Why Have You Forsaken Me?

Today on Summit Life, Pastor J.D. Greer takes us to the darkest moment in Jesus' life. Here is the Son of God who spoke the worlds into existence, who would speak to a legion of demons and they would flee, who called to dead men in their graves and they got up.

Here is that Son of God crying out under such strain that the capillaries in his face begin to burst. What's happening here? Welcome back to Summit Life.

I'm Molly Vidovich. Have you ever felt abandoned? Maybe a spouse left you or a friend betrayed you or a parent wasn't there when you needed them the most?

To some extent I'm sure that we have all felt alone like this at some point in our lives. Today on Summit Life, Pastor and Theologian J.D. Greer reminds us of an incredible truth that Jesus knows exactly how that feels. It's part of our new teaching series called The Difficult Sayings of Jesus and we're looking at one of the most shocking statements ever made when Jesus asked his Father, Why have you forsaken me? So let's open our Bibles but more importantly let's open our hearts as Pastor J.D.

brings an encouraging word today. I will confess to you that where we were about to go in Mark chapter 14 this weekend is a deeply mysterious place. I would say it is one of the most mysterious places in all of scripture. It is a holy place. It is the kind of place honestly that I get a sense that I ought to come into on my knees because there is nothing that I could say here that would do anything really except for take away of the majesty of what is happening in these verses. The Apostle Paul called the things that we are about to look into he called them the unsearchable riches of Christ.

If they are unsearchable then who am I to stand up here and try to search them out with you? Paul said that these were things that you could not know. Paul in fact prayed this in Ephesians 3 that God would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation that we could know the love of Christ how wide how high how long how deep is this love which surpasses all knowledge.

When you think about it it's kind of a contradiction. How do you know something that surpasses knowledge? What Paul means is that what you need is not a good explanation of these things what you need is revelation of these things. I am unable to give you revelation. I can give you explanation but only the Holy Spirit can give you revelation which is why we need to pray. You see I feel especially helpless this weekend to share these things with you because a lot of times when I stand up here I've got a concept to communicate. I've figured out how to explain it how to apply it got a few funny stories that go along with it. I got none of that this morning.

None of it. Which means that if the Holy Spirit, the real preacher, does not open this in your heart I could stand up here all day long and talk with the most eloquent words and you could sit out there and listen as attentively as you want to and it's not going to do either of us any good. So could we just pray and ask God to open the eyes of our heart and allow us to see what human ears cannot hear and to perceive what a human tongue cannot explain?

Bow your heads with me. God I pray that a spirit of revelation would be given this weekend that we might know how high how wide how deep how long is the love that you have for us. We need not explanation God we need revelation. So Father I pray that you might give that.

I pray God that we might be overwhelmed. God as we look into a well that is deeper and wider than we ever have imagined and that we might sense not know but sense deep in our soul the love that presses in that is communicated in this mysterious scene. I pray and ask that God in Jesus name.

Amen. Mark chapter 14 verse 32. And they that is the disciples and Jesus went to a place called Gethsemane which literally in Aramaic means oil press. And Jesus said to his disciples sit here while I pray. And he took with him Peter and James and John and he began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them my soul is very sorrowful even to death remain here and watch. And going on a little farther he fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from him. And he said Abba father daddy all things are possible for you remove this cup from me yet not what I will but what you will. And he came and he said no. And he came and he found them sleeping. And he said to Peter Simon are you asleep could you not watch one hour?

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh your flesh is weak. And again he went away and prayed saying the same words. And again he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were very heavy and they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and said to them are you still sleeping and taking your rest?

