Mark 15:33-38

Mark records that, from noon until three o'clock in the afternoon, darkness covered the whole land1. Then, at the ninth hour, Jesus cried, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The original words are given by Mark; Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani to explain why the onlookers thought that Jesus was calling on Elijah.

It is difficult for us to imagine that God would have withdrawn from his Son even for a moment, and especially at that terrible moment of his death, as he bore upon himself the sins of the world, Jesus felt himself to be utterly alone.

But, if this were true, then it was just for a moment, for, in his next word, the sense of God's presence is again with him as he says, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit2 And crying with a loud voice, Jesus breathed his last3

A frequent and quite plausible explanation of this cry of Jesus from the cross is that he was meditating on Psalm 22, which begins with the very words he used. In his suffering he was saying these words audibly. If this interpretation is correct, then Jesus was not expressing a complaint, for the psalm goes on the express exaltation and victory and to say at last: They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn- for he has done it4. Historically, this is precisely what has happened.

In symbolic demonstration of the work of redemption that Jesus brought in his death on the cross, the curtain in the Temple that had separated the holy of holies from the holy place was split from top to bottom5.

Each year, on the day of Atonement, the high priest had raised this curtain to enter into the holy of holies, where the great stone which occupied the place of the lost ark of the covenant symbolized the presence of God. There, he made atonement for the sins of the people. In the light of Christ's death, the services of the high priest were no longer to be necessary. All who wear the name of Jesus may now approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need6. Our atonement is in Christ.