My God… My God… Why have you abandoned me.

They’re haunting words… Hopeless words… Words of despair ringing out across the hilltop as Jesus prepares to take his final breath. He’s naked… unable to move because of the nails driven through his hands and feet. He’s alone… Drinking the cup of God’s anger at sin down to its dregs.

Think about how much more the crushing weight is for Jesus, than it would be for you or me. Jesus has been one with God the Father for all eternity. Together they formed and fashioned the universe. They’ve always been perfectly united in love. Perfectly united in purpose. And now this.

My God… My God… Why have you abandoned me.

How did it come to this?

Jesus has been so faithful to his Father through his whole time on Earth. Think of his time in the wilderness… when Satan tempted him with things that seemed… on the surface… perfectly reasonable. Things that were much easier than the path he’s on now. But Jesus said no. He trusted his Father and stuck with him.

Or in the garden as Jesus prayed, Father take this cup from me… Yet not my will, but yours be done. Not what I want but what you want.

After Jesus has faithfully trusted him so completely… has his Father now… at the end… been unfaithful?

Or maybe that’s looking at things upside down. Maybe the problem isn’t with the Father at all. Maybe its Jesus who’s lost faith in his faithful Father. After all… three times Jesus told his disciples that this was going to happen. Three times he described how he’d be arrested, suffer and be killed. In the garden he acknowledged that this was where his Father was leading him and he submitted to this plan. It shouldn’t be a surprise. Maybe now… at the end… he finally gives up on trusting his Father. Maybe its Jesus who’s become unfaithful.

Or maybe… just maybe… these haunting words aren’t quite as hopeless as they seem. Perhaps there’s something else going on… that could be the greatest news in the world.

Yesterday we looked at the trials of Jesus… The unjust condemnation of the only truly innocent man in history.

After his final trial Jesus Pilate hands Jesus over to the soldiers… and they’re going to play. This is what we read in Matthew chapter 27, from verse 27:

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s residence and gathered the whole company around him. That’s about 600 men. Imagine being mocked by 600 men. I’ll keep reading:

They stripped him and dressed him in a scarlet robe. They twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and placed a staff in his right hand. And they knelt down before him and mocked him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” Then they spat on him, took the staff, and kept hitting him on the head. After they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe, put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.

Remember, when Jesus told the wind to be quiet and the waves to be still… they obeyed his word. When he commanded demons… they trembled and obeyed… when he called people back from death… they came back. Which means… the only thing stopping Jesus from destroying this company of 600 men… is Jesus. His faithful obedience to his Father.

The condemned man would normally carry the cross beam of the cross… but they’ve beaten Jesus so much… they need to get someone else, a man named Simon, to do it.

When they get to the place of execution… just before they crucify him… they offer Jesus a drink. They put the cup to his lips, but as the first drops reach his taste buds, he realises that they’ve put something in the wine… something called gall, probably to ease the pain. And Jesus refuses to drink.

They strip him naked… and drive nails into his wrists and the sides of his feet… pinning him to the cross. It’s the right of the soldiers to keep his clothes… and so they gamble for them by casting lots… A bit like throwing dice.

Two criminals are crucified on either side of him. Remember, they were going to be joined by Barabbas… but Jesus has taken his place.

And then the insults start again. The crowd watching on, insult him. The religious leaders… who orchestrated this whole thing, are laughing at him… even the other criminals are hurling abuse at him. They all yell at him… telling him to save himself. They sound… a little bit like the devil back in the wilderness. Remember when he said… “come on, you’re hungry. Just make some bread.” Or, “I’ll make you king of the world if you only worship me. You won’t have to be crucified.” He’s saying… ignore God. Save yourself.

Now these crowds call out… save yourself.

The irony is… he’s staying on the cross… He’s not saving himself… so that he can save them. They’re laughing at him because they think he’s powerless at saving… but he’s using all his power to stay on the cross… because he’s a mighty saviour.

Then, just like Satan, they attack his relationship with his Father. Remember Satan had told Jesus to throw himself off the temple, trusting that God would save him. Well now listen to these words from the chief priests and scribes and elders. Its from verse 43. They say:

He trusts in God; let God rescue him now—if he takes pleasure in him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

The irony here is that they think that they represent God… and yet they’re just repeating the words of Satan.

