The Cry! Series

“The Cry”

Thesis: Jesus cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” is a desperate cry of loneliness. I believe this was the worst and the most horrible moment of the crucifixion for Jesus. When sin invaded His life and the Father walked away! He felt totally alone! His one cry reveals to us the depth of His suffering for us!

Scripture Text: Mark 15:33-39

33At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?“—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

35When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”

36One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.

37With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

38The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

Video Movie Clip: One cry – a cry of loneliness

Introduction:

Mark’s Gospel reveals the one cry recorded by Jesus at the crucifixion. Mark’s Gospel is written from Peter’s view point and it only emphasizes one agonizing lonely cry.

Why would Peter only include in his account the one cry of Jesus on the cross? Could it be that Peter could relate to this point of the crucifixion. It stands to reason from what the other Gospel writers recorded that Peter was deeply impacted by this moment in time. His re-telling of what he heard about the crucifixion centers in on Jesus’ One cry. We know that He was not there because he had denied Christ the night before. He had fled and maybe he had already started heading back to his home town and back to his old trade of fishing. Maybe he remembers this time on the cross because of what he was doing at that same time. Could it be that he was at this horrible moment for Jesus walking back home in utter defeat. He was upset crying, weeping and having to face the separation between Him and Jesus? He had denied Jesus the one he loved! How could he have done that? Could it be this moment in time sticks out to him because he would have known the pain of being alone with sin rushing through over his life. He was facing it at the same time! Could it be that Peter knew how special Jesus relationship with ‘Abba” Father was? Peter being close to Jesus would have known how deeply the Father’s separation from Jesus would have hurt His Lord. He knew how lonely and hurtful it would have been for Jesus at this point in time. Peter knew the feeling when you are separated from the one you love the most? Remember Peter experienced what happens when you reject the Lord and fall into sin. He was even warned by the Lord but he fell prey to temptation and denied the Lord 3x and then the rooster crowed. He knew the pain and agony of it all. So he chooses to put in one lonely cry at the crucifixion. Maybe when he heard about the “One cry” from the others his mind reflected back to his nightmare of denial and the lonely feeling of rejection?

Matthew 26:69-75:

69Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said. 70But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. 71Then he went out to the gateway, where another girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.” 72He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!” 73After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away.” 74Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately a rooster crowed. 75Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Peter leaves this painful moment of his life out of his input into the Gospel of Mark but when he had heard about Jesus cry on the cross he had to include it. I believe when he heard about His cry it hit Him hard. Maybe he cried, “He did this for my denial and for my sin of rejection!” “He lost his intimate relationship with “Abba” so that I could be forgiven for my sin of rejecting Him.” Maybe that day when He was walking home he thought, “How could He ever love me again! I betrayed Him just like He said I would.” Peter knew the pain of sin and its lonely hopeless feeling. He knew the pain and suffering that went along with being separated from His Lord. It hurt and it tore his heart apart. So he made sure that Jesus one cry was placed in his account of the crucifixion. He did not want the readers of the Gospel to forget this horrible moment of Jesus.