By Rev. Eric Brown
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?”
Why? It’s a simple enough question to ask. Why is Christ forsaken upon the Cross? So that He doesn’t forsake you. As much as we might try to deny it or pretend it isn’t real, sin has consequences. The wages of sin is death. Where there is sin, there must be death. And as you and I are poor, miserable sinners, we are consigned to death.
God would not have you simply die, though. He loves you. He created you to be with Him for eternity, and so therefore something has to be done, because He wants you with Him for all eternity. And so, Jesus comes, and He lives perfectly, without sin – yet He takes up your sin, and taking up that sin He takes up death, He is forsaken. He dies so that you will live.
Our Lord cries, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” And the answer is – “So that I do not have to forsake My son David, so that I do not have to forsake these, My Baptized children.” When it boils down to it, God chooses not His own Son, but He chooses you. And this is His choice, this is His wondrous and awesome will, made from all eternity. That God would have you be with Him – and nothing will stop God from being your God, from having you be with Him for eternity. Not sin, not death, not the power of Hell. Christ will go and pay that, so that you will truly be His brother for eternity. This is the wonder, this is God’s mind-boggling love. The death of Jesus is the death that was yours on account of sin – He is forsaken in your place, so that He might give you His life, life which never fades. All thanks be to God for His great love to us.
Rev. Eric Brown is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Herscher, IL.
Rev. Eric Brown is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Herscher, Illinois and the co-host of the HT Gospeled Boldly Podcast.
