Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?

Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? - Matthew 27:46

These words, some of Jesus' last before dying on the cross, give us a profound glimpse into the nature of His being and His relationship to the Father. In Aramaic, Jesus cried out "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?" after the land has been covered in darkness for three hours. It was during this time that all the sins of the world were placed on Him, a burden that forced the Father to turn his face from Him, forced Him to be separated from the Father for our sakes, that we might avoid the same fate for eternity.

This is what Jesus agonized over in the garden several hours earlier as he prayed, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." Matthew 26:39. Jesus knew the plan; He knew His role was set, and He knew why God had to forsake Him. Yet, by expressing these feelings, he revealed that even though He was divine, He was also fully human. He's not just suffering from physical and spiritual pain, he is struggling with the purpose behind it. Jesus knew first-hand the ultimate necessity of his suffering and yet still experienced such anguish over it. However, when we experience hardship, we are left to trust God's sovereign plan without knowing his purposes - surely He can sympathize when we have trouble with this! Yet He showed us what it means to trust and accept God's will even when it seems contrary to our own. In fact, we can take comfort in knowing that because of the very fact that He was forsaken, we will not be!