Matthew 27:45-56

⁴⁵ Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

⁴⁶ And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”[1] that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

⁴⁷ And some of the bystanders, after hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.”

⁴⁸ And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink.

⁴⁹ But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.”

⁵⁰ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and let out his spirit.

⁵¹ And see, the curtain of the temple was torn in half, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks split open.

⁵² The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised,

⁵³ and when they came out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

⁵⁴ When the centurion and those who were with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with terror and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

⁵⁵ There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him,

⁵⁶ among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

footnote to triumph

What seems like a cry of ultimate despair from our Lord’s mouth is anything but that. Read it. Read psalm 22 in its entirety. It is so prophetic; it is like a thousand year echo of the crucifixion. You can hear the mocking, the calls for Jesus to let God deliver him from the cross. You can see Jesus being poured out like water, all his bones out of joint from the ordeal. You can see the pierced hands and feet! You can see the garments being divided among the soldiers!

Look how it ends! “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.”[2] These are not the words of a defeated loser. They speak of the ultimate triumph. Jesus on the cross gave us a footnote that spoke of the reason for his suffering. He had not lost his mind.

Neither had he lost his power. He knew that God had not forsaken him. His power was there, and he used it to shake the earth. He raised some dead saints, even as he was taking his final breaths. His power was displayed so dramatically that even the ones watching him die concluded that he was the Son of God.

LORD, in our moments of deepest despair and misery, remind us of your triumph on the cross. Remind us that there is no tragedy, no defeat, and no misery that we can ever face that will ever take away that victory that you have won for us.

[1] Psalm 22:1 in Aramaic.

[2] Psalm 22:27-31 ESV.