Stay with me for a moment… because this is not just a phrase. It is one of the deepest and most difficult moments to understand in the entire Bible.
There are words of Jesus that comfort.
There are words that teach.
And there are words that, when you hear them, go straight through your soul.
This is one of them.
In the middle of the cross, surrounded by darkness, pain, blood, rejection, and exhaustion, Jesus cried out with a loud voice:
“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34)
And when you read that, something shifts inside you.
Because that phrase feels familiar.
It sounds like the prayer of someone hurting.
Like the cry of someone who cannot take it anymore.
Like that moment when your soul has no explanation.
And here is what makes it even more powerful:
those words came from Jesus.
Not just any man.
Not a defeated sinner.
Not someone without faith.
They came from the Son of God.
That means this moment cannot be taken lightly.
This is not just another sentence from the crucifixion.
We are stepping into the deepest point of Christ’s suffering.
Because Jesus was not only suffering physically.
It was not just the crown of thorns.
It was not just the nails.
It was not just the public humiliation.
It was not just the thirst.
Something deeper was happening.
Jesus was entering into the darkest side of what sin produces.
Sin separates.
Sin breaks.
Sin empties.
Sin causes humanity to live far from the communion it was created for.
And on the cross, Jesus—the Holy One, the pure One, the obedient One, the One who never sinned—was carrying the weight of our sin.
Not His.
Ours.
That is why this cry is so serious.
It is not acting.
It is not exaggeration.
It is not a dramatic phrase for the people watching.
Jesus was truly experiencing the depth of redemptive suffering.
Now, there is something very important we need to understand here, because if not, this can be misunderstood.
When Jesus says, “why have You forsaken Me?”, it does not mean that the Father stopped loving the Son.
It does not mean the Trinity was broken.
It does not mean Jesus stopped being who He is.
It does not mean God lost control.
What it means is that Jesus was truly and deeply experiencing the weight of sin and the sense of separation that sin produces.
He felt it.
And that matters.
Because if we soften the cross too much, we take away the power of Christ’s love.
Jesus did not pretend the pain.
He did not pretend the anguish.
He did not pretend that feeling of abandonment.
He lived it.
He felt the silence.
He felt the darkness.
He felt that moment where everything seems unbearable.
And yet, in the middle of that cry, He said something we should not overlook:
“My God…”
That is beautiful.
Because even in the darkest moment, there is still relationship.
There is still faith.
There is still dependence.
There is still surrender.
He did not say, “You are no longer my God.”
He did not say, “You left me forever.”
He did not say, “It is all over between us.”
He said: “My God.”
Even in unimaginable pain, Jesus remained connected to the Father.
That alone teaches us so much.
Because there are moments in life when we also feel like God is far.
You pray… but heaven seems silent.
You look for comfort… but it does not come quickly.
You read the Bible… but your heart still feels heavy.
You kneel… but inside you are still broken.
And that is when this phrase of Jesus becomes so real.
Because He knows what that feels like.
He does not look at you from a distance and say, “just be strong.”
He has already been there.
He has been in the pain.
He has been in the silence.
He has been in that place where the soul trembles.
But there is more.
Jesus was not saying those words randomly.
He was quoting the beginning of Psalm 22.
And that adds even more depth.
Because Psalm 22 begins with a cry of abandonment… but it does not end there.
It ends in victory, in restoration, in the declaration that God hears and acts.
So what Jesus said on the cross was not only pain.
It was fulfillment.
It was prophetic truth.
It was a window showing that even in the darkest moment, God’s plan was still unfolding.
What looked like the end… was not the end.
What looked like silence… was not absence.
What looked like defeat… was the path to victory.
And here is one of the deepest truths of this reflection:
Jesus entered into that experience of abandonment so that you and I would never be truly abandoned.
He took what belonged to us.
He carried what would destroy us.
He stepped into the deepest suffering to open the way back to the Father.
That is why, when a believer today feels that God is far, it does not mean they are truly alone.
You may feel it.
You may cry it.
You may go through very dark moments.
But because of the cross, a child of God is never truly abandoned.
That changes everything.
Because there is a difference between feeling alone…
and actually being alone.
And many of us have confused the two.
There are seasons when you feel nothing…
and you think God left.
There are prayers that seem unanswered…
and you think God closed the door.
There are long wounds, heavy nights, unfair trials, painful losses…
and you begin to wonder if God is still there.
But the cross says something different.
It reminds us that silence does not always mean distance.
Darkness does not always mean abandonment.
And pain does not always mean God has stopped working.
Sometimes, in the very moment you understand the least, God is doing the deepest work.
Jesus felt it.
Jesus lived it.
Jesus went through it.
And because of that, when you walk through a season where your soul is tired and your faith feels weak, you can look at the cross and know that your Savior truly understands you.
Not in theory.
Not as a religious idea.
For real.
He knows that weight.
He knows that cry.
He knows that night.
But He also knows what comes after.
Because that cry was not the end.
After that came fulfillment.
After that came complete surrender.
After that came the tomb.
And after that came the resurrection.
That means the feeling of abandonment did not have the final word.
God was still there.
God was still reigning.
God was still fulfilling His eternal purpose.
And that can hold you today.
Maybe you do not understand right now.
Maybe you feel silence.
Maybe your emotions tell you God is far.
But truth does not change based on how you feel.
If you are in Christ, God has not let you go.
He has not abandoned you.
He has not forgotten you.
The cross is the proof.
Take this reflection and hold it in your heart:
When Jesus cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”, He revealed the depth of His suffering… but also the depth of His love.
He stepped into that pain to rescue you.
He carried that darkness to bring you near.
He felt that loneliness so that you would never face a true separation from God.
So if today you are going through a moment where nothing makes sense, do not hold on only to what you feel.
Hold on to what Christ already did.
Even if your voice shakes, you can still say:
“My God…”
And sometimes, that simple phrase spoken through tears… is already a powerful expression of faith.
I invite you to pray with me:
Lord, there are moments when my heart also asks why.
Moments where the pain is heavy, where the silence hurts, and where I do not understand what You are doing.
But today I look at the cross and remember that You know exactly what that place feels like.
Thank You because Jesus went into the deepest suffering to save me.
Thank You because even when my emotions deceive me, Your truth remains firm.
Help me trust You when I feel nothing.
Help me keep calling You “My God” even in my darkest nights.
And remind me that, through Christ, I am never truly alone.
Amen.
En Somos Cristianos conectamos corazones con Cristo.