It is enough the hour has come. The son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise let us be going see my betrayer is at hand and he lifted up his eyes and the disciples looked and they're coming in the distance with torches in the night where Judas and a group of armed soldiers coming to take Jesus away to the crucifixion. Now one of the first things that you have to observe about this scene if I could be so bold with you is that Jesus does not die like many of the world's great heroes have died. He does not have the defiance the bravado the bravery that we would expect for him to carry into the hour of his death. I mean think of scenes like the ones depicted in movies like Gladiator or Braveheart where you've got a hero that is staring down the emperor saying you can do whatever you want to me I will have my vengeance in this life or the next you do not scare me you cannot touch me. Many Jewish heroes died that way we know the same time that Jesus died there are a lot of Jewish heroes that were executed and a lot of them would die on the cross proclaiming God's victory over their enemies and the coming judgment on on God's enemies. Plato when Plato describes Socrates died he says that you know when he was given the hemlock to drink says the color in his face did not change he was very calm he even cracked a few jokes after he drank the hemlock that was his way of defying the empire. Polycarp one of Jesus's own disciples that would die shortly after Jesus Polycarp was a student of the apostle John when he died he was 86 years old they came and brought him drug him out to be burned at the stake and they got it in front of this entire Roman Colosseum. Polycarp's last words 86 years old he took him up tied him at the stake before they tied his hands down he gestured to the crowd he said you think I'm afraid of this fire you ought to be afraid of the fires that burn in hell this doesn't scare me at all this is temporary in a few moments I will be standing before Jesus come on boys bring on the fire but that's not if you're honest how Jesus goes into the scene is it he appears weak dare I say almost scared did you catch that he's trembling and what's really strange about it is that everywhere else everywhere else in the gospels Jesus shows unflinching courage in the face of danger he was the one just a few chapters before that the disciples were saying you can't go to Jerusalem you'll die and Jesus said nope and he said his face mark said like a flint toward Jerusalem and he could not be deterred he was the one that always had courage he was the one that defied everything what is he doing now and by the way it's not like he's withering in the face of pain because the first aspect of torture has yet to begin verse 33 there's a very strange little phrase says he began to be astonished and troubled in Greek literally what it says is suddenly he began to be astonished all at once in other words there was something there in verse 33 that had not been there in verse 32 suddenly all at once he saw something and he was it says troubled by it the word troubled is a very strong Greek word that means overcome with shocking horror one scholar says it's indicates the kind of feeling that you would have if you came home one evening and found your entire family murdered mutilated strung up against a wall that is the word that's being communicated here when Jesus saw it all at once it was so overwhelming to him listen that he almost died from it did you see that verse 34 he said to them my soul is very sorrowful even to death Jesus does not exaggerate he almost died what he saw almost killed him Luke says that he was under such strain that he began to sweat great drops of blood a medical condition that doctors call hematridosis where you're under such strain of some kind that the capillaries in your body burst under the strain one of our pastors Rodale said his wife and his three sons the youngest of whom was three years old were leaving the neighborhood pool where they're swimming they were the last ones there his wife gets the three boys out to the van and she's putting in the older one and then the the middle one she notices that her younger son is not there so she kind of walks back down the path goes into the pool area and saw something that no parent I mean this is like the worst scene a parent could ever imagine seeing there is her three-year-old son lying still at the bottom of the pool she jumped in got him out yelled got somebody else's attention they got this boy up on the on the deck they administered CPR with him called the ambulance miraculously they're able to revive him the ambulance comes picks him up takes him to the hospital they run all kinds of tests on him you know the the short answer the good news is he he was fine they got that they're just in the in the the right amount of time Rodale was not with him Rodale said I came back got to the hospital he says when I walked in to the house the room my son was lying there now asleep my three-year-old and I could see in his face he said I looked very closely and all these little purple blotches everywhere all over his face and I asked the doctor what is this and the doctor said evidently right before your son lost consciousness at the bottom of the pool he was screaming for you or for his mom and he was screaming with such strain that the capillaries in his face burst under the strain of not being able to get the attention of his father I cannot imagine my kids being under such strain that they were calling out for me in that way and I could not hear them here is the son of God who spoke the worlds into existence who created universes as easily as you and I speak words who walked on top of angry waves who spoke to storms and they dissipated who would speak to a legion of demons and they would flee who spoke to people with the gravest diseases and they would be healed who called to dead men in their graves and they got up here is that son of God crying out under such strain that the capillaries in his face begin to burst what did he say you're