And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani? (which means my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?) — the cry of dereliction (Psalm 22:1) is the only word from the cross recorded in Mark. In the original language (Aramaic: Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani), preserved as an eyewitness report. The cry is the opening of Psalm 22, the psalm of the righteous sufferer who feels abandoned by God and is ultimately vindicated. Whether this cry represents actual forsakenness or the experience of it within the Trinitarian relationship has been discussed across the centuries; what is clear is that Jesus' identification with human abandonment and desolation is total.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

Publish a note on this verse