God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me? (Echoes)
March 8, 2026 – Matthew 27:45-46

There are prayers we whisper inside but never say out loud. Where are You? Why won’t You answer? Do You even see me? Some of you have prayed like that recently. Not once. Many times. You trusted. You waited. You asked. And heaven was silent. Nothing. I have been right there with you.
Maybe it was a medical issue that came out of nowhere. Maybe it was a relationship that unraveled no matter how hard you tried to hold it together. Maybe it was a child who wandered away. Maybe it was grief so heavy you felt like you would never take a deep breath again. And somewhere in the middle of all that, a question formed. God, where are You?
That is not a lack of faith. It is faith under fire. And you need to know that the question does not intimidate God. He is not offended. He invites it! In fact, today we hear those very words from God’s own Son, out loud, from the cross.
From the sixth hour until the ninth hour, darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:45-46 Noon to three. Three hours of darkness. Not a passing cloud. Not a dim afternoon. Darkness in the middle of the day. Something HUGE is happening.
The prophets warned about this day. The Day of the Lord. The day when God would confront sin. Amos said, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.” Amos 8:9 That day arrived at Golgotha. But here is the shock. Judgment did not fall where it belonged. It fell on Jesus.
The darkness is not dramatic lighting. It is theology. Judgment has come, and God’s Son is standing in its path. Jesus is not observing the darkness. He is absorbing it. Every sin. Every hidden thought. Every selfish act. Every wound inflicted. Every rebellion against God. All of it lands on Him. The judgment meant for us falls on Jesus. And then the cry breaks out of the darkness. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This is not poetry. This is substitution.
That is what happens at the cross. Jesus steps into the place where we stand guilty. The sentence is given... but it falls on Jesus!
Jesus is quoting Psalm 22. Every Jewish person there would have recognized it. And Matthew has been pointing to that psalm all along. The divided garments. The mockery. The shaking heads. All from the first half of Psalm 22.
Notice something important. Psalm 22 begins in despair but ends in victory. Jesus quotes the suffering half because that is where the cross stands. Easter will proclaim the second half. Jesus' abandonment is not symbolic. It is real. A Savior who only pretends to suffer cannot save people who really suffer.
David wrote Psalm 22 describing what it felt like to be abandoned. Jesus is not describing a feeling. For the first time in eternity, the Son bears the full weight of sin and the separation it brings. Jesus does not just feel forsaken. He is forsaken. The Father turns away. The judgment lands on Jesus. The separation is real. This clearly: Jesus was forsaken so you would never be. Never.
Jesus takes our place under judgment. The great exchange. Your sin. His body. Your guilt. His judgment. Your welcome. His abandonment. Three hours of darkness. One cry. Salvation accomplished. This is the full transaction of salvation compressed into three hours of darkness and one agonizing cry.
Paul later writes in Romans 8, Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Not death. Not life. Not things present. Not things to come. Nothing. That promise is true because of this moment. Separation from God fell on Jesus, so it would never fall on us. Jesus was forsaken so we would never be.
Some of us may feel distant from God right now. Not drama. Just a dull ache. Numbness. You are here, but inside, you feel disconnected. Hear this clearly. Our feelings are not the final word on our relationship with God. Jesus felt forsaken. But He was not abandoned forever. Sunday was coming!
If you are feeling the pain of Good Friday, Sunday is coming. Faith is not the absence of hard questions. Faith brings the hard questions to God... where they belong.
Notice one more thing about Jesus’ cry. “My God.” Even in abandonment, the relationship is still there. Even in deep agony, Jesus still prays. This is not unbelief. This is the sound of a person of faith in deep pain, speaking honestly.
If you are new to church or unsure what you believe, hear me. Christianity does not silence pain. It gives you a Savior who understands it.
The crowd near the cross waited for a spectacle. When they didn't see one, they knew nothing happened. They were wrong. The most decisive moment in history unfolded right in front of them.
We do the same. We look at our circumstances and assume God is absent. The cross says, think again. When you cry out, you are crying out to a God who understands our pain. Jesus doesn't watch suffering from a safe distance. He walks into it. He takes it on Himself. He carries it. Jesus was forsaken so we would never be.
Darkness covered the land. Then it lifted. Three days later, the stone was rolled away. Easter is God’s answer to Good Friday. The Father did not abandon His Son forever. He raised Him. Death did not win. Sin did not win. Darkness did not win. And because Jesus lives, death and pain do not get the last word in our story either.
I mentioned that Psalm 22 ends with victory. In verse 22. “I will proclaim your name to my brothers.” Matthew saves that for Easter morning when the risen Jesus says, “Go tell my brothers.” Friday gets the lament. Sunday gets the praise.
If you are in lament right now, you are in the middle of Good Friday. Hang on! Sunday is coming. Jesus died under the weight of God’s judgment against sin. In our place. For us. And death did not get the last word. Because He rose, the darkness does not win. Not His. Not yours.
Here is something simple and straightforward to do this week. Pray an honest prayer. And if you need help to pray like that, come to the front of the church and talk with our prayer partners. They will be delighted to help. The prayer should be short and candid, no fancy words. Just say what is true. If you are angry, say it. If you are afraid, say it. If you feel forgotten, say it. Then sit quietly and remember who you are talking to. A Savior who cried out in the dark. A Redeemer who rose in the light.
The darkness lasted three hours. Morning came. And because Jesus was forsaken, you never will be. Not in suffering. Not in grief. Not in death. The cross guarantees it. Jesus was forsaken so we would never be.