Humanity's Cry

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"--Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34 

I am struck by the anguished tone of this expression compared to the first three words of Jesus. This cry is from the painful heart of the very human Jesus who must feel deserted by His Father and the Holy Spirit, not to mention his earthly companions and family.  As if to emphasize his loneliness, Mark even has his loved ones "looking from afar," not close to him as in the Gospel of John. Jesus feels separated from everyone, but especially his Father. He is now all alone, and he must face death by himself. Jesus lives the maximum of human experience and the ultimate pain in death, and by doing so, frees humanity from the clutches of sin.

His fourth word is the opening line of Psalm 22, and thus his cry from the Cross recalls the cry of Israel and of all innocent persons who suffer. Psalm 22 of David makes a striking prophecy of the crucifixion of the Messiah at a time when crucifixion did not exist: "They have pierced my hands and my feet, I can count all my bones.” The Psalm continues: "they divide my garments among them, and cast lots for my clothing."

There cannot be a more dreadful moment in the history of humanity as this. Jesus, who came to save us, is crucified.  He realizes the horror of what is happening and feels the full measure of what He is now enduring. He is being engulfed in the raging, unrelenting, unrepentant sea of sin.  Evil triumphs, as Jesus admits to the pharisees and scribes as they arrested Him: "...this is your hour—when darkness reigns."  

But it is only for a moment. The burden of all the sin of humanity for a moment overwhelms the humanity of Jesus.

But doesn't this have to happen?  Doesn't this have to occur if Jesus is to save us?  It is in His death that the Divine plan of His Father and Himself will come to fruition.  Evil is defeated by an evil act.  the foolishness of God is His ultimate triumph, the very "power of God" as Paul writes to the Corinthians.  For it is by His death that the unimaginable, unbridgeable chasm between God and humanity is bridged, not by our deeds or our power, but by His.  "For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men."

That is how much He loves us.