Forsaken Series

Five Powerful Words:

FORSAKEN

Mark 15:33-39

Introduction

Mark 15:33-39, ESV

And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

This month we have focused on five powerful words from the last week of the life of Jesus: Rejection, Love, Remember, and today FORSAKEN.

Today we have read Mark’s account of the crucifixion of Christ. The brutality of this execution is beyond our imagination. Yet, as we consider the cross today, we dare not look away. The cross and what was accomplished in this sacrifice of the innocent for the guilty is at the center of our faith. Today we will not rush to the resurrection, for we need to contemplate the price that was paid - the enormous debt we owe - and the willingness of Jesus to go through with it for us.

The text for this message begins at "the sixth hour … there was darkness over the whole land.” As we count time, it would be noon. So, it is three in the afternoon when Jesus cries out a personal lament.

1. Darkness At Noontime

Bookout: “This is the darkest moment in human history and creation cannot help but show it (see Mark 13:24). It’s like the world is uncreating itself (Gen. 1:2-3).”

-The darkness of Mourning. Amos 8:9,10 “And on that day,” declares the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. …I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.”

-The darkness of the Curse. At the Exodus, a plague of darkness spread over the land before the first Passover lamb was slain. Now before the death of the ultimate Passover Lamb, there was again darkness. God’s judgment was being poured out in a midday night. Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree".

-The darkness of Sin. Sin is here, where there was none before. 1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

Three hours of silence is what Mark presents … and then…

2. Forsaken at Three

Only Matthew and Mark tell us of this cry of the forsaken Savior. This is the only saying of Jesus from the cross that Mark records. He cries out in Aramaic, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The Gentiles thought it was a reference to Elijah. The Jews knew better. They heard David’s lament Psalm 22

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?...All who see me mock me ... “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him ...I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint…they have pierced my hands and feet ... they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” -From Psalm 22

Jesus ultimately faithfully prayed to a God whose presence he could no longer perceive.

Bookout “Jesus has been abandoned by His disciples, denied by Peter, betrayed by Judas, rejected by His countrymen, condemned by the Romans, hated by the crows, mocked by the soldiers, ridiculed by those who saw

Him dying, jeered by the priests, and belittled by the other crucified criminals, and looking up to the heavens, He cries out in anguish to the One who has always been there: “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34).

Lane: “His cry expresses the profound horror of separation from God … The sinless Son of God died the sinner’s death and experienced the bitterness of desolation. This was the cost of providing ‘a ransom for the man’ (10:45).

2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.