Such famous words from our King, they have confused so many of us for so long. Myself included. You see I was completely 'schooled' by a Messianic Jew yesterday after church. Ask yourself what Matt 27:46 means and we'll get started.
There are several common interpretations/explanations of this verse. You may fit into one of these 2; 1. Jesus was all man and all God. This was a prayer to the Father based on His humanity, it was a plea. 2. Jesus, bearing all the sins of the world on Him had to be separated from God the Father and this just shows His humanity feeling that separation for the first time.
#1 Doesn't work because Christ is portrayed as selfless in the rest of the Word, and since He is unchanging it can't be biblical for Him to change at the last moment. This also would be implying He doesn't trust the Father when the chips are down. This can not align with the rest of the Word.
#2 Is the position I formerly held, and it is just as much in error. It is often said that God can not be in the presence of a sinner or sin, and therefore since Christ was bearing our sins He had to be separated from the Father. His statement would then have been a verbal indication of this separation. This of course is un-biblical as well, because Satan was in the Father's presence in Heaven, and in the heavens. Moses was face to face with Him. Adam was with Him. Since He is Jesus, God the Son and He didn't "give up His spirit" until after saying this, as recounted in Matt 27:50 it is plain to see that God the Son was on the Cross to the end. Therefore there was no separation.
So lets look at what I now believe is the proper understanding of this passage. When we read the section in whole we can then see the context of what Christ was doing, and what was happening. A great teaching tool is to begin a section of the Bible verbally and get people to finish it. So if I say "Our Father Who art in Heaven..." You would begin to speak this. And if I say "My Lord is my Shepard..." You would begin to say this. You see where I'm going don't you? I guess I'm not that sneaky... or is it that this really is an effective tool?
Our Lord began to say "My God, My God why have You forsaken Me.." and one of those there who sought to kill Him "immediately ran" with sour wine. Imagine what would happen to His dry mouth if He were to have taken that vinegar. It would have puckered up His mouth. In effect this person immediately ran to shut Our Lord up. This is because the person knew what He was doing.
Jesus was getting those there, and us now, to remember Psalm 22. Which if you read it, and the accounts of His crucifixion you will quickly see it is a prophesy of how He was to be killed. He was indicating to those there that they were seeing prophesy fulfilled right in front of their eyes! Glory!
Our Lord was never selfish. Even on the Cross He was teaching and showing His glory! He is and always has been and ever will be, perfect.
1 comment:
Hi there.. dunno if this will help..
My pastor explained (quite similar to your explanation #2) that when Jesus shouted: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?", here, He has taken our identity as a sinner. So that we can now be called the Sons & Daughters of God. There at the cross, all that He had - His Sonship, riches, health, peace and all has been exchanged for our poverty, diseases, sins, infirmity etc.
All that we've exchanged with him has been nailed on the cross. That is why we can now call God our "Abba Father", just like Jesus did. That is why a christian is also able to live victoriously. It was purchased with the blood of Christ and not the blood of bulls and goats. The work on the cross is completely completed and perfectly perfected! :)
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