“MY GOD MY GOD WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME”
These painful words of Jesus at his final and lowest moment reveals a side of Christ perhaps never seen before.This unimaginable physical and spiritual agony Christ experienced surmounted sin and gave birth to salvation. Gratitude for such forsakenness on our behalf cannot be humanely comprehended. However, in that moment, our Spirits experienced, a Powerful transmuted transaction of Grace and forgiveness in Love. This is a reflection in understanding that transaction, a glimpse beyond the pain, the forsakenness, and a revelation of Jesus’s Heart and our place in that moment. Just before Jesus gets arrested, he says to his disciples in John 16:
“A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each of your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me”
Jesus foreknew he had to endure forsakenness in its totality and yet he also knew His Father would be with him! Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.
Jesus spoke scripture when he said My God My god why have you forsaken me. This scripture is, Psalm 22. To perhaps understand why Jesus spoke this scripture, we will need to read through Psalm 22 before continuing. I have included a few passages from Psalm 22 below.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? 2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. 3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. 4 In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. 6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. 8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. 15 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, 16 Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. 17 All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. 18 They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment
This psalm 22 is also called the Psalm of the Cross and justly so.
The first few verses, laments of no rest, and the anguish he feels. Remember Jesus feeling his soul, overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death… in the Garden of Gethsemane? He found no rest that day or night. Through the lamenting, God is acknowledged and enthroned as the Holy One in verses 3-5.
Then the Psalm continues to say But I am a worm not a man scorned by everyone, despised by the people. If Jesus was pointing this psalm to himself, how could he compare himself to a worm? For this we need to go to the original Hebrew word for worm in this verse. The Hebrew word for worm in this verse is Tolatath, which means scarlet or crimson worm. This worm is prevalent in the middle east. Here are some interesting facts about this Crimson worm.
The Crimson worm [coccus ilicis] is a very special worm that looks more like a grub than a worm. When it is time for the female or mother Crimson Worm to have babies (which she does only once in her lifetime), she finds the trunk of a tree, a wooden fence post or a stick. She then attaches her body to that wood and makes a hard-crimson shell.
The Crimson Worm then lays her eggs under her body and the protective shell. When the baby worms (or larvae) hatch, they stay under the shell. Not only does the mother’s body give protection for her babies, but it also provides them with food – the babies feed on the LIVING body of the mother!
After just a few days, when the young worms grow to the point that they are able to take care of themselves, the mother dies. As the mother Crimson worm dies, she oozes a crimson or scarlet red dye which not only stains the wood she is attached to, but also her young children. They are colored scarlet red for the rest of their lives.
After three days, the dead mother Crimson worm’s body loses its crimson color and turns into a white wax which falls to the ground like snow.
This scarlet worm is mentioned again in the old testament in Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
What a powerful, comparison should Jesus make using a worm. Those who had ears ,eyes to see and hearts to comprehend, would have surely understood this beautiful sacrifice and surrender.
Forsakenness remains a place of deep void with no light or glimmer of Hope. It is a state of being that brings out utter hopelessness and also elicits deep compassion from others who feel compelled to help those afflicted with the illusion of forsakenness. Yes, for us forsakenness should be an illusion. Christ was forsaken so that we never have to be forsaken by God.
Many find solace by these words of Jesus from the cross, taking comfort that perhaps Jesus 'felt' forsaken. Perhaps he 'showed' his human anguish of forsakenness from the cross. I too once thought this but what a shallow understanding that was. The truth is, God forsook Jesus for us, for our redemption and forgiveness so that we never have to be forsaken.
Did Jesus then, speak out of forsakenness and feel forsaken by God? He did experience separation from God as the sins of humanity tore through time and pierced Him. Even then Jesus knew His Father would be with him.
This saying by Jesus on the cross was not only an indication of scripture (prophecy) fulfillment, but also a message from the cross; especially for those who had hardened their hearts, like the pharisees, the sadducees who had access to the Holy Book of Law at that time.
Jesus glorified his father and always put his Father’s Heart on display through his words and deeds. This was Jesus’ Heart for His Father! Jesus affirms this in John 17 at the Garden of Gethsemane, when he prays “I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
The last few verses of Psalm 22 unveil what Jesus couldn’t complete from the cross.
All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.
29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!
Jesus was God’s Word made flesh, He was a walking revelation of God’s Heart and Works, He continued to reveal His Father even in his last few breaths.
In that moment of forsakenness, you and I were redeemed, you and I were transfigured and risen through Grace, as we resound together with Christ; indeed! "He Has Done it!" This is an unshakable Truth through time,space and manifolds of reality. May this Truth set you free! In Jesus Name, Amen
By Sumi Baskar
Commentaires