24.205 | FORSAKEN BY THE FATHER | Mark

Text: Mark 15:33-39 (ESV)
33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
FORSAKEN BY THE FATHER
During the sixth hour [3 pm], darkness covered the whole place. The time Jesus died. This coincides with the priests slaughtering the lambs for the Passover meals of the people who live in Judea. Let us recall that darkness was the ninth plague God put on the Egyptians (Exodus 10:21-29). It enveloped Egypt for three days while here it lasts for three hours. The final plague was the first Passover, the origin of the feast celebrated at this very moment. As God took the firstborns of the Egyptians to secure the rescue of His people the Israelites, God now accepts the death of His own Firstborn as a "ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).
He cried before He died, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus has just cited part of Psalm 22. Taken out of context, it appears Jesus is asking God for information, but Jesus knows exactly why God is forsaking Him. It is because the weight of the sin of the world has been placed on Jesus' shoulders, and God cannot bear to see it or be in communion with He who bears it. He was in deep emotional turmoil. But "for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor 5:21).
Upon hearing Him, the bystanders commented, "Behold, he is calling Elijah." Why? Jewish tradition says that Elijah is present at the Passover meal. Legend says Elijah will come to rescue the righteous. And it makes sense if Jesus really is the Messiah. In Malachi 4:5, God promised, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes." But, in the prophetic sense, Elijah already came: as John the Baptist. John the Baptist was not really Elijah, but his mission was similar and he fulfilled the prophecy.
Jesus cried, “I thirst.” [John 19;18] This is the only time Jesus specifically expresses discomfort on the cross. Doctors suggest that His thirst is one of the many indications He is suffering from hypovolemic shock or blood loss. Most probably, He lost more than twenty percent of His blood, and His kidneys stopped functioning to preserve what body fluid was left. The heart beats faster, trying to move the decreased volume of blood. Grasping for oxygen, He has to push His fatigued body up until He can not breathe anymore. Before Jesus dies, He shouts (Mark 15:37), impossible for someone who cannot breathe, but very possible for someone who dies of the medical equivalent of a broken heart. Crucifixion victims usually take two or three days to slowly die of asphyxiation. But here, it suggests that Jesus dies of extreme trauma, a combination of severe blood loss and fluid pooling in His chest. He has literally spilt His blood for our sins as a perfect sacrifice.
Jesus as a person and His work of redemption is too hard to fathom. Jesus the Son and God the Father are one (John 10:30). God the Father is in Jesus and Jesus is in God the Father. And yet, on the cross, Jesus felt separated from the Father. That's hard to understand, and even harder for us to attempt to explain in human terms. The nature of the Trinity is beyond human thought, to begin with. All we can do is note the truths explained in God's Word. According to this passage, when the Father puts the weight of the sins of the world onto Jesus, it severed His connection with the Son. Jesus felt forsaken (Mark 15:34).
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