My God - why have you forsaken me?

If you look at Jesus throughout the Gospels, He is particular in how He refers to God. Jesus calls him, Father. This speaks to the relational character of God more than it does about God's gender. Don't get too caught up in whether God is male or female. The point of it all is that God is relational and God's being should be understood in such a way. So if Jesus is continually saying, 'my Father this and my Father that... if you've seen me-you've seen my Father, no one comes unto the Father but by me, my Father is the vinedresser, here is how you should pray - our Father, etc. Then what is the importance that now from the cross Jesus says, 'My God'?

This phrase from the cross is understood in context from when Jesus quoted Psalm 22. Certainly he wouldn't want to misquote David... but one of the helpful realities about the mystery of Christ being both fully God and fully man is that this phrase connects us to Christ. Jesus cries out in the same way we would. Psalm 22 says that God will not always chide and that God does not despise the afflictions of the afflicted. Jesus became our affliction. Have you ever felt forsaken? Jesus understands. He could have easily adjusted the psalm and say, Father, why have you forsaken me? But he wanted to point us to a deeper truth that our cries echo the same as Christ himself. In our psalms of lament, never forget that though suffering or pain, or even sorrow would last for the night, joy comes in the morning. A lament in only a lament because it ends with a feeling of trust and praise. Future generations will indeed speak of the one who draws us to Himself and calls us brother. Oh forsaken one - look to the cross and find your forsaken Savior.

Word From the Cross

"Father, forgive them for they don't know what they're doing."

Why didn't Jesus just simply say, "Father, forgive them." That would have done the trick don't you think? Here is Jesus who is barely able to breathe because of the strain of the cross and the asphyxiation it was causing... and he decides to say this whole thing.

What is sin? The reality is that we really don't know what we are doing. While this verse could certainly be interpreted within its context, what if we viewed the role of sin in our lives in such a way? If we really knew what sin did and what it caused, then I would hope that there would be a longing for repentance and renewal. So I guess that in essence we don't really know what we are doing do we? But thanks be to God that there is forgiveness there. The areas of my life where I simply do not know what I am doing is still in need of forgiveness.

Having a disconnect between the head understanding of sin and the walk of a believer living in sin is a classic example of not having a clue. We understand what sin is and what it does to the relationship with God, but we still hate our neighbor. We truly do not know what we're doing. Forgive us Lord even for those things.