PODCAST
Only The Lonely
March 26th, 2018
Matthew 27:45-56
One of the most human of emotions is loneliness. Christianity teaches us that we were made for communion with the triune God and at best incomplete outside of that relationship. I remember being three and waking up from my nap to what I thought was an empty house. The fear of abandonment and being all alone reduced me to sitting down on the floor and crying. As a teen I sometimes felt the most alone in the crowd of my school’s cafeteria. Loneliness and abandonment, the fear of truly being on your own against the world resonates with all people.
Now multiply to a near infinite degree the abandonment and loneliness that began to crush Jesus as the sins of all humanity came to Him on the Cross: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB).
The Father did not abandon the Son, but in that moment, when He became sin on our behalf, all Jesus could cry out was, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Author: Sean Carr
March 28th, 2018 at 3:27 pm
Nearly everything Jesus said was a quote or an allusion to the bigger body of context around a quote from the Old Testament. In this case it is Ps 22. In 1st century Jewish teaching, this is called ‘remez”. To more fully understand Him, look at the rest of Ps 22. It was a claim of victory from what seemed to be defeat. This goes with His other statements from the cross, which were not made with anything that seemed like unbelief – “Father Forgive them” – “Today you’ll be with me in Paradise” – “I thirst” … all OT quotes which allude to a bigger message of God’s faithfulness. “Remez” is also noted as he clears the temple (see Jer 7 and note that God is going to “cast the unfaithful Jews all out of His sight – close to what Jesus had said about Jerusalem as He entered it that day). There’s other examples of remez too. To Jews who knew their scriptures, it is easy to see why some of them got so mad at Him. He provoked them with ‘remez’, the bigger context of His quote… and in the case of the cross and seeming forsakeness, He is declaring victory to their face. “Let Him come down from the cross and save Himself” . . . He did one better. He rose after being buried dead. Praise God for Jesus’ commitment to His mission and declaration of faith right from the cross itself! Postscript – The Jews themselves record the abandonment of God’s shekinah glory from the temple. See The Talmud, Yoma 39b (look it up online), For 40 years before the temple destruction, there was NO ATONEMENT from sins from the sacrifices anymore (do the math from 70 AD backwards. After an earthquake and torn veil, the doors would not stay shut overnight on the temple. Jesus’ words came true. He was the “last atonement”) God did not abandon Jesus. He abandoned that generation of temple Jews. Imagine being a temple priest like Caiaphus or Annas after the crucifixion, knowing what they had done. Did they remember Jesus’ words when the lot came up in the wrong hand or the doors swung open to release incense to the world from the Holy of Holies? Read Yoma 39b