LEFT BUT NEVER LEAVING 

MATTHEW 27:33-50 

          From the point of Jesus’ arrest it is recorded that he said very few words.  When questioned by both Pilate and Herod as to the truth of the accusations against him he did not reply and try to defend himself.  As they pounded the nails in his hands and feet I am sure that he cried out in agony for he was human.  But here in vs. 46 the cry of Jesus as he approaches death is different.  It is not a cry of pain; for he does not cry out “why does this hurt so much or deliver me from this agony.  This is not a cry of fear or dread; for he does not cry out “I don’t want to die.”  As he is approaching death, Jesus’ cry is one of aloneness.  In this hour of his greatest trial, surrounded by the mass, some laughing and cheering at his destruction and some wailing and bemoaning  his treatment, Jesus felt an unbelievable sense of being alone.  If you can imagine how you would feel at the funeral of your last remaining relative and that would only be a small inkling of what Jesus was feeling.  The writer says that Jesus cried out with a loud voice  saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sa-bach-tha-ni?” And lest the cry of Jesus be misinterpreted the writer interprets for us.  For the cry of Jesus is, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?  Why, Jesus cries, have you abandoned me?

          In this cry of Jesus, we can see that this was a new experience.   Jesus told his disciples in John 10:30 I and my Father are one showing the connectedness between He and God.

JOHN 17: 20-21 – Look at how Jesus describes the relationship between He and God.  He says “thou Father art in me and I in thee”.  In other words, though they were separate entities, yet were they joined to one another.  They were connected spiritually to one another.  Because Jesus was sinless, His spirit was always alive, having fellowship with God and though they were separated in physical distance from one another they were never spiritually separated and thus Jesus was always with the Father and the Father was always with Him.

          But here on the cross something happens and the connection is broken.  Jesus finds himself for the first time in his life separated from his Father and the emptiness he experience causes him to cry out “Why have you abandoned me.”  I believe that this was an unexpected experience for Jesus.  Unexpected not in the sense that He did not know that it was going to happen.  For even his cry is a fulfillment of prophecy.  For we find written in Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?”  What I believe is unexpected is the emotional impact of being separated from his father; the emptiness, the aloneness.  It is the feeling as he nears death that causes Jesus to cry out to God.

          It seems unfair, that Jesus, in the midst of doing that which is know to be the will of the Father would find himself being forsaken and left by the Father.  One of the most painful experiences in life for us is to do our very best, trying to please someone only for them to turn around and leave us.  That is the kind of thing that makes us resort to murder or suicide.  At times like that we cry out, needing to know “What did I do to deserve this”.  This is where Jesus finds himself.  Alone in the midst of doing the will of God; left, abandoned and heartbroken he cries out, “Father, why have you forsaken me?”  The answer to that why is associated with us. 

I PETER 2:24

          When we as Christians say that Jesus bore our sins I think that we sometimes think of it in only some symbolic sense.  In other words we don’t recognize that God actually put our sins on him.  Imagine that God was catching each an every sin ever created by mankind in a bucket like one would catch rain water.  Then imagine him pouring that bucket of sin on Jesus the way one would dump a bucket of paint on another.  God actually put our sins on Jesus.  2 Cor. 5:21 says “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”  God made Jesus to become sin for us.  So when we say that Jesus bore our sins this is not some symbolic action on his part, but a literal taking of our sins upon himself. 

ISAIAH 59:1-2

          Sin separates God and man.  Although in this case it was not Jesus’ on personal sin that was being laid to His charge but rather the sins of mankind, it still forced a separation between Jesus and God.  In fact from the very introduction of sin into the world, its result has been to break the tie between God and man causing them to be spiritually separated from one another.   When Adam and Eve sinned, what happened?  They lost fellowship with God, which resulted in spiritual death and separation from God.  When the sins of the world were placed on Jesus, he too experienced spiritual separation from God.  God left him and for the very first time in his life, he was alone. 

EPHESIANS 2:1-9

          This passage describes the spiritual condition in which every child who is the seed of a human male is born into this earth.  We are all born spiritually separated from God.  Because of our sin disease we are all born in a state of spiritual death.  But when we turn to Jesus God through His spirit breathes new life into us.  This is the gift of salvation that God offers to the world through faith in Jesus Christ.  Through the sacrificial death of Christ, God offers mankind the opportunity to reconnect with Him through a reborn human spirit.  This rebirth experiences opens the door to fellowship with God both now and eternally.  But in order for God to offer mankind spiritual life, Jesus had to experience spiritual death or separation from God.  It is this separation that caused him to cry out “Father, why have you forsaken me”.  

MATTHEW 27:45

          The sixth hour to the ninth hour is   12 noon to 3:00 p.m.  In other words in the middle of the day it was pitch black.  As God poured the sins of the world on his son, He could not stand to look.  He commanded the sun not to shine.  For Jesus who is the light of the world had become sin for the world, and thus light became darkness.  And as it is pitch black on the earth, it is pitch black in the spirit of Jesus; for he is spiritually alone, empty and forsaken.  In the midst of his greatest trial he is alone.

          This is an experience is one that the true believer will never have to face. 

HEBREWS 13:5-6

          In encouraging these Christians who are undergoing harsh trials and persecutions, Paul reminds them that Jesus will never leave them nor forsake and thus they could boldly say that the Lord is their helper.  Just before Jesus ascended to go back to Heaven, he told his disciples in Matthew 28:20 “lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”  As believers we can be assured that even in our hardest times, Jesus is with us.  He was left by God for us, but he will never leave us.  When times are hard we must learn to look for Jesus.  He is there with us.  When He says to us in Matthew 11:28, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,”  that is exactly what he means.  In our most difficult times Jesus says for us to come to him and find comfort.  He will be there, we need only look for him; for he will never leave us nor forsake us. 

2 CORINTHIANS 4:8

          Again, look at how Paul describes these troubled times for Christians.  They are troubled, perplexed, persecuted and beat down.  But in the midst of this Paul says that they are not distressed or panicked, nor are they in despair or hopeless.  They are not alone in their battles and their faith is not destroyed.  How could the early Christians endure such trial?  They could do it because the learned to run the race, looking at Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.  Their strength was in understanding that Jesus was ever present with them and they drew on His strength.  

PHILIPPIANS 3:7-14

          How could the early Christians endure hardship?  They could do it because their mindset was that nothing mattered but God.  Paul says here that he was willing to give up all that he had gain for the opportunity to grow closer to Christ.  You see Paul, like the early Christians believed Mark 10:29-30, where Jesus says, “There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.” They trusted that God would replace whatever they were willing to give up for the sake of the Gospel.  They would forsake all, for the one that they knew would never leave nor forsake them.  The other thing we see about Paul in this Philippian passage is that no matter how close he got to Jesus he never felt that he was close enough and therefore he kept pushing to get closer.  He was willing to forsake everything and everyone for the one that he knew would never forsake him. 

          Though on the cross Jesus was forsaken for our sake, he has committed to never leaving or forsaking us.  In his darkest hour He was left but He will not leave us.