listening to summit life with jd greer before we continue with today's teaching I want to tell you about our new featured resource that we're offering to our listeners this month it's called the gospel flip book the gospel flip book is a helpful tool like a set of flashcards for anyone who wants to grow in their faith and understanding of the life and ministry of jesus it includes a reading plan through matthew mark luke and john information about each of the authors key passages and memory verses and then reflective prayers to help guide you through this portion of the new testament and best of all it goes along with our current study looking at some of the more difficult sayings of jesus giving us context and wisdom along the way to receive your copy of the gospel flip book and support this ministry please call 866-335-5220 or visit jdgreer.com your generous support allows us to continue bringing you quality programming and valuable resources thank you for being with us today now let's get back to our teaching once again here's pastor jd what did he see keep reading verse 36 notice what he prays abba father daddy all things are possible for you remove this cup from me he calls god daddy abba abba daddy which is the term of closest intimacy with god but look at this for the first time in his life for the first time in eternity there is no response see in verse 37 actually what you don't see in verse 37 silence you see up until this point he has enjoyed an intimacy with the father he often withdrew to be alone with god to draw strength and the father had always radiated with openness to him sometimes even affirming him publicly this is my beloved son in whom i'm well pleased yet now in the hour that jesus needs his father most only silence and so he stumbles back to his disciples looking for some kind of comfort i mean there's something weak there is there not it's it's tender he just needs somebody and they're asleep so he wakes them up and he says guys i need i need something i need somebody i need you to be with me but they're asleep and so verse 39 he goes back again to the father and he says the exact same thing and again a second time only silence what's happening here what's happening william lane new testament scholar says that the only explanation is that god had already begun to turn his face away the crucifixion had already started before the first nail was driven into jesus's body his soul had been abandoned by god jesus had lived his life you see for the approval of the father and now in the moment that jesus needed his father most god the father turned his face away and jesus staggered under the weight of it almost to the point of death william lane says this is the horror of one who lived wholly for the father who came to be with his father for a brief interlude before his death and found hell rather than heaven open before him utter and total aloneness have you ever been really alone i mean really alone maybe a close friend turned their back on you maybe a spouse betrayed you maybe your parents failed you maybe your kids no longer allow you to see your grandkids jesus felt that kind of aloneness and not just aloneness by the way but rejection you ever been really rejected here's one thing i know the closer the relationship the more painful the rejection i mean i i get letters of rejection from time to time as a public figure i mean i get letters people i've never met tell me that i'm the worst possible person it honestly doesn't bother me that much because i've never met this person i know that it's really not reflective of me it's reflective of them but if you let a close friend do that you let somebody in my family do that then it becomes more likely that you're not going to be able to then it becomes much more painful i mean i think about what it'd be like to do this to one of my kids one of my kids who look to me and the moment that they're in pain when the moment that they're hurting when the moment they feel alone turning to me and not only not being there for them but also walking away from them walking away in scorn and saying you're not even my child i'm not a perfect father and i've only known my kids for a limited amount of time what's it like to lose the affection and the closeness and the intimacy that he had known with god the father for all eternity is there any human analogy i could give that could come up with something that would communicate that there is none anything that i would say by way of analogy just takes away from the majesty of what's actually happening in this moment the tragedy somehow in that one moment jesus experienced the equivalent of an eternity in hell for us and in that moment revelation says all the hay of heaven fell silent all the angels and put their hands over their mouths and did not know what to say because they could not comprehend what was happening in gethsemane jesus stared into the horror of hell and he almost died from it and then he voluntarily went into it for us you see that's what hell is hell is complete abandonment by god you see i'd always thought that what made jesus death so bad were the physical horrors that went along with it and they were terrible cicero said that one of the roman's goals in crucifixion was complete and utter humiliation so they would choose a public place like the mall for us and there they would strip men naked and they would beat them and they would crucify them it was so painful that men would weep and vomit and urinate all over themselves cicero said they would precede it by a beating that killed a lot of men before they ever got to the cross the roman historian cicero said that it was not uncommon to see a rib off of a man's frame go flying off of his chest because of the way that they beat them they if what cicero says is true then we are pretty sure that when jesus went to the cross he was at least partially disemboweled many of you've seen the passion movie there's probably something in there that gives you a glimpse of a little bit of it but if what cicero says is true then it's much worse cicero