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Sermon 4/9/04
"My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?" - Matthew 27:45-40
I find it difficult to hear these words from Jesus, to feel that Jesus felt alone, felt perhaps even abandoned by God in his final hours, that he felt scared or unsure. It would be easier if Jesus had never prayed in Gethsemane for the cup to pass from him, easier if he could seem strong and pulled together even on the cross, even in his pain. It would certainly make us feel better if we didn't have to worry about how Jesus felt during this whole crucifixion ordeal, if we didn't wonder if somehow Jesus' faith was faltering. I remember when my grandfather passed away, I knew how deep his faith was. But still, somewhere in the last week of his life, when he shared that he was afraid, I was crushed, devastated. I could handle anything other than to hear that he was afraid - I was afraid and alone - he needed to be strong, even as he faced death.
But here we have Jesus' words, "My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?" There are the words, and we are left to deal with them. Some have suggested that Jesus was simply speaking the words that start the 22nd Psalm, a Psalm often lifted up as prophetic about the death Jesus must suffer. And indeed, perhaps Jesus does think of this psalm, connect it to his own life at this moment. But I think that Jesus' words only make too much sense. He had been betrayed by one of his closest followers, one he hand picked. He had been denied, not once, but three times, by the person he knew he was trusting to lead after his death. He had been arrested, tried, beaten, sentenced. Abandoned. Wondering if anyone at all was going to get what he had been trying and trying to teach for three years. How would you feel?
Writes Rev. Richard Fairchild, "Nothing reaches the depth of this anguished cry of desolation: 'My God, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?' Jesus, who found his purpose and strength in the presence of God, who was sustained by the immediacy of his relationship with God and who endured all by the tangible power of God always at work within him, always a centre of vitality and peace, found himself totally alone on the cross.
Jesus, whose very being was God, found himself utterly, absolutely, despairingly, cut off from all that gives life and breath, cut off from all that gives purpose and hope, cut off from the source of his being, cut off, even from himself, plumbing the depths of the human condition to walk in the place of the utter absence of God, in the place of sinners, in the place of those who reject God."
Actually, though, I think Jesus' words give us more reason for strength than reason to fear. After all, as Christians, we celebrate the divinity and the humanity of Jesus. What is remarkable to me is that even though Jesus felt alone and abandoned, he knew from experience that he could depend on and trust God and that his life safely in God's hands. He speaks out of anguish here, "my God, why have you forsaken me?", but he acts out of faith, as he stays on the cross, stays on the course that God has placed for him. He felt alone, but he knew he was not, and ultimately was able to commit his life into God's hands.
To have ups and downs, times of faith and times of doubt in our own spiritual journeys is natural, expected, part of the growing process in our walk with God. But, it is what we do with our ups and downs that shows our character and our maturity in our relationship with God. It's easy to praise God when things are going our way, and then curse God or deny God's existence as soon as it's hard to hear God's voice. Jesus showed us the courage it takes to act on faith, act on who he knew God was, even when he felt alone and abandoned. We are called to do the same. It is this faith, this hope, which enables us to move to Easter Morning, even though we must pause here at Good Friday. We have faith that the Resurrection Day comes again, even though we see Christ crucified today.
Perhaps too often God is the one who is forsaken and forgotten. God is the one crying out because we have abandoned our faith and abandoned God. So stay with Jesus in this dark hour. Stay with him, even as he feels abandoned and alone on the cross, and stay with him, as he acts through faith, beyond fear, and follows God's path, wherever it leads.
Amen.