Why did Jesus think that God had forsaken him?

Question

According to Mark 15:34, just before Jesus died on the cross, he

"cried with a loud voice 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani'
which is interpreted "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me'"

According to Mark, he died a few moments later without saying anything else. But if he knew beforehand that he would die on a cross, why did he think that God had forsaken him? Did he forget that he would be resurrected two days later?

Answer 1

Because he was nailed to a cross. It was 300 years later that the church deemed him "Divine," and "the son of God."

http://www.ancient-future.net/nicene.html

Answer 2

In the movies, it always portrays Jesus looking up and addressing heaven. Some say that this is when Jesus absorbed all the sin of mankind and God had to look away--seeing that He cannot look upon sin. I am not saying that this is not what happened, but there is a better explanation--it is very Jewish.

Back then, they did not have multiple copies of the Tonakh. They kept one copy safely stored in an ark in the synagogue. So the students and priests, back then as well as today, would memorize the scriptures (they did this by singing it). Whenever they wanted to bring a chapter, or a Psalm to the attention of the students, they would not recite the entire chapter, they would say the first verse and the rest of the students would know the rest by memory.

When Jesus was on the cross, He employed this rabbinical device--He quoted the first verse. The Pharisees would hear this, then in their mind they would immediately do the "scripture shuffle" and find that this was the first verse of Psalm 22. They would then automatically recall the entire Psalm that would show that what was happening before them was prophetic--that Messiah had to die, be surrounded by accusing Gentiles scoffing, "he trusted in God, let Him deliver", He will have His hands and feet pierced causing His bones to come out of joint, that they would divide His garments, and at the end He will say "It is finished" (which is the Greek translation of the last verse).

So really, Jesus was alerting the Pharisees to what was happening and that all what they were seeing was planned from the foundations of the earth and that He was who He said He was--the Messiah, the subject and focus of Psalm 22.

Answer 3

For all those who talk about the trininty, and the first disconnection from GOd...the question remains...why wasn't Jesus totally prepared for that? He was, after all, part of the trinity, aware of the outcome, aware of God, and with all of God's knowing spirit. This still makes no sense if Jesus was actually part of God. He would not need to ask it. He would have known that once the sins of all of humanity were laid on him, he would be seperated from God.

Ok, and if that's the case (God cannot abide sin, and cannot look on sinners, so he must separate himself from Jesus at this point), then how would God EVER have come to be with any of the people in the Bible? Moses? Without sin? He was a prince of egypt, wasn't he? He was born, wasn't he? There are no people who have no sin, so how did he ever talk to any of them?

For those who use Psalm 22, I ask this...how does your explanation fit with those who say he was forsaken because he took on our sins? Was he teaching as he died? Then what did he teach? The pharisees would have been expecting, from this Psalm, protection from God, wouldn't they? Would not the reference to Psalm 22 bring the Pharisees to this?

19 But you, O LORD, be not far off;
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.

20 Deliver my life from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.

21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save [d] me from the horns of the wild oxen.

How would they believe from this? How would they believe when rather than being delivered from the sword, his life was ended. It's kind of an odd thing to do...remind folks that hey, there's this scripture...you ought to learn by it...except for the part where my life is spared. That part won't be true.

Lastly, I am really getting weary of those who promote the literal word of the bible, and then say things like "the bible says this, and most people think that's what it really means". Either the ENTIRE BOOK is up for interpretation, or NONE of it is. You can't have it both ways. This constant wavering back and forth between interpretation and literal meaning is not only disingenuous, it makes it very difficult to have an honest debate or discussion...and it continues to fuel doubt and confusion. Either stick with what the thing says, or bow down to interpreting the whole thing. My goodness...

I am a person who is seeking some sort of truth...seems that when people talk about this, there is no agreement on what was going in here. I think the question is still valid.

Answer 4

Wow, do you ever need to do some studying (no offense intended, really).
First, lets start with the fact that Jesus NEVER called His Father "God", He called Him "Father".
Second, every single thing that Christ said and did, from A to Z, was a Teaching, and that includes this moment on the Cross:
(By the way, I believe "It is finished" were the last words spoken by Christ)
Christ did not feel forsaken: He was quoting Psalms 22 and 23, telling you that he was fulfilling prophecy written one thousand years prior. Those psalms tell of every single detail of the crucifiction, right down to what the people would be doing at the foot of the cross.
Thats what he was doing: teaching.
Jesus Christ was/is the greatest teacher
that ever existed/exists.

Answer 5

For those who believe in the Trinity, the answer is really very simple. The fellowship and intimacy of the Trinity had never been shattered until that moment. On the cross as Jesus bore our sins in his dying agony, Jesus was alone. He was not in fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. In that moment he experienced an agony and loneliness that the Old Testament predicted he would experience.

Pastor John

Answer 6

I think it was a combination of things.

One-- Yes, the Father had withdrawn His presence because a) Jesus had to do it- alone, by Himself. and b) as any loving parent, Father probably struggled with seeing His only begotten Son, His best Child suffer like that.

Two-- Sure, maybe Jesus was quoting scripture. Haven't you ever had a moment where a quote from a movie or a line from a song just fits?

