For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Doe of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning?For the Chief Musician; set to “The Doe of the Morning.” A Psalm by David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?For the Chief Musician; set to Aijeleth hash-Shahar. A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
4 sermons cite this verse
… would not only be crucified, Psalm 22, verse one, they pierced my hands and my feet. By the way, that was spoken hundreds of years before crucifixion existed. But also Isaiah reminds us that Messiah would be scourged or whipped. And so the torn open back of Jesus is laid against the rough wood. His feet have been crossed and pinned through with a spike. Bringing me to point number four. Crucifixion was actually death by suffocation. A crucified person could actually live for hours, even days after they nailed him to the cross. It was suffocation because there was a little base at the foot of the cross where one would push himself up to get a gulp of air. So you're not dying from the wounds in your hands and your feet. You're dying from your inability to draw a breath in your lungs. So these precious hands that had been used by God to heal people, to be put on the head of a child and blessed them. These precious feet that carried him from place to place were now pierced through with these spikes. And Jesus gives seven statements from the cross. These are very important because we always talk about people's last words. What were their last words? These effectively were the last words of Jesus before he died. Seven statements. Here they are on the screen in their correct order, drawing from all of the Gospels. His first statement from the cross was, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Then he said, Today you will be with me in paradise. …
… because they tell us Jesus understands. He's quoting, he's praying Psalm 22 verse one, but it tells us that he understood the pain that we experience as humans. He understood what it was like to feel God was conspicuous by his absence and to hear the deafening silence of God. He knew that. And we experience that sometimes in our own lives. Suffering happens in life and we have moments or times where we feel like, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? This week, LaVon and I had a chance to go see the movie premiere of a film that one of our members made, Dina Hildebrand. It's a documentary called Voice Unbroken, and it's the story of Art Haynes. Some of you know Art Haynes. He lives in Springfield, but he's been the voice of the Missouri State Bears for the last 40 years. And the last 17 years, while he was also serving Missouri State, he was the voice of the Kansas City Chiefs. He was the studio host for the Chiefs Radio Network. …
… and at three o'clock, Jesus spoke, and in Matthew's gospel, these are the only words he speaks from the cross. And this is what he said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I want you to picture Jesus hanging on the cross saying those words, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He felt forsaken by God at that moment. Now there are some people who try to, you know, try to say, well, no, it's because the weight of the world's sins was on him and a father turned away when Jesus was dying because he carried the sins of the world. I don't believe that. I don't think the father ever turned away from Jesus, but I think he felt that the Father turned away from him. In that moment, with the cruelty, the inhumanity, the insults that were being hurled at him, the physical pain that he was in, the exhaustion that he was feeling, in all of that, he could not sense the presence of his Father. I love that Matthew and Mark have included this. Luke and John, they don't tell us this part of the story. They have other words that Jesus says at the end, but I love that Matthew and Mark have told us this. They help us to see Jesus' humanity and to know that he understands when we're walking through hell on earth. Listen, in 36 years as your pastor, I've been with a lot of people who have walked through really hard times. I was thinking this week, as I was meditating upon this …
… was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. These are the last words of the Word. He said, Eloi, Eloi, lama shabachthani, which means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Lord, are you listening? It's okay if you wonder that, because Jesus did one time too. I know it offends you that I say Jesus wondered anything because he knew everything, so why did he quote Psalm 22, verse 1? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I think we all come to moments in our life where if Jesus is asking why, we will ask why too. Why? Sometimes the best answer is, I don't know. Sometimes when somebody experiences something so horrible, the only thing to tell them is, I don't know why. Sometimes that's the most loving thing you can do, is to sit with somebody in their why and say, I don't know either. But isn't it even more comforting to know that Jesus will sit with you in your why than another human who doesn't know why? Jesus said, watch this, Matt. My God, why? …