Fourth Word: ‘My God, my God why have you forsaken me’

 Fourth Word: 'At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani? That is to say My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’

[Mark 15.34 & Matt.27.46]

 

‘Die Harder’ by David Mach

One of the most shocking things I have ever heard in Church was the sound of an aged mother screaming for her deceased son at his funeral. ‘My Colin, my Colin’ she cried, and refused to be comforted by those around her. That Colin had been Dean of Southwark Cathedral, an Rowing Purple, and an outspoken member of the Church meant little, this was her baby, and he had been taken from her.

 

On the Cross Jesus cries out to the heavens ‘my God, my God why have you forsaken me’. Of all the seven words Christ speaks from the Cross, this is the most human and the most relatable. It is a cry that each of us will make at some point in our lives, whether literally, or like Colin’s m other, we find ourselves calling out in desolation at a situation we find ourselves in. And in response Heaven remains silent, no one comes to help, and in a few moments Jesus will be dead.

 

As the most relatable of the seven last words, it is also one of the most important for us to hear, as we encounter Christ in a place where will most likely find ourselves having to go. In going there my prayer is that we might find Christ in this most bleak of places and thus find that when we journey there that we are not alone, because God  has gone there before us, and walks there with us through that dark valley.

 

Side note: There are those who say that Jesus is quoting Psalm 22.1. Like almost all the Psalms Psalm 22 resolves itself, moving from crisis at the beginning to resolution and peace at the end. It also comes just before Psalm 23 ('The Lord is my shepherd') which talks about the presence of God in the darkest of places, the valley of Sheol, the land of the dead. 

There is only one Psalm which does not resolve the crisis it begins with, Ps. 88 which begins and concludes in darkness. I would caution against this view that Jesus  is somehow taking a Pollyannaish view of his pain and separation from God. Jesus’s suffering on the Cross for him is an absolute end for him and his disciples, the resurrection occurs in an as yet unhappened future. On Good Friday we are called to walk in the absolute darkness of the shadow cast by the Cross and tomb, a darkness experienced by the disciples, the women and the Blessed Virgin. In doing so we more fully prepare ourselves to be surprised with them at the empty tomb and the man who may (or may not) be the gardener.

 

Note on the image: The statue in this week’s image is called ‘Die Harder’ and has been created by David Mach. At first it appears that the person on the cross is being pierced by the rods, but actually each one represents the pain the person is feeling as it radiates through and out of the body. The pain of the cross is unimaginable, not just the physical torture, but also the mental and spiritual torture of that moment.

 

For reflection & action

Take a moment to remember a particularly dark time in your life where you have cried out to God for comfort and support. Pray for those going through similar circumstances that they might know God’s comfort, his presence and love.