said that they used to when they really want to make a point they would crucify women he said but when they crucify women they'd always turn them around backwards so they were facing the cross because the roman soldiers could not bear to see the look of anguish on the woman's face because of the kind of pain they put them through jesus was nailed up on a cross naked in a public place in the full light of day so yes the physical horrors of the cross were terrible but listen that is not in gethsemane what made jesus stagger it was the abandonment by god that he faced that was the horror of the cross for him in gethsemane jesus looked full into the cup of god's wrath and it overwhelmed him so badly that it almost killed him and he said father if there's any way let this cup pass from me isaiah 51 17 describes the wrath of god given to us like a cup a cup full of toxic poison that was the wrath of god for the rebellion that you and i had lived with for the way that we had chosen our way instead of god's way for the fact that we wanted to make our own rules the fact that we didn't want to give god glory we want to give ourselves glory that god's righteous wrath the wrath we deserved was stored up in a cup that he was going to give to us and jesus in gethsemane stepped in the way and said no i'll take it for him i think it was jonathan edwards who said that the wrath of god was stored up for us rightful wrath of god like water behind a dam imagine you're standing in front of a gigantic dam think like the hoover dam or something and as you're standing you know a mile or so away from it you watch and do your your horror there you see this crack begin to come down the the top of the dam and in a matter of a few seconds the entire dam is broken open and water a wall of water several hundred feet high comes flooding down that valley there's nowhere for you to run there's nowhere to go death is certain it's going to sweep you away and then as this wall this 200-foot wall of water is coming at you the ground in front of your feet suddenly splits open and opens up and all the water goes underneath it so that not a drop touches you jesus stood in the way of the wrath of god he took the cup he took it in our place he drank it to the dregs he turned it over set it down and said it is finished by the way would you really would you really entertain the idea that there are multiple ways to god as if god you know jesus says to god um if there's any other way let the cup pass for me and god's like well actually there is another way there's actually lots of other ways you just got to be a good person be sincere you'll be there fine what greater insult could you possibly give to jesus christ here he is in the hour when he calls out for his daddy if there's any other way then god said there is no other way god had determined to save us and this was the only way if you and i had been in that garden and we had stood beside jesus and said no no don't touch this jesus would have said i have to this cup is your cup and i am drinking it in your place so that you will not have to he was despised and rejected of men he was in this garden a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief surely though he was bearing our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken smitten by god and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the price of our peace of our peace was upon him so that by his stripes we would be healed all we like sheep you see had gone astray he had turned every one of us we had turned everyone to our own way so the lord laid on him in that moment the iniquity of us all he drank that cup in my place so that not a drop would be left for me you see that's what the gospel is in its purest essence the gospel is one word substitution the way we say it around here is four words jesus in my place jesus drank the cup that i deserved he had lived the life that i should have lived he died the death that i should have died he drank this cup in my place so that no condemnation will be left for me because now i'm in christ jesus it's not that god is just feeling merciful to me now it's not that he's in a good mood it's that every bit of the condemnation got poured onto jesus so there's nothing left for me and it's offered to you and i as a gift here's the question have you received it personally because it's a gift it's a gift where he somebody will pay for your sin either you will drink this cup on your own a cup that was so bad that it almost killed jesus just looking at it or jesus will take it in your place have you received it as your own have you received that gift don't wait any longer listen to me carefully you don't have to fix yourself up first come just as you are to learn more about following jesus give us a call or visit us online at jdgrier.com we want to make sure that you know about pastor jd's new resource available right now to our summit life family it's called the gospel flip book this spiral bound book of cards kind of like flashcards will help you as you read to make connections with the context of the original audience of matthew mark luke and john it includes a 40-day reading plan through the gospels details about the authors of the books and to whom they were written key truths gleaned from each book verses you might commit to memory and then reflection questions and prayer prompts to help you apply the book's message to your life contact us today and we'll send you your copy when you generously give to support this ministry call 866-335-5220 or give online at jdgrier.com while you're on the website don't forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter get ministry updates information about new resources and pastor jd's latest blog post delivered straight to your inbox sign up when you go to jdgrier.com i'm molly vinovich join us next time as we look at one of the most shocking moments in all of scripture when god the father actually turned his face away from his son see you soon for summit life with jd greer today's program was produced and sponsored by jd greer ministries