint. We are long-distance runners, not sprinters. Unfortunately, many Christians think they are in a sprint. And many churches, rather than preparing disciples of Christ for long-distance, only train sprinters. “Come to our church this weekend, get your Jesus fix, sing our happy clappy songs, see how Jesus can make your life better. Our worship services are like rock concerts, our sermons are like Ted Talks with a Bible verse. This sort of Christianity prepares people to run a short race; it provides short-term energy. It’s “Sugar Rush Christianity.” And like, say, sugary cereals, it’s quite popular.
But like sugary cereals, this approach to Christianity is not always good for you. I just had a physical taken and let’s just say it wasn’t great. So I now I have to be more conscious of the kinds of food I’m eating. And it turns out, sugary cereal, while delicious, is not great for me. What is better for me, a better food to eat that promotes not only long-term health but actually gives longer-lasting energy throughout the day? Oatmeal. Yes. How exciting. And let’s just say, finishing a bowl of oatmeal is an act of endurance for me.
But it gives me more energy for my day and is better for my body. Sometimes, the worst things are best for you. Oatmeal may not taste great and may not provide a jolt of energy like sugary cereal, but it better prepares you for the day. Those great baseball teams not only overcome adversity but allow that adversity to help them become better.
The Christian life is an endurance race. It will have many, many obstacles to overcome, adversity to face. It comes with doubts, with struggles, with temptations, with waiting. As Christians, we need to prepare ourselves for a long life of discipleship. We need to have an enduring faith. We need to live The Enduring Life.
Author interruption: For holy week, I am posting on the final seven words of Jesus as he was crucified. You can also check out the podcast I host with my good friend Matt on Spotify. You can also join me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Threads @revsteve83
Jesus Suffers
On the cross, Jesus suffered. That is an understatement, by the way. Yet, in the midst of the most intense physical and spiritual torment someone could possibly face, Jesus demonstrates the endurance of his trust in God the Father. Jesus shows us how to live the Enduring Life.
Mark 15:33 tells us that darkness came over the whole land from noon until 3 in the afternoon. Mark has told us that earlier in this day, everyone was mocking Jesus, including the two bandits who were crucified with him. The crowd, the soldiers, everyone was mocking Jesus, who remained silent. In fact, in Mark’s account of the crucifixion, Jesus only speaks once.
Jesus Suffers God’s Judgment
Given how sparing Mark is with details, the ones that actually do make the cut are significant, and the 3 hours of darkness in the middle of the day is certainly that. We know that it wasn’t an eclipse because we know that it was the full moon based on the Jewish lunar calendar and eclipses, as I found out this week, can only happen with the new moon. This was a miraculous, supernatural event that creates a sense of foreboding and of the apocalyptic. The absence of light—which is connected to God– in exchange for total darkness—which is associated with sin and evil—indicates for us that in this moment Jesus that Jesus is experiencing God’s judgment on sin. Jesus has spent the morning facing the scorn of the crowds and now in the afternoon is likely experiencing God’s judgment on sin.
So with this as the context, Jesus utters his fifth word from the cross and the only one recorded by Mark: “eloi, eloi, lema sabacthani” or “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Jesus Feels Abandoned
Mark wrote his Gospel in Greek, but here he preserves the Aramaic which was Jesus’ spoken language. He does this to explain the confusion the onlookers demonstrate in verse 35: “When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling for Elijah.” It was believed at the time that Elijah, who never died but was brought to heaven in a chariot, would return to help a righteous person who was suffering. Elijah was also very much connected to the coming of the Messiah and the Day of the Lord.
This is probably the moment of this ordeal that Jesus experiences the most anguish. Mark is emphatic that Jesus yelled this—he writes, “Jesus cried out, in a loud voice.” The redundancy is to emphasize that Jesus is mustering all his strength to scream his words. Jesus is in absolute agony: he is in excruciating physical pain, he is dealing with social trauma as the very people he came to save have turned against him and demanded his execution and now surround him with their mockery. And most of all, Jesus is in spiritual agony, as he has brought the sin of the world with him to the cross and is facing God’s judgment on sin. It is no wonder that the words that come to his mind ask God why he has abandoned him.
Jesus must feel forsaken by God in this moment. He must feel abandoned. I mean, it doesn’t take this much to make me feel abandoned by God. Sitting in bad traffic is enough for me to cry “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus is enduring the most horrifying experience I can possibly imagine. Of course, these words would resonate with him in this moment.
Jesus Quotes Psalm 22
The words Jesus speaks are not original to him. Rather, he is quoting Psalm 22:1. In this Psalm, David expresses to God his feelings of abandonment during a particularly difficult period of his life.
Psalm 22 would have been memorized by most Jews of Jesus’ day. It was a part of a trilogy, along with Psalm 23 and 24, of messianic psalms that promised the coming of Israel’s savior.
