Part 3 - Was Jesus Forsaken on the Cross? Comparing Psalm 22 and Matthew 27

(This is the third part in a series on the idea that Hell is not separation from God. Check out the other two HERE and HERE)

If we’re going to reject the idea that Hell should be thought of as separation from God, then we’re going to have to deal with something really significant that Jesus says in Matthew 27. While Jesus is suffering for our sins on the cross Matthew writes this,

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt. 27:45-46)

Taken at face value, it really looks like Jesus is saying that God the Father has turned away from him while he’s suffering for our sins. In 2 Corinthians 5:29, the Apostle Paul makes the shocking claim that Christ became sin so that we might become God’s righteousness. If Christ became sin, and sin cannot be in the presence of God, then surely God must have abandoned his Son on the cross.

Another way to put it is that if Jesus suffered Hell on the cross, and if Hell is separation from God, then Jesus must have suffered separation from God as the punishment for our sin.

But as I’ve already mentioned in the previous posts, it’s impossible for me to square this interpretation of what Jesus says on the cross with other biblical and theological ideas. First, one of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity is that God is one essence in three persons. This is the Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one essence. They’re one being. To say that the Father abandoned the Son seems nonsensical to me. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit cannot be separated.

Second, one of the other fundamental doctrines of Christianity is that the second person of the Trinity, the Son, left heaven to become human in order to live among sinful humans. The whole point of the Incarnation is that God can be in the presence of sin and sinners. In fact, not only can he do that, he wanted to do that in order to save us. Jesus (who is God) was in the presence of sin and sinners all the time! He even ate with them, and drank wine with them, and allowed them to cry on his feet! That’s the beauty of our God who did not abandon us even after we rebelled against him.

So, these biblical and theological ideas just don’t seem to leave room for the face-value interpretation of Jesus says on the cross in Matthew 27. So, what's going on here? What is Jesus doing? What's he trying to say to us?

Well, if you’re scanning your footnotes in Matthew 27, you’re going to notice that what Jesus says on the cross is actually verse 1 of Psalm 22. Strange…why that verse? Why that Psalm? Is he just pulling the verse because that's what he's experiencing? Or is something deeper going on? Does he want us to go look at that Psalm? Would that help us understand what’s going on?

Another interesting thing I can tell you is that ancient Jews and Christians weren’t reading Bibles with chapter numbers or verse numbers. That means that books and chapters couldn’t be referred to the way we do today. Instead, the first word of a book often became its name. In Hebrew, Genesis is known as Bereshit, which means “In the beginning.” The first word of the book is the book’s name.

But with a book like Psalms, there’s a need to refer to 150 different chapters that all stand alone as individual works. To do that, ancient Jews and Christians would often call the Psalm by its first line. In the case of Psalm 22, it would be known as “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” That’s the Psalm’s title. That's how people know which Psalm your talking about.

So, what if Jesus isn’t crying out something about his relationship with God? What if, instead, he’s essentially just yelling out the title of Psalm. It would be kind of like Jesus was hanging on the cross and then yelled, “Psalm 22!” If that’s the case, then I would think that Jesus would want me to go read Psalm 22. And then I would guess that he would want me to think about what in the world Psalm 22 could have to do with what he went through on Crucifixion Friday. So, let’s do that.

And I want you to go first. For real, go read Matthew 27:27-46 and then read all of Psalm 22, and see if you notice anything. Are there any parallels between Matthew 27:27-46 and Psalm 22 that you notice? If you were to summarize the whole point of Psalm 22, what do you think it would be and what might Jesus want you to think about Crucifixion Friday based on that? 

You read it and think about it first before you move on!

Now, let me tell you what I see. When I read through both chapters, there are a shocking number of parallels. Check out this chart.

Matthew 27	Psalm 22
“And kneeling before him, they mocked him” v. 29	“All who see me mock me…” v. 7
“And when they had crucified him…” v. 35	“They have pierced my hands and feet.” v. 16
“...they divided his garments among them by casting lots” v. 35	“They divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots.” v. 18
“And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads.” v. 39	“…they make mouths at me; they wag their heads.” v. 7
“He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him.” v. 43	“He trust in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” v. 8

I think the parallels here are incredible! And if those parallels hit us, then what about the rest of the Psalm? Does it have anything to say about what Jesus went through? Well, at the beginning of the Psalm, it certainly looks like God has walked away from the David. He’s crying out, and God’s not answering. He's surrounded by enemies, and God's not helping. He's being horribly mistreated, and God doesn't seem to care.

But it doesn’t take long for David himself to start poking holes in the idea that God is actually far away. In fact, David looks back to his forefathers for inspiration here. They trusted in God, and God never failed them. They cried out to God, and God answered them.

Then, David goes on to talk about how he’s nothing compared to his forefathers, and yet God has been with him since birth. Even though he’s weak and surrounded by enemies, David cries out to God over and over again until we get to what I think is the climax of the Psalm in verse 21:

Save me from the mouth of the lion!

You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!

In one final act of crying out, after being surrounded by enemies, after having those enemies mock him and hurt him, this one final scream up to heaven is answered! At the beginning of the Psalm we thought that God had abandoned him. All the signs pointed in this direction. But now we see that God has been with him the whole time. God heard his cries. God saw his oppression and abuse. And God responded with rescue. Then David spends literally the rest of the Psalm praising God for his deliverance.

When Jesus is dying on the cross, why does he point us here? I think it’s because he wants us to know that God the Father has not abandoned him. Yes, he’s mocked, his hands and feet are pierced, his clothes are divided up by lots, his enemies are wagging their heads and deriding him for his claims that he trusts in God. Yes, it looks like God has abandoned him, but just like his forefather David, Jesus wants everyone to know that God the Father has never left. God hears Jesus' cries. God sees his oppression and abuse. And God will respond with rescue. How? Not by taking him off the cross. There's too much important work that needs to go on there. Instead, God will show that he hasn't left by taking Jesus out of the grave on Resurrection Sunday!

Jesus doesn’t say, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” because he’s telling us that something has changed in his relationship to the Father. He cries out the title of Psalm 22 so that we would go and read what David wrote and realize that even though he looks forsaken, God the Father has never left him.

So, to bring it all full circle: I don’t think Hell is separation from God, and I don’t think that what Jesus says on the cross in Matthew 27 should be taken as evidence to support that idea. Instead, there’s something way more beautiful and hopeful going on in Matthew 27 that actually points to the reality that God does not leave those who suffer. God does not abandon those who are oppressed. Even though it might look like God is gone, he in fact never left and he will rescue.