The History and Mysteries of Lent (Part 2: Why did Christ when on the Cross ask God "Why have you foresaken me?")

My own spiritual journey could be characterized as one of conversion, then reversion, with a couple of decades of wandering in the wilderness of doubt in between. Why? Well certain versus really challenged my faith, most of all the one found in Mark 16:34, where just before Christ's death on the cross, he says the following:

"And at three o'clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which is translated, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"


So I kept asking myself: If Christ knew he was the Son of God, and that he had to die on the cross to take away the sins of the world, to redeem humanity for God, why would he have been asking God why he had been forsaken by him? A CS Lewis quote came to mind about how Jesus Christ had to be one of three things: Liar, Lunatic, or Lord. I would ask myself, "Is Christ's asking that question proof that he was just a lunatic?" 

This verse and that question were literally like a cancer attacking my faith. I tried to do some research but my initial efforts were fruitless. Hence, I spent a couple of decades wandering through life as someone who was culturally Christian, but one whose faith felt so meaningless that it was like I was just hanging on with my finger tips and about to fall into the abyss of Agnosticism. 

Ironically, this verse that nearly killed my faith is now one that affirms my faith the most! Why? Well, after doing more research and looking at the verse through the prisms of scriptural prophecy and historical context, I found the answer to my question. And an answer that is just too exciting not to share:) 

PSALM 22: The Compass that led me out of the Wilderness of Doubt. 

What I didn't know then, but do know now, is that when Christ asked that question he was quoting the first verse of Psalm 22. As historians and scripture scholars such as John Bergsma* have noted, the Psalms were not numbered back then as they are today. Instead, when a rabbi was leading a service in a synagogue and wanted to direct attention to a particular Psalm, he would read out the first verse to orient his Jewish listeners as to where in the Psalter (i.e. book of Psalms) he was reading, likely on some occasions to start them singing the Psalm. So why would Jesus call that verse out to the Jews who were watching him die? When you read it you will understand why. 

Reading Psalm 22, one realizes that any Jew present who had caught that reference would have felt like they were watching the events mentioned in that Psalm unfolding in real time. At least up to verses 22-23, where the parallels to Christ's crucifixion are out right startling! Consider the following:


8    All who see me mock me;

they curl their lips and jeer;

they shake their heads at me:

9“He relied on the LORD—let him deliver him;

if he loves him, let him rescue him."

Sound like the scene at the Crucifixion? Compare verse 9 to Matthew 27:43, where the crowd says "He trusts in God, let God deliver him now, if he desires him, for he said "I am the Son of God."

Next consider verses 15-19 in comparison to the Gospels account of Christ's crucifixion:

15 Like water my life drains away;    

all my bones are disjointed.

My heart has become like wax,

it melts away within me.

Compare: John 19:34 "One of the Soldiers pierced his side and at once came out blood and water."

16As dry as a potsherd is my throat;

my tongue cleaves to my palate;

you lay me in the dust of death.

Compare: John 19:38 " Christ says, "I Thirst." 

17Dogs surround me;

a pack of evildoers closes in on me.

They have pierced my hands and my feet

Compare: John 20:25 (Where Thomas states he will not believe Christ is resurrected until he sees where the nails pierced his body). 

18I can count all my bones.

They stare at me and gloat;

19they divide my garments among them;

for my clothing they cast lots.

Compare: Mt. 27-46, Mk. 15:24, Lk, 23:34, and John 19:24, all attesting to how the Soldiers cast lots to distribute Jesus's clothes upon his death.  

Most importantly however, the Jew who knew all of Psalm 22 by heart would have known from there that things take an unexpected and dramatic turn for the better. Let's read this all the way from verse 25 to the end and see how this Psalm ends:

25 For he[God] has not spurned or disdained

the misery of this poor wretch,

Did not turn away from me,

but heard me when I cried out.

26I will offer praise in the great assembly;

my vows I will fulfill before those who fear him.

27The poor will eat their fill;

those who seek the LORD will offer praise.

May your hearts enjoy life forever!”

28All the ends of the earth

will remember and turn to the LORD;

All the families of nations

will bow low before him.

29For kingship belongs to the LORD,

the ruler over the nations.

30All who sleep in the earth

will bow low before God;

All who have gone down into the dust

will kneel in homage.

31And I will live for the LORD;

my descendants will serve you.

32The generation to come will be told of the Lord,

that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn

the deliverance you have brought.^.

So, why did Christ ask God, "Why have you forsaken me?"  just before he died? To preach! Through His agony, He was calling to the minds of the Jews in attendance to read Psalm 22, and realize they were witnessing the prophecy of Psalm 22 being lived out before their eyes. That through Christ, God was uniting the world under His Kingship, that all generations past, present and future, would enjoy 'life forever,' through the deliverance He had brought!" As the 4th century Church historian Eusebius asks in his Ecclesiastical History, "Who could this Psalm speak to, other than Christ?"  

Psalm 22's remarkable historical prophecy.

While that should be exciting enough to end on, I can't resist adding one more historical footnote that shows how prophetic Psalm 22 really was. Scholars have noted that for the Old Testament Jews, there were four approved methods of Capital Punishment: stoning, burning, decapitation, and strangulation.** Note that none of these involve "piercing of hands and feet" such as is mentioned in Psalm 22:17. No, for that you would need a crucifixion. So hundreds of years before Christ, the author of Psalm 22, inspired by the Holy Spirit, foretold of an eternal life giving deliverance to be accomplished by capital punishment, the methodology of which would have to come from a foreign power (i.e. Rome)! 

What does all this tell me (and hopefully you)? That despite the evils and calamities (ie COVID-19) in this world, we should be assured that there is a God and that He is in control. A God who knew His plan for the Salvation of Man from the beginning, and who showed us His love by offering His Son on the cross. A God who has suffered just as we have suffered, and that the reasons He allows suffering will one day all make sense. And, most importantly of all, that just like with Christ on the cross, we have a God who will never abandon us in our times of darkest despair:)     

* Psalm Basics for Catholics, John Bergsma 

**Capital Punishment in the Bible and Talmudic Law, Haim Hermann Cohn (2008), Encyclopedia Judaica.