Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness all over the land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Matthew 27: 45, 46, NKJV.
Holy God, Your mercies endure forever! Today we sit at Your feet, and humbly wait until You speak the word of peace to our hearts, that You will never leave us nor forsake us. In the blessed name of Jesus we humbly pray. Amen.
We have come to the “Fifth Word.” Perhaps this word, more than any other, constitutes a common bond for the human race. If there are any exceptions, as there usually is, there may be only a few, who can truly say, that they have never felt forsaken by the LORD. Please notice I used the word “felt.” I hope that most of us have lived long enough to realize that we cannot always trust our feelings. There may be those who believe, that to admit that we have, at one time or another felt this way, would be to deny their faith. I would like to respond to that by saying, Jesus never denied His faith in the Father. But He did come to the place, in His earthly experience, where He felt that the Father had abandoned Him.
In the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, there have been individuals such as Saint John of the Cross, a Carmelite priest, and, Saint Paul of the Cross, respectively; and in our day, Mother Teresa of Calcutta; of whom it has been said, had experiences (the Dark Night of the Soul), that resemble, to an incomparable degree, the feeling of separation from the Father, endured by Jesus. I call on these experiences as a source of reference, not because I believe that they could even remotely, compare with what the Savior suffered, but because our human imagination would be extremely challenged by, even trying to imagine, what the Savior endured. These experiences lasted, in the case of Saint Paul of the Cross, for approximately forty five years, while Mother Teresa’s experience, is on record, I believe, as perhaps, the longest, to date (1948 – 1997); coming to an end just prior to her death. But they endured it; with very profound emotional suffering, of course. While I consider it very unfortunate that Mother Teresa’s spiritual mentor published her private confessions, I believe that some good could result from it, for those who believe, that a Christian, should never suffer from feelings of depression, or, a sense of separation from God.
Christ lived in constant submission to the will of the Father. His life was perfectly pure, through and through. Yet, because of the enormity of your sins and mine, the Father had to turn His face away from the Son. I personally believe, that the one thing that is all together repulsive to God, is sin! Sin brought separation between the Father and His beloved Son! The enormity of our sins covered the Son, and caused the Father to hide His face from Him! May we never trivialize, or make of no importance, that profound cry of anguish: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” that approximately two thousand years ago, ripped the heavens asunder, and shook the very foundations of the universe. I believe, that never before, or after, in all of eternity, will there ever be another moment like that! Never had the Godhead experienced separation – and it broke the heart of Christ! But even though sin caused heaven such pain as we will never be able to fully understand, I am also convinced, that the one object of all creation, that is unconditionally loved by the Father, is the sinner! It was in that period of separation, that the beloved Son suffered the second death on behalf of humanity, that we need never suffer eternal separation from the Father! Oh, what love!
My friends, in your moment of emotional pain, in your hour of depression, when you feel that even God, has deserted you and fled, do not lose heart! There is One who knows exactly how You feel. He does not condemn You. His heart of sympathy goes out to You because He walked that way before. He knows that there is light at the end of the journey! He will hold your hand and lead you through the “dark night of [your] soul,” and bring you safely over to the other shore. Listen as He assures you, “Fear not, I have not forsaken you!”