Forsaken for Our Sake

On the cross, Jesus uttered the anguished words, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46). This cry, echoed in Mark 15:34, reveals a profound mystery: the Son of God experienced a real sense of separation from the Father. But why? According to Scripture, this moment was the true heart of Christ's suffering–the point at which He bore the full weight of humanity's sin.

Paul tells us in II Corinthians 5:21 that "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf." In becoming sin, Jesus endured not only physical pain but spiritual alienation. Galatians 3:13 explains that Christ became "a curse for us," bearing the covenantal judgment of a sinful world. This wasn't symbolic suffering; it was substitutionary. Jesus took the place of the sinner before the holy God.

Isaiah 53 prophesied this moment centuries earlier: "The LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him... He will bear their iniquities." The Father laid on His Son what rightfully belonged to us, and in doing so, turned His face away. Peter affirms this in I Peter 2:24, saying Jesus "bore our sins in His body on the cross."

This forsaking wasn't due to any failure in the Trinity but was the divine judgment against sin being executed in full. Jesus' sense of abandonment was the just penalty for sin–not His, but ours.

In that moment of cosmic silence and holy darkness, the price of redemption was paid. Through His temporary forsaking, we who believe are forever accepted. The cross was not merely about nails or thorns, but about the holy separation that sin demands–and Jesus bore it for us.