God, Where Are You?
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15.33). These are among the words Jesus spoke from the cross. In a rare instance, the scripture records Jesus exact words, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” Typically, the biblical writers translated Jesus’ spoken words into their written language, but in this instance, the writer chose to record Jesus’ actual words followed by its translation. Thus, we are left with no doubt, as Jesus hung upon the cross, he was forsaken. God saw Jesus in utter agony, and then God looked away. Jesus looked to God for comfort, but he found none. At the worst moment in Jesus’ life, God was absent.
Presently, we understand that as Jesus hung upon that execution tool, he took the sin of the world. He took our sin. He took our shame. He took our burden. Accordingly, the perfect God was forced to temporarily abandon the imperfect Jesus. And while our sin flung Jesus into death, the perfect Jesus then discarded our sin in death – leaving him untethered to the grave. Jesus slipped from death’s grip. Never to return.
As we consider Jesus’ story, have we ever felt abandoned by God? At the worst moment of our life, did God seem absent? Did we find ourselves say, “God, where are you?” While we seldom acknowledge such feelings (at least in polite conversation), that experience is common. Many lapsed Christians’ story begins with “In my moment of need, God seemed not present.” That story continues defiantly, “Since God was not there for me, then I am not there for God.” Let’s be honest, every Christian (lapsed or devout), has experienced a season of God’s seeming absence. And every Christian (lapsed or devout), has felt betrayed by God’s inaction. But … the example of Jesus provides insight into the right response to that experience. (Hint: the right response is not to disavow God.)
In Jesus’ moment of abandonment, he quotes Psalm 22 to God. Jesus speaks scripture to God. Psalm 22.1-2 reads:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.
As Jesus quotes from this passage, we find that while God abandoned him, Jesus did not abandon God. The dying Son of God utters divinely inspired text to voice his displeasure. Jesus’ relationship with God was never quid pro quo (this for that). Jesus’ relationship with God was unfettered devotion. He loved God, even when he felt unloved.
For us, if we view our relationship with God as an exchange (this for that), we will always find disappointment. But … we are not Jesus. Unlike him, we are not perfect. Thus, we inevitably do approach God with a quid pro quo mentality, but in our limitations, perhaps we can at least acknowledge that our tendency to abandon God reflects not the inadequacies of our God, but rather, the inadequacies of ourselves. In this acknowledgement, we can move closer to Jesus’ devotion to God – a devotion unchanged by God’s abandonment. In that devotion, only then can we begin to see that life’s evils are being utilized for God’s good.
