Why did Jesus say 'my God, why have you forsaken me'?

On the cross Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1 (Matthew 27:46), expressing the depth of his suffering and the feeling of God-forsakenness he bore for us. Christians understand him as entering the full weight of human abandonment, though Psalm 22 itself ends in rescue and praise.

Does God understand feeling abandoned by him?

Yes. In Christ, God himself cried out about the absence of God from the cross. So the feeling of being forsaken by God is not a place outside Christ's experience; he has been there, which means our loneliest cries land where he has already stood.

The emotions of Jesus

Jesus Felt Forsaken

From the cross · Matthew 27:46

On the cross Jesus cried, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' (Matthew 27:46). The deepest human terror, abandonment by God, was entered by God himself in Christ, so that even the feeling of God-forsakenness is not a place Christ has not been.

The moment

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”Matthew 27:46

Why it changes everything

Of everything Jesus said, this is perhaps the hardest and the most precious. In the dark at the height of his suffering, he cries out not a serene benediction but a question of abandonment, quoting the opening line of Psalm 22: 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' Christians have wrestled for centuries with what it means, but at the very least it means this: Jesus tasted the one thing human beings fear more than pain itself, the sense of being utterly forsaken by God.

Sit with the strangeness of it. The Son of God, crying out to God about the absence of God. Whatever mystery is in it, the pastoral gift is unmistakable: there is now no depth of god-forsakenness a human being can feel that Christ has not already been to. The place where you cry 'where are you' into what feels like an empty sky, he has stood in that exact place, in the dark, and cried the same words. He did not observe our abandonment from safety. He entered it.

The Son of God cried out to God about the absence of God, so that your loneliest cry would land somewhere he has already been.

Which means, for youIf you have ever felt abandoned by God, prayed into what seemed like silence, wondered if he had turned his face away, hear this carefully: that feeling does not put you outside the reach of Christ. It puts you exactly where he has been. He cried your cry first. And Psalm 22, the very psalm he quoted, does not end in abandonment; it ends in rescue and praise. The cry was real. It was not the last word.

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A God who felt it too

The feeling you are carrying, grief, anger, dread, longing, was not foreign to God. In Christ he felt it himself, from the inside. The Living Bread is a quiet place to bring the whole of what you feel to the One who understands it, read the Gospels, and pray, at your own pace.

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Frequently asked questions

Why did Jesus say 'my God, why have you forsaken me'?: On the cross Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1 (Matthew 27:46), expressing the depth of his suffering and the feeling of God-forsakenness he bore for us. Christians understand him as entering the full weight of human abandonment, though Psalm 22 itself ends in rescue and praise.
Does God understand feeling abandoned by him?: Yes. In Christ, God himself cried out about the absence of God from the cross. So the feeling of being forsaken by God is not a place outside Christ's experience; he has been there, which means our loneliest cries land where he has already stood.

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