God-forsaken

Dr. Crosby,

I went to a talk recently on faith and doubt. One thing mentioned, quoting John Ortberg, was that Jesus doubted God on the cross when he asked, "Why have you forsaken me?" The speaker thought Jesus may have doubted God's plan without doubting his existence. I was wondering if you had any thoughts about Jesus' faith while on the cross.
Sincerely, *********



What a good question! Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1 when he spoke these words. It is a psalm of David about the suffering of the righteous. David was lamenting that his enemies had not been defeated. He felt like God wasn’t helping him.

Psalm 22 is quoted in the New Testament more than any other psalm. In particular it is applied to the crucifixion. If you read Psalm 22:7-8, you see the foreshadowing of Jesus on the cross. Verses 14-15 and 17-18 describe details about Jesus in his death. In verse 24 the psalm declares that God has not hidden his face after all.

I think Jesus was experiencing the penalty of sin when he spoke these words. He died in our place, and our place is a terribly dark place. Paul describes our lostness as being “without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). Jesus experienced the absence of fellowship with his Father on the cross. That is what I believe. Since I also believe in the progressive understanding of Jesus about his own person and mission (e.g. Luke 2:52), being forsaken by his Father could have been a surprise to Jesus on the cross. But my own opinion is that Jesus knew fully what he was getting into, that this was the “cup” which he prayed in Gethsemane would “pass from me” (Mark 14:36). He quoted Psalm 22:1 on purpose because it expressed his own brokenness in bearing our sin and it referenced the psalm which described best the event he was going through.

I think there were times that Jesus was tempted to abandon the path his Father gave him, not just in the wilderness with Satan but also along the way with the stubborn unbelief of his disciples, the blindness of Israel’s leaders, and the terrible price he was called upon to pay. We all wonder sometimes why he didn’t come down from the cross or abandon the path of suffering and just nuke ‘em.

Jesus experienced being forsaken by the Father. Did he doubt in that moment the effectiveness of the Father’s plan? Maybe. Was he helping us understand the terrible consequence of sin? Surely.

These words of Jesus from the cross may stand in line with his prayer in Gethsemane: “If it is possible, let this cup pass from me.” I don’t understand all that Jesus knew and felt in those hours before his crucifixion. But his prayer indicates that he was hoping for or looking for a way out. Yet he was completely obedient to the Father’s will, and he walked the path that was most difficult.

When we feel that God isn’t “there for us,” when it seems that we are going alone through our trouble, we question his love and sometimes we question his existence. Doubt is a frequent intruder both in our faith and in the atheist’s unbelief. We may be attacked by doubt at times. But so also are those who deny God’s love and/or existence. Some people simply become agnostic—“no knowledge,” insisting that we cannot know. Unfortunately, the agnostic builds his life the same way the atheist does. Agnostics never live as if God does exist and they will give an account to him one day. Instead, they order their lives as if God does not exist. They simply ignore him. I think that atheism and agnosticism are pretty much the same thing in the end.

The way of faith, believing in the God we cannot see with our eyes, is not without its intellectual supports and powerful arguments. But in the end it is FAITH which we exercise. Rarely Jesus saw GREAT faith in people. He encouraged his disciples by telling them that even a “little” faith could move mountains. We are often like the fellow who said, “Lord I believe. Help my unbelief! (Mark 9:24).

Faith is not sight. Faith is not completely a leap into the unknown, but it is in part such a leap. Doubt is often the unwanted but persistent companion of faith. None of us are strangers to doubt. As long as we are in this world not a single one of us has absolute certainty about all that we believe or confess including atheists and saints and everyone in between.

Jesus lived and died as a human being in this world. I am comforted by his question on the cross. It helps me when I feel abandoned by God. As it turns out, the times that I have felt God-forsaken my feelings were actually mistaken. In retrospect I can see God’s hand at work in my life even in its most painful moments. Ultimately Jesus’ fellowship with his Father was fully restored and his descent into the darkness, which accomplished our salvation, was followed by his ascent into the Father’s presence.