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Tag: My God my God why have you forsaken me

It gets personal on the Cross :: Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?

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On March 24, 2016

In Christian, Seven Sayings

Jesus’ fourth saying from the Cross, as he lived up to His Name, which was to save His people from their sins, was a question directed, not to any man but, to God. It is the only question in the seven sayings of Christ from the Cross and it was Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being translated, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Mark 15:33-34; Matthew 27:46)

In the past, from both the pulpit as well as in articles (posts), servants of God, including I, have exposited on the plausible reasons as to the reason for Jesus questioning God as to why he had been forsaken. While we may never fully comprehend the extent to Jesus’ cry to God, we can see that in this saying, Jesus used the first person personal pronoun, ‘my’ in his address of his Father as God – not once, but twice. The word ‘my’ implies possession. When Jesus addressed God as ‘My God, My God’, he was making a personal address.

Points to ponder:
It gets personal on the Cross. In like manner, today, God is seeking you and me to have a personal Father-child relationship and to all who receive Jesus and who believe in his name, he has given them the power to be called the children of God (John 1:12). If you are yet to accept Jesus as your Savior, Lord and King, come to the Cross and make it personal today. It got personal on the Cross, the day they crucified Jesus. Today, get personal with God so that you can address God as “My” God, “My” God.

Mark 15:34 (KJV)
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Let’s talk business :: From the Cross – 4th Saying

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On April 2, 2012

In Christian, Seven Sayings

When Jesus was twelve years old, he questioned, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49) and on his crucifixion, he spoke seven sayings that are often expanded upon on Good Friday services, all over the world. This series, ‘Let’s talk business’ is a look at the seven sayings of Jesus Christ from the Cross, from a business perspective. Today we shall look at the fourth saying from the Cross, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is to say “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me. ” as recorded in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 (in fact, this is the only saying that is recorded in more than one gospel).

According to BusinessDictionary.com, the term “bankruptcy” is used to describe a legal procedure for liquidating a business or property owned by an individual and can be brought upon voluntarily or be forced on by the law. The two major objectives of bankruptcy are: first to function as a fair settlement of legal claims of the creditors and secondly to provide the debtor an opportunity for a fresh start.

When Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” it was not a cry of accusation but an expression of agony and bankruptcy, because the fulfillment of the first messianic prophecy declared in the garden of Eden by God (Genesis 3:15) was now coming into fruition, and Jesus, who was sinless had become sin (2 Corinthians 5:21) by the imputation of our sins on him, severing the holiness of God from him, for what communion can Light have with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14). According to the law, the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) and the law required payment. In order to pay the price on behalf of mankind, Jesus voluntarily made himself bankrupt, leaving the glory that he had with God the Father (John 17:5), making himself One of no reputation (Philippians 2:7) and humbled himself unto death, even death on the Cross. A fair settlement is a sacrifice without blemish and when no one created in heaven or on earth could meet the requirement to stand in the gap between God and man, Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world bankrupts himself to become the sacrifice acceptable unto God, once and for all (Hebrews 10:1-18).  This way, his bankruptcy serves to provide man, the debtor, a fresh start, for whoever believes in the name of Jesus Christ, is a new creation for the old things have passed away and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Points to ponder: 
Jesus became bankrupt so that you and I could enjoy the riches of heaven and be brought into the glory of God. There is no other sacrifice that is acceptable to God. God forsook his only begotten Son, so that he did not have to forsake you. Do you have a fresh start? In other words, have you believed in Jesus Christ? An expression of the acronym FAITH is Forsaking All I Trust Him and Salvation comes only by grace through faith (belief) in Christ Jesus. Have you believed? If not, don’t tarry and for those of us who have believed, are you/I willing to become bankrupt of our worldly ties? In business terms, Jesus became bankrupt so that you and I could be rich toward God and that is the only currency that matters in this life and the one to come.

Matthew 27:46  (KJV)
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Mark 15:34 (KJV)
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 

Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?

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On April 20, 2011

In Christian, Seven Sayings

[Scene: Courtroom; Location: Heaven; Defendant: You; Plaintiff: The accuser of the brethren a.k.a. Satan or the Adversary; Judge: God; Prosecutor: Jesus Christ]

Judge (God): Plaintiff, you may present your case.
Plaintiff (Satan): You see this filthy and guilty person. He deserves no mercy or grace for he has broken every law you have established. He is guilty of giving god like status to other things beside you.
Judge (God): Such as?
Plaintiff (Satan): His family, and his work. He is guilty of idolizing the materialistic possessions that you have given him, often refusing to give them back to you. He even takes your name in vain.
Judge (God): What do you mean?
Plaintiff (Satan): He professes with his lips your name but denies you by his life.
He does not keep your day holy, and works when he should be resting in your presence and gazing on your beauty in your house. He did not deserve the length of life that you had blessed him with, because he did not honor his father or his mother. He is guilty of murder, adultery, kept from giving back to you what you gave him thereby robbing you. He is a liar and a cheat, coveting all which does not belong to him. Most importantly, he does not love you nor his neighbors.
Judge (God): So, what is your charge against him?
Plaintiff (Satan): He is filthy of sin and guilty of unrighteousness; His penalty must be death! He is a good for nothing God-forsaken person.
Prosecutor (Jesus): I object your Honor.
Judge (God): Sustained
Prosecutor (Jesus): The plaintiff is incorrect. Yes, it is no doubt that this person deserves death, but He is not God-forsaken! You cannot forsake Him, Judge.
Judge (God): Why not?
Prosecutor (Jesus): Because you forsook me in his place. Remember, my agonizing and questioning cry from the cross – “Eloi, Eloi lama sabachthani?” I asked you “Why” (Lama) but now I see the answer. This man here and all like him are the reason as to why you had to forsake me.
Verdict: Blameless and Not Guilty!
Plaintiff (Satan): How can this be?
Judge (God): God forsook God so that God did not have to forsake man. This courtroom is adjourned.

