The Despairing Cry of Jesus on the Cross
Matthew 27:46
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God…


I. The surroundings of the sufferer uttering this wail of distress.

II. What is the import of this lamentation of Jesus.

1. It is not the result of any corporeal pain being endured. There are two primary causes for this cry.

(1) In a manner beyond finite comprehension God then withheld from His dying Son, as the latest and most appalling ingredient of His atoning sufferings, a cloudless consciousness of His supporting presence.

(2) Track His public ministry and He is never found murmuring as to His Father's absence. In demonstration of his moral fidelity Daniel went down into the den of lions; but God was with him. Jesus Christ, the purest character, was the only one dying for the Father's glory, who could not by possibility secure a consciousness of the Divine presence and favour amidst His pains.

2. This seeming abandonment of His suffering Son was the crowning manifestation of God's wrath against sin. Christ was man's representative at Calvary. The cross at the ninth hour of gloom is the loftiest observatory from which men look at sin.

3. The value at which God rates a human soul is seen in this cry, and the responsibility of the unsaved.(S. V. Leech, D. D.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

WEB: About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani?" That is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"




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