Listening…to Jesus on the Cross (Word #4) Separating Love
Now from noon until three, darkness came over all the land. At about three o’clock Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:45-47)
Nothing quite like the warm fuzzy one feels when that special moment has been planned out to surprise that spouse and children to welcome home their military hero—their marriage partner and parent. What a moment of celebration—often before a large cheering crowd—that often can bring a tear to your eye as one witnesses the unashamed joy to unite in seeing one another after lengthy time of separation.
The moment and the testimony exhibited of such loving embrace speaks loudly to the love that always existed the entire time even while not together. When the military officer is removed from his family to fulfill their duty often at great geographical distance from his or her family, the love remains, in fact, may be given an opportunity to grow.
Jesus’ fourth word from the cross resonates this strong and efficacious love though experiencing the separation from His Father. The spiritual distance caused by our sin that Jesus bore while on the cross causes the separation. The Father’s love is genuine and remains but it is a love going through a brief but necessary time of being spiritually and effectively obstructed during the required separation.
The preface of Jesus’ fourth word comes with a backdrop of mid-day time of darkness…“from noon until three (or sixth to the ninth hour), darkness came over all the land.” (v. 45) Different thoughts exist on how the darkness occurred. Was it an eclipse? Many see the darkness being a one-of-a-kind moment that cannot be fully understood or explained. But, without a doubt, the physical expression of the darkness correlates to Jesus’ agony and suffering that He has experienced on the cross. The weight of humankind’s sin now reaches its fullest and heaviest expression.
Jesus breaks through the darkness and silence “with a loud voice.” The phrase “loud voice” emphasizes an emotional cry. Matthew states what Jesus says in the Aramaic dialect though many believe Jesus actually spoke in Hebrew…“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani.” Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1. “MY GOD, my God, why have You forsaken me?” The word “forsaken” is Jesus sharing a reality that He has never experienced. The term “forsaken” signifies Jesus being totally abandoned or completely separated from His loving Heavenly Father.
The darkness that covered the area for those hours associates to the spiritual darkness that Jesus was experiencing in His body to accomplish the purpose of His Father—to satisfy His anger toward sin and pave the way for eternal salvation for humankind—for Jesus to be the Lamb of God who took away mankind’s sin. (John 1:29)
This lack of effective of attention from God is chronicled in the Old Testament: first, in Deuteronomy 31:17, God speaking through Moses, declares God hides His face due to sin. Second, David pleads for God not to hide His face from him while the servant desires to seek His face. (Psalm 27:8-9) The Father hiding His face means His full presence and attention has been withdrawn. Sobering to realize that God’s “hiding” on our behalf even included His Son, the One “with whom He was well-pleased.” (Matthew 3:17; 17:5)
Separated love was in motion accomplishing God’s redemptive love and purpose.
An important item to note and mentally immerse is that Jesus addresses His Father as “My God.” Jesus’ first word and last word on the cross employs the affectionate name of “Father.” But, here, in this middle word from the cross, the moment of abandonment, the name “God” is uttered by the crucified Christ, Son of God. Indeed, God is His God but His adjustment in the names further indicates the distance that our obedient Lord had to personally know from fulfilling His Father’s will of salvation to the world.
Paul’s clarion declaration of Jesus’ substitutionary atonement in 2 Corinthians culminates and summarizes so well Jesus’ historical moment of separating love. Paul, after just saying followers of Christ are new creatures, have been given the ministry of reconciliation, and assigned as Christ Jesus’ ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:17-18, 20) perfectly fits Jesus’ fourth word from the cross:
God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Selah!
Our Father, thank You for Your separating love. Thank you for staying true to Your name and character and at the same time accomplishing Your work in our lives in those moments you had to “hide Your face” and abandon Your Son to achieve and finish Your ultimate good. Thank You for the joy Jesus spoke of to lay down His life who, in the end, would be greatly rewarded and honored. (John 15:11; Hebrews 12:2) Today, based upon Christ’s substitutionary work of at-one-ment on the cross may we seek You through confession and repentance of sin to intimately have Your attention and presence return so separating love can be exchanged for abiding love. In Jesus’ name, amen.