Psalm 22 Is All Over the Crucifixion
Psalm 22 is referenced multiple times by the Gospel writers during Jesus’ crucifixion accounts. Familiar scenes from the crucifixion are sprinkled throughout: Verse 7:
“All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. ‘He trusts the Lord,’ they say, ‘let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.’”
That sounds an awful lot like the mockery that was being thrown at Jesus as he hung on the cross. Or how about verse 14:
“I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.”
This is clearly a reference to Jesus’ thirst on the cross. Or, how about verse 16:
“They pierce my hands and my feet. All of my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.”
This is referenced directly by other Gospel accounts as this is what the soldiers did for Jesus’ clothes. Psalm 22 is all over the crucifixion.
Psalm 22 Gives Jesus Hope
Jesus finds the words to express his present agony in the first verse of this Psalm. But he certainly has the rest of the Psalm in mind as he has seen much of it fulfilled right in front of him. In Jesus’ day, the Psalms didn’t have numbers. If you wanted to refer to a Psalm, you quoted its first line. So in quoting the Psalm’s opening line, Jesus is drawing our attention to the whole Psalm.
Psalm 22 is a beautiful mixture of lament and praise. David is lamenting the extremely dire predicament he finds himself in. He is in anguish, beset by enemies all around him. They mock him and put his life in danger. He says that he is a “worm, and not a man, scorned by everyone,” and “Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me,” and “dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me.” Certainly, Jesus resonates with these words in his current predicament as he hangs on the cross, encircled by enemies and those who mock him, about to die.
But that’s not all that David says in this Psalm, and certainly not all that Jesus has on his mind. David also writes, “Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises,” and “from my mother’s womb you have been my God,” and “But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength, come quickly to help me.” And read to how David ends the Psalm:
All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the Lord
and he rules over the nations.29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!
David ends this Psalm on a note of triumph. God will prevail; God will rescue him; he will dwell in God’s house forever. David looks forward to celebrating God’s rescue of him and the day when all people will worship his God. Even though David is enduring terrible darkness, his faith and devotion to God endure. He continues to trust God even in the middle of the worst of circumstances. He trusts that this is a moment in time but God will ultimately deliver him, vindicate him, and give him life.
Jesus would certainly have all of this Psalm in mind. So, even as he endures the worst experience possibly conceived, his faith and devotion to God endures. He trusts that this is not the end, he trusts that God will vindicate him and that he will ultimately be victorious. Even as he endures the cross, Jesus’ devotion to God endures.
Look at the words Jesus says. He says, “MY, God, MY God…” Even though he feels abandoned by God, even though he is suffering physically, emotionally, and spiritually, he continues to call God his own. He still relates to God even though God feels far away. His faith is being put to the test and his faith is surviving intact. Jesus truly endured the cross. He comes out on the other side still devoted to his God, his Father. He continues to trust God throughout his entire ordeal.
The Enduring Life
Hardship, pain, and suffering will be a part of life. There are no promises that we will be kept from experiencing difficulty in life.
- We will experience physical pain and illness, and we won’t always get better. Some we have to live with for the rest of our lives. Sometimes the physical pain we experience in this world is temporary, sometimes it’s not. We are not promised to be kept from this sort of harm.
- Nor are we promised that we won’t experience emotional trauma. Perhaps we will suffer through a painful divorce. Perhaps a significant other will cheat on us. Perhaps we experience the betrayal of a close friend. Perhaps we will become estranged from family members. Perhaps we might lose a dear loved one far too early in life. Nowhere in Scripture are we promised that we will be protected from these traumas.
- Neither are we promised freedom from spiritual struggles. The evil one will seek to get you down, will seek to tempt you, will seek to shame you. You will have doubts. You will feel like your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling and you will feel like God isn’t listening or God is too far away.
“Sugar Rush Christianity” will struggle to provide the resources necessary for one’s faith to endure such hardships. “Sugar-Rush” Christianity works well when everything is fine but once something goes wrong that doesn’t conform to the pre-conceived notions of life that come with it, this version of the faith has no answers. And suddenly, one is confronted with doubts, wondering if Christianity works like it is supposed to or wondering if God is who we thought he was or if he is even real. And this form of Christianity lacks the depth and the proper nutrition to overcome those doubts.
Oatmeal Faith
What we need is, sigh, oatmeal faith. We must train for the long-haul. We are not sprinters, we are marathoners, and in this broken world, our marathon route is full of obstacles and snares. We will get tired, we will get exhausted, we will hit the wall, but will we keep going? We are not promised that pain will not be present, but we are promised that God will be present. As Madeleine L’Engle writes,
“God doesn’t stop the bad things from happening, that’s never been part of the promise. The promise is, I am with you; I am with you until the end of time.”
So when the bad things happen, do we trust that God is still there? When it feels like our prayers are bouncing off the ceiling and going ignored, do we trust that God is still there? When we are surrounded by all that is bad, do we trust that God is still good? When our crosses become too heavy to bear, will we wonder if God has forsaken us?