Three-- Jesus' whole life was fulfillment of prophesy. It is entirely possible that He was cluing in the Jewish leadership as to what was truly going on.

Answer 7

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). This cry is a fulfillment of Psalm 22:1, one of many parallels between that psalm and the specific events of the crucifixion. It has been difficult to understand in what sense Jesus was “forsaken” by God. It is certain that God approved His work. It is certain that He was innocent. He had done nothing to forfeit the favor of God. As His own Son - holy, harmless, undefiled, and obedient - God still loved Him. In none of these senses could God have forsaken Him.

However, Isaiah tells us that “he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows; that he was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities; that the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him; that by his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5). He redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). He was made a sin-offering, and He died in our place, on our account, that He might bring us near to God. It was this, doubtless, which caused His intense sufferings. It was the manifestation of God’s hatred of sin, in some way which He has not explained, that Jesus experienced in that terrible hour. It was suffering endured by Him that was due to us, and suffering by which, and by which alone, we can be saved from eternal death.

In those awful moments, Jesus was expressing His feelings of abandonment as God placed the sins of the world on Him – and because of that had to “turn away” from Jesus. As Jesus was feeling that weight of sin, He was experiencing separation from God for the only time in all of eternity. It was at this time that 2 Corinthians 5:21 occurred, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus became sin for us, so He felt the loneliness and abandonment that sin always produces, except that in His case, it was not His sin – it was ours.

Answer 8

I am not a christian but here is how I see it:

Jesus Christ was perfect, not perfect as in without sin, but perfect in enlightenment. He was so close to God that he was one with him, this is why some see Jesus Christ as being God himself. When he was persecuted and crucified and took on the "sins of the world" Christ being so close to God became seperated from God to the point where he could no longer feel him thus he felt as though God had forsaken him. It was this seperation from God he had to go through in order to save man kind. He did not forget that he was to be resurrected the forsakenness he felt was the separation. That, I believe, is the "sin" that Christ came to save mankind from.

Look at the story this way:

Think of the story of Jesus Christ, not as a story of A man, but a story of what man is supposed to be. and the things a man goes through on his/her spiritual journey. When we are born are minds are clear and empty allowing us to be open to God and allowing us to be close with God. If we allow are minds to remain open as we learn we can be as christ was when he was in the temple asking questions, we must all ask questions to get a better understanding about the world around us and not allow ourselves to be closed to just one answer. As we grow we are tempted to do things that are harmful to us, but if we conquer those temptations we will be able to move mountains, heal the sick, bring the dead back from the grave. But we must ignore the tempting distractions that are there. These distractions are what christians call "satan's doing" but "Satan" or Lucifer is not "evil" He is just one aspect of a multifaceted God. He is the testor and puts decisions in front of us. After we have passed these tests we are ready to begin to use the powers granted to us by God. But as christ did, we too must go through a seperation from God, it too is a test, if we pass we will be one with God forever. Christ is not a man, but a mind, a mind that all are capable of reaching, the question is accepting this and reaching for it.

Answer 9

This cry is a fulfillment of Psalm 22:1, one of many parallels between that psalm and the specific events of the crucifixion. It has been difficult to understand in what sense Jesus was “forsaken” by God. It is certain that God approved His work. It is certain that He was innocent. He had done nothing to forfeit the favor of God. As His own Son - holy, harmless, undefiled, and obedient - God still loved Him.

However, Isaiah tells us that “he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows; that he was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities; that the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him; that by his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5). He redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). He was made a sin-offering, and He died in our place, on our account, that He might bring us near to God. It was this, doubtless, which caused His intense sufferings. It was the manifestation of God’s hatred of sin, in some way which He has not explained, that Jesus experienced in that terrible hour. It was suffering endured by Him that was due to us, and suffering by which, and by which alone, we can be saved from eternal death.

In those awful moments, Jesus was expressing His feelings of abandonment as God placed the sins of the world on Him – and because of that had to “turn away” from Jesus. As Jesus was feeling that weight of sin, He was experiencing separation from God for the only time in all of eternity. It was at this time that 2 Corinthians 5:21 occurred, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus became sin for us, so He felt the loneliness and abandonment that sin always produces, except that in His case, it was not His sin – it was ours.

Answer 10

Maybe God turned away for a second after witnessing how much burden was placed upon Jesus. Jesus thought maybe God had forsaken him for that one moment before his life was taken away, because Jesus was tortured so badly and was in so much pain on the Cross, but nothing was happening. All in All, I just think God maybe turned away for that moment because he noticed all of the burden Jesus had decided to carry on Him to the cross. One man decided to carry so much burden. But in the end, He wasn't forsaken.

Answer 11

God couldn't stand being there and watching Him suffer. As with any parent, you see your child in pain or having a hard time, and you want to help, but there are times when you have to step back and let them have the experience so they can learn from it. Christ had to go through what He did. God knew this, but it was still hard for Him to witness, so He withdrew Himself from the situation for a time. I'm sure God had such a hard time with it that He couldn't bear to even witness it.

I have to add that the sins of world were taken upon Him in Gethsemane, not on the cross. The cross was the means that was used to cause His death. He atoned before that, before He was taken by the guards. His dying on the cross was so there was a way for Him to be resurrected.