Good Friday

Growing up, Jesus’ last recorded words always bothered me. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" These words seemed so negative, lonely, desperate, and, well, human. Though we might not fully understand it, we know that Jesus was fully God and fully human. As a member of the Trinity he has existed in an eternal relationship full of perfect love and unimaginable intimacy. As a human he had spent 33 years undergoing every temptation that anyone would ever face. But having never sinned, there was still one thing that he had never experienced for himself; the consequences of sin. As he was sacrificed on the cross, the sin of the whole world was placed upon him. Imagine the desperation you have felt when you were far away from the Lord. Now imagine that consequence of sin, multiplied by billions, all hanging on Jesus. Was it the horrible death on the cross that Christ languished over in the garden the night before? Or was it the knowledge that for the first time in all eternity he was about to be separated from the Father? By bearing our sins, Jesus would be so covered in filth and disgust that in His Holiness the Father had to withdraw. The death of our closest loved ones would pale in comparison to the feeling of separation and abandonment that Christ must have endured that day. I now believe that Jesus’ last question was a rhetorical one. Jesus knew exactly why he was forsaken by God that day hanging on the cross. More than willingly being hung on a cross, Jesus willingly became forsaken, forgotten, and abandoned by God. From his seemingly defeated last words, he is giving us a glimpse into the depth of his love for us.