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.
Barclay: Here we have the divine paradox, Jesus knew what it was to be a sinner. And this experience must have been doubly agonizing for Jesus, because he had never known what it was to be separated by this barrier from God.”
Rutledge: “He was condemned; he was rendered helpless and powerless; he was stripped of his humanity…declared unfit to live… The Son of God gave himself up to be enslaved by Sin, condemned by the Law, and subject to Death. … He emptied himself of every prerogative, including that of sinlessness. … By making himself ‘to be sin,’ he allied himself with us in our farthest extremity … Thus he entered into our desperate condition. No wonder he cried on the cross, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
3. An Unlikely Testimony
A centurion declares, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God” (15:39). No one else in Mark has called Jesus “the Son of God.”
Barclay: He had fought in many a campaign and he had seen many a man die. But he had never seen a man die like this and he was Sur that Jesus was the Son of God.”
Swindoll: “Remember, this is the man known as the exactor mortis. He had taken charge of Jesus after his scourging and final appearance before Pilate and the crowd. He had stripped the Savior naked, laid the patibulum [crossbeam] on His shoulders, hung the [inscription] above his head, prodded Him along the Way of Suffering, conscripted Simon the Cyrene to carry His burden, supervised the hammering of nails and the erecting of the cross, witnessed the taunting of Jesus … when Jesus died, the man who had seen hundreds die by crucifixion exclaimed, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!”
Conclusion
Darkness at Noontime, Forsaken at Three, An unlikely testimony.
Mark tells us that the only disciples left at the cross were the women. Mark 15:40 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.
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.
Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Today our only question is … do we despise and reject Him or do we accept and receive from him the benefit of his great sacrifice?
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QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Among the elements of the crucifixion that Mark presents, which one stands out to you the most?
2. Crucifixion was common in the Roman Empire. Fleming Rutledge writes, “It is recorded that several thousand slaves were crucified after the failed rebellion of Spartacus, but we do not know the name of a single victim. … only the crucifixion of Jesus is remembered as having any significance at all, let alone world-transforming significance.” (The Crucifixion) How would the common occurrence of crucifixion have affected those present? Were they numb to the humiliation of it? Were they unaffected by the brutality of crucifixion? How is the crucifixion a means of Jesus identifying with humanity?
3. Consider the darkness that covered the land for three hours. How do you interpret that? Barclay wrote, “Here comes the last scene of all, a scene so terrible that the sky was unnaturally darkened and it seemed that even nature could not bear to look upon what was happening.”
4. The cry from the cross, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?” Has been difficult to understand. How does it strike you today as you read that? What is Jesus saying?
5. Mark notes that the veil separating humanity from the most holy place was torn (MK 15:38). What is the significance of this veil? What does this communicate to you?
6. We know a lot about the physical suffering that comes along with crucifixion. Yet, Mark does not go into specific details about the suffering of Jesus. Why do you think we do not have so little physical detail of the pain Jesus endured?
7. Did you find it hard to stop at the death of Jesus, rather than reading ahead to the resurrection? We will do that next week - but why is it important to contemplate the cross?
Resources
-Barclay, William. Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Mark (Revised) Westminster Press, 1975.
-Bookout, Travis J. Cruciform Christ: 52 Reflections on the Gospel of Mark. Cypress Press, 2022.
-Hughes, R. Kent. Preaching the Word Series: Mark, Vol. Two. Crossway, 1989.
-Lane, William L. NICNT: The Gospel According the Mark. Eerdmans, 1974.
- Rutledge, Fleming. The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ. Eerdmans, 2015.