Point(s) to ponder:
Man does not have to ask of God, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” because Jesus did in our stead.

Mark 15:34 (KJV)
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Christian Acronym :: O.M.G

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On March 29, 2011

In Christian, Christian Acronyms

Tech savvy professionals often come across this acronym OMG which stands for Oh My God in SMS and chat rooms.

When Jesus the sinless one was made sin so that we can become the righteousness of God, and He was crucified, He could not address God, whose work He had come to fulfill, as Father, but instead He had to call on God the Father, as God. He expressed from the cross, Oh My God, Oh My God (OMG, OMG) why have you forsaken me?

Matthew 27:46 (KJV)
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?

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On March 30, 2010

In Christian, Seven Sayings

The fourth saying of Jesus as He hung on the Cross, living up to His Name, which was to save His people from their sins was a question directed not to any man, but to God. It is the only question in the seven sayings of Christ from the Cross and it was Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being translated, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Mark 15:33-34; Matthew 27:46)

Even in dying, Jesus did not forget the scripture and was quoting from Psalm 22:1. But it is important to recognize that the answer is not specified explicitly. I wonder why?  We can only seek the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to try and understand the extent of meaning and implication of this saying.

Notice how in this saying, Jesus did not address God the Father as Father as he did in the first and last saying, but as God. What could be the reason for this? One explanation is that the father and son relationship, Jesus had with God the Father, had been broken when the sinless became sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), because God the Father is Holy and can have nothing to do with sin. What communion can light have with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14). Another explanation that is scriptural as well is that Jesus in His obedience to God made himself of no reputation, for He considered it robbery to be made equal with God (even though He was), humbling Himself as a servant (not Son) and addressed God the Father as My God. (Philippians 2). Jesus, the first born of all creation, experiences what it means to be an orphan as His Father was God.

Lama Sabachthani when translated means ‘Why hast thou forsaken me?’ Without the answer given to us explicitly in the scripture, we can pray for wisdom and search the scripture to understand this question and apply what we learn to be faithful servants of God as Jesus was. Besides the word, ‘forsaken’, the other words that can be used to acceptably signify the meaning of the word ‘sabachthani’ are ‘abandon’ or ‘deserted’.

Human acts such as the loss of a parent, betrayal by a friend or loved one  or a divorce from a spouse causes the sense of being deserted, abandoned,  or forsaken. God had to divorce his Only begotten Son so as to save the wedding of the people of God, the church with the Lamb (Revelation 19). God hates divorce is what the scripture says, and that means, God’s love for us was so great, that He willingly forsook (deserted) his Son, Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary. Enough Said. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us (1 John 3:1).

The closest answer of this question, I can find is from Galatians 3:13-14. God had to forsake God because God could not forsake man. Nicole Nordeman’s beautiful song ‘Why’ attempts to answer this question Jesus had for God which was ‘Why did you forsake me?’ and states that God’s answer to Jesus was ‘you and I’ are the ‘Why’. God had to stay true to the covenant he had made with a friend of his, a man by the name Abraham. Because Abraham had obeyed God, God has made a covenant to bless Abraham and his seed/children (Genesis 22:16-18).

God made God to become sin, because he wanted to make us righteous
God make God a curse, because of his word/covenant to bless us
God forsook God because he could not forsake us, He could not deny himself and what he had covenanted (2 Timothy 2:13)

Mark 15:34 (KJV)
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Galatians 3:13 -14 (KJV)
 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Broken for you and me

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On September 18, 2009

In Broken, Christian

As I pondered over the word ‘broken’, I wondered as to what are some of the things that were broken in order to crucify, or in the crucifixion of Jesus. Some that surfaced are given below,

  1. The Law was broken
    The 9th commandment (law) which said that you shall not bear any false witness (Exodus 20:16) was broken, for when those who tried Jesus found no fault in Him (Luke 23:4, Mark 14:55), many bore false witnesses with contradictory accounts against Jesus (Mark 14:56-59).
  2. Jesus’ body was broken
    In describing His manner of death (by crucifixion), Jesus informed His disciples, in the event that we familiarly know as the Lord’s supper, that His body will be broken, by symbolically breaking the bread and presenting it to His disciples with the following words “Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24). Though this may seem contradictory to the verse that states that none of His bones were broken (John 19:36), we must recognize that the breaking of one’s body need not necessarily mean that one’s bones need to be broken as well. There is absolutely no doubt however that his body was scourged, beaten, pierced and marred (literally broken) in the events preceding his crucifixion.
  3. Jesus’ heavenly relationship with God the Father was broken
    When Jesus the sinless became sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), a Holy God (the Father) who could have nothing to do with sin, had to severe the Unitarian relationship that He had with with His Son, Jesus, which leads to Jesus crying in agony, “My God, My God, why have YOU forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34).
  4. Jesus’ earthly relationship with his mother was broken
    From the Cross, Jesus refers to Mary, his earthly mother, not as mother but as woman, when he hands over responsibility to his beloved disciple John to care for Mary (John 19:26-27). When the penalty for sin was paid by Jesus, the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei), Mary’s boy child demonstrated and vocally expressed that He was indeed the foretold seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15), the Son of God (Isaiah 9:6).

What are some of the other things that you can think off that were broken in the redeeming and saving act of Jesus, in the events that led to and in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ?

Earthly laws against God, heavenly and earthy relationship of Jesus, including His body was broken. Why? Jesus was broken, so that the broken relationship of God with man could be restored.
He would rather be broken for you and me, than be broken without you and me.

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