At midday… darkness comes over the land for three hours. Its like God turns off the sun. Imagine how terrifying that would be.

In the Old Testament… darkness is a sign of God’s judgement. We’ll see that in the next series we’re doing on Exodus. It’s like God’s turning his back and removing his blessing. As Jonah got a taste of in our last series… the most terrifying thing in the world is to be shut off from the loving God.

And this is the moment of truth. This is what all of Jesus’ life has been leading up to. Its what Satan was encouraging him to avoid… its what made him so deathly scared when he prayed in the garden. Jesus isn’t scared of demons or storms. And as bad as its been to endure the mockery and beatings and insults… the thing that terrifies Jesus most is being cut off from the love of his heavenly Father.

That’s the ultimate punishment for sin. Because as we’ve said before… everything good comes from God. God is the ultimate good. When people ignore God we think we can get what’s best on our own but we can’t. There’s nothing better… no one more wonderful… no love greater than the love of the creator God.

Everyone who’s ever lived deserves to be cut off from that love… everyone except Jesus… and yet Jesus faithfully, kindly, lovingly steps in to take this horror for us… for anyone who rejects their sin and turns back to God. And God faithfully, kindly, lovingly accepts his sacrifice on our behalf.

But after Jesus has endured this horror for hour after hour after hour he finally cries out…

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

Has God been unfaithful to Jesus? Has Jesus lost faith in his Father.

Not at all. In fact… Jesus saying these words is a sign of his absolute, unshakable faith in his Father.

What do I mean?

1000 years before this, King David wrote Psalm 22. He wrote it at a time when he felt abandoned by God. Where people were mocking him for his trust in God. The first line of the Psalm is:

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

As you keep reading though… you notice a couple of really important things.

Firstly… you notice that David hasn’t lost his faith in God at all… because even though it feels like God’s abandoned him… David knows God’s faithful. He reflects on the past… how God’s always saved people who trust him. He knows God WILL help him. God WILL save him. Because God is always always always faithful to those who trust him. Even in the moments where it might not feel like it.

Secondly… as you read the Psalm… you notice that even though David’s writing about his life and pain and struggles… it actually fits even better with Jesus’ life and pain and struggles. Listen to these words from verse 7 of Psalm 22:

Everyone who sees me mocks me;

they sneer and shake their heads:

“He relies on the LORD;

let him save him;

let the LORD rescue him,

since he takes pleasure in him.”

Sound familiar?

He talks about how he has no strength… and how his mouth is really dry.

Remember they had to get someone else to carry Jesus’ cross for him? And remember how he refused the drugged drink?

In Verse 16 David says they pierced his hands and his feet… And then in verse 18 he says:

They divided my garments among themselves,

and they cast lots for my clothing.

1000 years before Jesus came… God spoke through David to say exactly what was going to happen to Jesus. And now… at the cross… we see God’s faithful words playing out.

Which is why Jesus’ crying out these words isn’t some loss of faith. He doesn’t think God’s let him down. Far from it. There’s no-one who trusts God more than Jesus. This Psalm is on Jesus’ mind… not just because of its accurate description of him now… but also because of the second part of the Psalm. You see… Psalm 22 is written in 2 parts. It’s a before and after Psalm. All the pain and suffering happens in the first part… along with David reminding himself that God’s faithful… and asking God to rescue him.

The second part of the Psalm is written when God’s done just that. God’s saved David from his enemies and from the brink of death. God’s faithfulness hasn’t failed him. David was right to trust him.

As Jesus cries out these words… its like he’s saying… “everything from the first half of Psalm 22’s come true. And now God… I trust you to do the next part”. In fact… Jesus has trusted God with that all along. As well as predicting his arrest… suffering and death… he also told his disciples how he’d be raised to life on the third day. And so… after giving one more cry… trusting that God would faithfully rescue him from death… he gave up his Spirit and stepped into death. His disciples had given up on hope… But Jesus died in hope.

But that’s a story… for next time. See you on Easter Sunday.