What did Jesus mean when he said, "O God, O God, why have You forsaken Me?"?

Question

45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”[k]
47 Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, “This Man is calling for Elijah!” 48 Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink.
49 The rest said, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.”
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. - Matt 27:45-50

I'm just curious as to what's going on here. Why would Jesus ask himself why he's forsaken himself, in third person?

Answer 1

Good point. I bet the people who made up the idea of the trinity wished they had yanked that verse out when they were "tidying up" the Bible's teachings.

Answer 2

Several things are going on...
1) Jesus is quoting from Ps. 22 -- It's definitely worth reading since it clearly fits / lays out what would happen to the Messiah.

2) As the prophet Isaiah said [Is. 53 especially vs 6], the Messiah would take the punishment for His peoples' rebellion. So, Jesus is indeed suffering the rejection from His Father [my God / Eloi] that we should have had to endure. ... Jesus was going through what Psalm 22 was talking about, not just quoting it.

3) When Jesus said that He and His Father were one, He wasn't just speaking symbolically. God is indeed one, yet as is seen throughout the TaNaK (Christians say Old Testament) God reveals Himself as a plurality -- see Daniel 7:8-14 and Isaiah 53. Jesus, the Son of Man -- who is to be worshipped -- suffers in our place out of love for us and no longer experiences the onesness with The Father -- the Ancient of Days. God the Father later raises Jesus up victorious having been faithful to His Father - even to death.

Jesus and the Father is God, but at the same time there is a distinction. Jesus was not just talking to himself. I am not sure how one can understand a distinction within a unity, but as a mathematician I daily work with things that I can prove to be true and real, but are way beyond what I can understand.

Answer 3

Jesus had to "taste" spiritual death, so we wouldn't have to. Spiritual death is the separation of the soul ( mind ) from the spirit. Physical death means nothing. It is the spiritual death that determines where we will spend eternity. When all things are subdued under Christ, the three ( Father , Son, and Holy spirit ) will once again be united. Right now Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, and the Holy Spirit is working on earth (and in our hearts ).

Answer 4

"Mein Gott, mein Gott, warum hast Du mich verlassen?"

This is an object lesson regarding moments of doubt and pain and how faith will get you through. The Bible is silent on whether Jesus got an answer to his question or not, or whether he died doubting it all. Theists will tell you that there was a disconnect between Jesus the god and Jesus the human, and Jesus the human knew him not. Otherwise this slip-sliding-into-heaven on Jesus' blood concept wouldn't quite work the way it has been formulated. It's complicated.

Answer 5

Haven't you ever heard of "The Lamb" as one of Jesus' names? During the jewish Passover, you were required to perform a blood sacrifice of a spotless lamb. That was a picture of Jesus. Jesus was a sin offering/blood offering on the cross. It was the picture that the Father turned his head, as though he was looking at the world's sin. Jesus died for your sins, but he isn't going to force you to heaven. When you die, you have 2 choices, to be with God or not. If you live hating God, then you will be seperated from him. He is a just God. You can have eternity with who you are, or you can have eternity with God. But you are just a breathe of air buddy. Remember your great great great Grandfather's name? Sad but true, you will be a memory like him. But Jesus is forever.

Answer 6

You are assuming that the author heard Big-J correctly of course. Through all the wailing on-lookers and the hub-bub of the crowd, could Matthew misheard his buddy Jesus?

Perhaps Jesus was simply ordering out for food:

"Bob! Oh Bob!", referring of course to that little known disciple - more of a hanger-on or gofer - you know the type, a wanna-be. "A Cheeseburger with Bacon for me!!"

Years of translation from Hebrew to Latin, to whatever - and a little artistic license from the Vatican maybe - could easily have got it wrong.

Now your question is much easier to answer - You don't need to be a scholar of Theology to know the Man was hankering for a McDonald's.

Answer 7

It was at this point that the Spirit of God had to turn from Jesus. Why? Because at that moment Jesus became sin. Sin can not be in the presence of God. At that moment Jesus was fully human and died just as we all will

Answer 8

The answer is that Jesus was not talking to himself. He was talking to his Father, who is God Most High. They are two separate individuals. Jesus asked why God had forsaken him, or left him, because he felt His Father's presence withdraw from him. Jesus had to bear this burden alone, for his sacrifice to be complete, and for the Atonement to be effective. He could have no help from God.

Answer 9

I don't believe in the Trinity, personally. It doesn't work for me.

Jesus took on he sins of the world. God can have nothing to do with sin. I have always felt this must have been the hardest to bear - the reality of what sin actually means. The cutting off from God.

Answer 10

Meanwhile God says in the Quran...that He is always waiting for the slave of God to turn to him and ask of him anything....he is always waiting and never turns from our pleas.

Prophet Jesus was a slave of God just like the rest of us...he needed God just like the rest of us...and he felt lonely at the moment of impending death just like the rest of us....fortunately for Prophet Jesus....God listened to his plea just as God listens to all our pleas and rose him up to heaven..

Answer 11

"Eli..." there is singular, talking to the Father.
Obviously, people thought He was calling Elijah. This is interesting. I wonder if there's a cultural angle to this, if there had been a custom directed about Elijah.