“From the sixth hour to the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About 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?'” (Matthew 27:45, 46)
It has been a long journey for Jesus. He laid aside His divine privileges and came from the throne room of heaven to a manger in Bethlehem. He lived 3 decades as one of us growing up in a poor family in the small town of Nazareth. He spent 3 years in a ministry of teaching, healing, and revealing to us what the Kingdom is all about. His last 3 days will be spent giving up His life as a sacrifice for our sin and His last 3 hours will be spent in the dark.
Have you ever been forsaken? Have you ever felt abandoned? It is in this unnatural darkness in the middle of the day that Jesus will experience the worst of it…the feeling of being abandon by God. The ultimate consequence of sin is the broken fellowship with our Creator. It is the definition of death in the Scripture…separation from God. Jesus cries out after three hours of darkness to the Father and suffers the ultimate feeling of despair and loneliness. His friends had left Him and His enemies were mocking Him. And now He experiences the depth of sins consequences…darkness.
The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was a cosmic event. The entire universe was rattled as it’s creator breathed His last. The ripple effects of that Friday had an impact on all of the world we see and the spiritual world that we do not see. It seems appropriate that the last three hours of the Savior’s life are spent in darkness. Why?
Maybe it was because no one could bear to look upon the Lord as the full weight of our sin was taken upon His already mangled body. It could have been a physical sign of a greater spiritual reality. Jesus had to go into the darkness for us so that we could come again into the light. The Scripture always uses darkness to describe our sinful condition, “the people who dwell in darkness have seen a great light.” Or maybe all of creation bows it’s head and mourns the loss of the Lamb of God. Whatever the reasons Jesus cries out from the cross using the words from Psalm 22 which is the prophesy describing His feelings at that moment. We don’t have to wonder what He was thinking.
Can you take a moment today to read Psalm 22? Think about the fact that this was how Jesus felt as He drank the very last drops from this cup for you and I. Then do one more thing…read the next Psalm. It is no accident that Psalm 23 immediately follows. The Psalm of such suffering is followed by the Psalm of ultimate comfort.
“The Lord is my Shepherd”