‘My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?’ Didn’t Jesus Already Know?
Chapters
0:0 Intro0:44 Why Have You Forsaken Me
2:12 Matthew 2739
3:1 Why did he say it
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Welcome back to the Ask Pastor John podcast
00:00:07.800 | with John Piper.
00:00:09.200 | Podcast listener Bridget writes in to say this,
00:00:11.500 | "Pastor John, I love the Lord deeply
00:00:13.500 | "and my faith continues to grow,
00:00:15.460 | "but I've always struggled with Matthew 27,
00:00:17.460 | "verses 45 and 46.
00:00:19.680 | "Why would Jesus call out to the Father,
00:00:21.520 | "why have you forsaken me, when Jesus knew the answer?
00:00:25.500 | "It was for this very reason Jesus came,
00:00:27.240 | "to be forsaken on our behalf.
00:00:30.100 | "Could you give some insight into why Jesus asks
00:00:32.840 | "this question so that this hurdle in my faith
00:00:35.820 | "can be removed?"
00:00:36.940 | - My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
00:00:42.480 | Those terrifying words occur in the two gospels,
00:00:47.480 | Matthew and Mark, Matthew 27, 46 and Mark 15, 34.
00:00:57.060 | As Jesus is hanging on the cross near death,
00:01:00.600 | so it says about the ninth hour,
00:01:02.960 | Jesus cried out with a loud voice.
00:01:06.740 | Amazing, how did he have any strength to do a loud voice?
00:01:10.880 | Eli, Eli, lemah sabachthani, the Aramaic form.
00:01:15.880 | That is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
00:01:21.160 | Now, one very important fact to remember
00:01:25.800 | is that these words are the exact first words of Psalm 22.
00:01:30.800 | And that's important because Jesus seems to have known
00:01:38.800 | that the whole Psalm, in some way or other, was about him.
00:01:45.040 | Because at least three other parts of this Psalm
00:01:49.680 | are quoted in the story of his death.
00:01:52.660 | So you got verses one and two, this is what the Psalm says.
00:01:56.340 | Why are you so far from saving me?
00:01:58.880 | From the words of my groaning, oh my God.
00:02:03.280 | I cry by day, but you do not answer.
00:02:06.060 | And by night I find no rest.
00:02:07.600 | My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
00:02:10.240 | And then verse seven.
00:02:11.300 | All who seek me, see me, mock at me.
00:02:16.280 | They make mouths at me.
00:02:17.580 | They wag their heads.
00:02:19.800 | Those exact words, they wag their heads,
00:02:22.180 | quoted in Matthew 27, 39.
00:02:24.240 | And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads
00:02:28.720 | to show that this Psalm is being played out
00:02:32.760 | in the death of Jesus.
00:02:34.560 | And then verse 16 of the Psalm.
00:02:37.480 | They have pierced my hands and feet.
00:02:40.280 | And then verse 18.
00:02:41.880 | They divide my garments among them.
00:02:44.680 | And for my clothing they cast lots.
00:02:48.040 | So the words, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me,
00:02:51.760 | are part of this Psalm that contains, as it were,
00:02:56.720 | a script for Jesus' last hours.
00:03:01.080 | Now, why did he say it?
00:03:03.680 | She wants to know why the why.
00:03:06.280 | Why did he say it?
00:03:09.320 | And here's a three-part answer.
00:03:12.240 | One, there was a real forsakenness.
00:03:17.200 | That's why.
00:03:18.600 | My God, my God, why have you forsaken me
00:03:20.640 | means he really did.
00:03:22.080 | He really did.
00:03:23.400 | He's bearing our sin.
00:03:25.120 | He bore our judgment.
00:03:28.280 | The judgment was to have God the Father pour out his wrath on us.
00:03:33.160 | And instead, he pours it out on him.
00:03:35.880 | And that necessarily involves a kind of abandonment.
00:03:40.040 | That's what wrath means.
00:03:42.200 | He gave him up to suffer the weight of all the sins of all
00:03:46.360 | of his people.
00:03:47.840 | And the judgment, the judgment for those sins.
00:03:52.480 | And we cannot fathom.
00:03:55.040 | I don't think we can begin to fathom all
00:03:58.760 | that this would mean between the Father and the Son.
00:04:03.360 | To be forsaken by God is the cry of the damned.
00:04:09.280 | And he was damned for us.
00:04:12.840 | So he used these words because there was a real forsakenness.
00:04:18.960 | That's the first reason.
00:04:20.120 | Second, the why, it seems to me, is not
00:04:25.240 | a question looking for an answer,
00:04:28.840 | but a way of expressing the horrors of abandonment.
00:04:33.560 | A couple of reasons for thinking this.
