“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Mark 15:34b (ESV)

As Easter draws near, many people around the world are made more aware of the events surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus, the death and resurrection being the main focus. And so they should be. Without either, our faith is nothing but an empty shell.

In reading this verse again, I began to think of what the cross really meant, not for us, but for Jesus. As he was held to wooden beams with thick, heavy nails driven through his flesh and bones, he not only experienced unbearable physical pain, but, as he cried out, he felt the pain of abandonment.

What does it really mean to be forsaken?

To quit or leave entirely; to desert; to abandon; to depart from.

To abandon; to renounce; to reject.

To leave; to withdraw from; to fail.

In scripture, God forsakes his people, when he withdraws his aid, or the light of his countenance.

How would it have felt to know that your father, The Unfailing God, failed you? To know the one who would never leave has left?

Jesus felt on the cross what no other human being in history ever felt – to be completely and utterly forsaken. Never once before or since has anyone ever been so thoroughly separated from the rest of the world. And never before or since was there anyone less deserving to have endured what Jesus endured.

Next time you feel alone, left out, abandoned, remind yourself that you are not alone. You are not left out. You are not abandoned. Jesus endured it all so we would never have to.

Daily Bible reading: Deuteronomy 28, Mark 15:27-47