Jesus Shows How to Speak Honestly to God
First, Jesus shows us that it is OK—more than OK—to speak honestly with God when you are suffering. Jesus, in this moment, is experiencing something that is common to us but not common to him, the son of God: the separation that sin causes between us and God. Of all that Jesus experiences on the cross, that is probably the worst, most painful part: feeling deserted by God. Yet, Jesus is able to address his agony with God. He feels abandoned and so he says it. He doesn’t try to sugar coat anything and he doesn’t try to soothe himself with some trite expression of hope. He confronts his situation and he confronts God about it. In crying out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus is demonstrating what faith looks like when one is suffering.
We should not ignore the pain. We should not even try to defend God. If we are struggling, go to God with those struggles. I take great comfort in the fact that God named his people Israel, which means “Struggles with God.” And boy did they ever. It’s ok to struggle with God.
I don’t know if any of you remember the year 2020 but that entire year was painful for me. I experienced some personal tragedy and I almost died of some weird illness I had never heard of before and oh, yeah, there was a pandemic. That entire year almost all of my prayers were angry or sad. In all of my prayers it seemed like I was trying to pick a fight with God. God felt distant. It did feel like I had been abandoned by God, forsaken by him.
At one point, I started to feel guilty that all of my prayers were angry, that I was wrestling so much with God and expressing my doubts to him. But then I heard this still small voice. I felt something in my gut. It seemed to say to me, “At least you are still talking to me.”
Despite my anger, despite my doubts, despite my despair, I was still talking to God. And God and I were able to work through it. On the cross, despite his pain and his despair, Jesus still talked to God. He was honest with God, and if we want to have an enduring faith, we need to be OK with expressing our emotions and doubts to God.
Jesus Shows Us how to Use Scripture
Secondly, Jesus leans on Scripture. He leans on what God has already revealed to him and to his people. He does not allow his experience to invalidate Scripture, nor does he allow Scripture to invalidate his experience. Rather, Scripture informs his experience and recontextualizes it for him. He finds comfort in David’s words in Psalm 22: he finds comfort that Scripture recognizes our suffering, he finds comfort in knowing that God has delivered others in the past and can do it again; he finds comfort in the reality that God is still there and God will vindicate him.
During 2020 I learned to find great comfort in the Psalms, especially the Psalms of lament. I learned how to lament. I’m one who like to either ignore pain or distract myself from it; when these strategies failed me, I had to find something else, and that was lament. I learned to express my feelings and to really feel my feelings. But more importantly, the Psalms taught me how to do those things in relationship with God. It taught me how to find God’s presence when he felt far from me. It taught me how to keep believing even when I was doubting.
When we are doubting, we can turn to Scripture to remind us of who God is—an ever-present, ever-faithful God—and to remind us of what he has done. And we can know that no matter what, it is indeed well with our souls because of what Jesus endured for us on the cross.
Jesus Shows how to Trust God
Thirdly, we can trust that God is able to bring good out of anything bad. Because of what Jesus endured on the cross for our sake, we know God can bring the best thing out of the worst thing. God used this tragic, painful event to secure our salvation. Furthermore, we believe in a God for whom not even death can thwart his plans and stop him from rescuing and vindicating his people. Jesus would not stay dead—he would be raised from the dead three days later. We believe in a God who can reverse suffering, can reverse pain, can reverse even death. And this can help us endure those difficult times in our lives.
One of the positive outcomes that can come out of suffering is a stronger, more battle-tested faith. Now, hear me here, please. God does not cause suffering in our lives in order to grow our faith. God does not cause or allow people to suffer or even die in order that my faith could grow. Suffering happens because we live in a fallen, broken, sinful world. What God does do, however, is redeem the suffering caused by living in a fallen, broken, and sinful world by allowing it to help us trust him more and grow our relationship with him.
James 1:2 tells us to “consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the test of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
God grows our faith and grows our character through suffering, through trials. I don’t know how, but somehow I survived 2020. And in hindsight, I can see the ways God has formed me through that experience. I am more patient, I am gentler, I am humbler. I am a better husband and a better father and a better pastor for having gone through that. I can relate better with those who are struggling or suffering. I don’t get as anxious as I once did, mostly because some of the worst things I can imagine happened to me and I, with God’s help, got through them.
My prayer for all of us is that we can learn to see the upside of down. That we can learn to see suffering and struggling as opportunities to see what God can do in our lives. But we do this not by ignoring or distracting or rationalizing but by being honest with God and with ourselves. By becoming comfortable with doubts and relating to God despite those doubts. By using Scripture to help recontextualize what is going on in our lives, to give us perspective and give us comfort and give us hope. And my prayer is that we can have a faith that not only survives struggles but is grown and made better by them. My prayer is that together we can work to form in us deep faith that can endure the obstacles and snares of this broken, fallen world. I pray that we can all live the Enduring Life.
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