00:04:36.600 | Jesus knew ahead of time what he was doing
00:04:42.560 | and what would happen to him and why he was doing it.
00:04:46.440 | His Father had sent him for this, this very moment.
00:04:50.320 | And he had agreed to come, knowing all that would happen.
00:04:53.840 | Listen to these words.
00:04:54.720 | This is John 18, 4.
00:04:56.400 | "Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him,
00:05:01.920 | came forward and said to the arresting mob, 'Who do you
00:05:05.600 | seek?'"
00:05:06.200 | Gave himself up.
00:05:07.160 | So he knew.
00:05:07.680 | He knew it was coming.
00:05:08.640 | He knew everything.
00:05:10.280 | And another reason is the moment was one of agony,
00:05:15.880 | not theological curiosity.
00:05:18.200 | The moment was one of agony.
00:05:21.000 | And a third thought on the fact that he's not
00:05:26.720 | asking a question so much as expressing a horror
00:05:29.560 | is the words are a reflex of immersion in Psalm 22.
00:05:37.640 | Seems.
00:05:38.520 | I mean, they're a direct quotation.
00:05:40.160 | But when you're hanging on the cross,
00:05:43.280 | you don't say, oh, I want to quote some scripture here.
00:05:46.600 | It either is in you as the very essence
00:05:50.800 | of your messianic calling, or it's not.
00:05:54.440 | And if it's in you, then you give vent
00:05:58.560 | at the worst moment of your life with the appointment
00:06:04.400 | of your father scripted in Psalm 22.
00:06:08.560 | That seems to be right at the heart of what's going on.
00:06:13.880 | Let me read verses 22 to 24 of this psalm.
00:06:18.320 | It goes like this, Psalm 22.
00:06:20.840 | "I will tell of your name to my brothers
00:06:23.560 | in the midst of the congregation.
00:06:25.360 | I will praise you.
00:06:27.520 | You who fear the Lord, praise him.
00:06:30.320 | All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him.
00:06:33.240 | Stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel,
00:06:37.160 | for he has not despised or abhorred
00:06:41.160 | the affliction of the afflicted.
00:06:44.000 | And he has not hidden his face from him,
00:06:47.600 | but has heard when he cried."
00:06:50.840 | In other words, this psalm ends with a note of triumph.
00:06:57.400 | So Jesus isn't curious about wondering,
00:07:01.600 | how's this going to turn out?
00:07:03.800 | He had embedded in his soul both the horrors
00:07:08.840 | of the moment of abandonment, and he
00:07:11.480 | had embedded in his soul for the joy that was set before him,
00:07:15.440 | I've got a promise, and God will not despise me in the end.
00:07:20.800 | He will take me back.
00:07:22.880 | So at some level, he knows it's not a final cry
00:07:27.200 | or an ultimate cry.
00:07:28.640 | He endured the cross for the joy that was set before him.
00:07:32.560 | And the why is not a request for a theological answer.
00:07:36.000 | It's a real cry of spiritual desolation
00:07:39.200 | with words that were second nature,
00:07:42.120 | because his whole life was scripted by God.
00:07:45.800 | And I think the last reason, we should say, for this,
00:07:50.600 | therefore, is that this psalm was his life,
00:07:54.080 | crying out reflexively in agony with these words
00:07:58.400 | of this psalm, "Show that as horrible as it is,
00:08:03.120 | it was all going according to plan."
00:08:07.040 | All of it was the fulfillment of scripture.
00:08:11.000 | Even the worst of it was the fulfillment of scripture.
00:08:16.440 | And that moment was probably the worst moment
00:08:20.280 | in the history of the world, and it was scripture fulfilled.
00:08:27.040 | So he said these words, one, because there
00:08:31.960 | was a real forsakenness for our sake.
00:08:35.280 | Two, he was expressing desolation,
00:08:38.400 | not asking for an answer.
00:08:40.240 | And three, he was amazingly fulfilling scripture
00:08:45.120 | in the horror of it all and witnessing
00:08:47.200 | to the perfection of the plan of salvation.
00:08:51.760 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:08:52.800 | And thank you for taking a moment from your day
00:08:55.120 | to listen to the podcast.
00:08:56.360 | You can find our free apps and search our past episodes
00:08:58.960 | and get us a question of your own online
00:09:00.800 | at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.
00:09:05.480 | Well, tomorrow, John Pepper will explain
00:09:07.080 | why going to church does not make you a Christian
00:09:11.000 | by looking at one of the essential core realities
00:09:13.200 | of Christian life.
00:09:14.120 | Don't miss this episode.
00:09:15.440 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:09:16.520 | I'll see you tomorrow on the Ask Pastor John podcast.
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