St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown
Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz
Lenten Vesper #4. March 22, 2006 Matthew 27:46

About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

It happened in a little place called Red Lake, MN just a year ago. Do you remember? It was a massacre almost as deadly as Columbine High School in Colorado. It happened a year ago—and still people who were there have bad dreams—waking up in the night afraid. One of the grandmas of one of the victims said, “It seems like we’ll never heal!” How sad is that—to think their heart and mind and soul will never heal. Tonight God’s Word is as graphic and plain and simple and painful as any verse in all of God’s Word. Today we hear the Lord Jesus cry out in a loud voice—in the unspeakable agony of hell. Jesus was literally abandoned by his loving Heavenly Father. Jesus bore in his body the guilt and responsibility of all our sins—so that we might have healing—no matter what has caused us hurt. Words cannot convey the depth of that hurt and shame and pain Jesus endured for us.

Today we hear Jesus Speak A Word of Absolute Anguish

1. He suffered because of me
2. He suffered instead of me

About the ninth hour—about 3 in the afternoon—Jesus cried out in a loud voice…”My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” When I was a child—we had a painting—a pen and ink watercolor painting of a Roman soldier. It was a gift from an art teacher from LaCrosse. In the history of warfare there has seldom been a killing machine like a Roman soldier. They wore body armor. They carried a massive shield. One that could be held side by side with other soldiers—with shields held overhead, too—making the impenetrable turtle shell. It kept soldiers safe when the enemy fired wave after wave of flaming arrows—or catapulted stone or flaming shrapnel! Roman soldiers had long and short swords—long and short spears. They were exceedingly disciplined. They didn’t panic. They didn’t retreat. They stood their ground and they advanced! There was not an army on the face of the earth that could stand against the legions of Rome. Rome was discipline—laws—justice! Rome could also be exceedingly cold, hard and ruthless. Break the rules—and they would make such a painful example of you— Hence the Roman practice of crucifixion. There was exquisite physical suffering that resulted from crucifixion. The pastor who wrote the Synod’s practice sermons for this Lenten season wrote that years ago he used to use a series of bulletin inserts. In each of the inserts a medical doctor described in simple clinical terms the trauma that Jesus’ body endured. He had to stop using them—because people couldn’t handle them. If you have seen the picture on the cover of The Passion of the Christ—it makes you look away! The fact is—God’s Word—the eye witness accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion don’t dwell on the physical hurt and harm. They dwell on what was happening spiritually.

Jesus cried out in a loud voice…”My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus suffered because of me. Jesus suffered because of my sin—my sin—my attitude! We were at the hospital in Madison the other day—where you see people in the waiting rooms. People who are sick and the people who brought them to the hospital. Sometimes it was painfully obvious who was sick. Their skin was discolored—different shades of yellow—or painfully pale—with dark rings under sunken eyes. Sometimes they tried to walk but couldn’t. They would fall back into chairs—or they would cry out in pain when someone tried to help them to their feet. Their arms were wrapped in those funny blue or red straps—a thickly folded square of gauze marking the place where they had taken blood. Sometimes their arms were badly bruised—like very old bananas. And sometimes you couldn’t tell who was sickest—they both looked badly! As sad as that was—what was—I think—much more painful—was the fact so many of them didn’t get along! Do you want something to eat? No, I don’t want something to eat! Do you want something to drink? No, I don’t want anything to drink! The doctor said you are supposed to drink lots of fluids! Give the doctor something to drink. Leave me alone! Fine! And people walked away—in frustration and anger and bitterness! You could see sin in the pharmacy. People in the pharmacy cursing—swearing—using Jesus’ name in vain. How long does it take to count out 90 pills? I’d like to climb over the counter and get them my self! What do you mean you don’t have enough? Eternal destruction to all of you! That’s why Jesus was on the cross—for our sin—our attitude!

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus was on the cross—on account of my sins! Imagine a trucker—25 years old—transporting a Bengal tiger to a county fair. The truck driver has been drinking. He wonders—how fast do you think that tiger really is? I mean—if I stick my arm in there and say, “Here, kitty, kitty…” can I get my arm back out before the tiger catches me? What do you think? Do you know how many tendons a tiger can sever with just one bite? That arm will never ever be quite the same. That arm will bear the marks of that self destructive mistake! Before we wag our self-righteous finger and look down our self-righteous nose—ask yourself how many times have you thought to yourself—I can sin. I can stick my arm into the cage of the lion from the pit of hell—and he won’t get me? I’ll be quick enough and clever enough—that he won’t catch me! Jesus bears on his body the scars—the nail prints on his hands and feet—the spear wound in his side—because of my sins. Jesus bears in his body the marks of my sins. He was forsaken and I was to blame!

Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus knew. Jesus understood. And yet as true man through and through—Jesus was enduring unbearable pain. The people standing at the foot of the cross surely didn’t understand at the time. And yet—after Easter—when they looked back—when they remembered—they would see in these words the fulfillment of the scapegoat. The one innocent one who bore the guilt of all the rest. Jesus was abandoned by his holy Heavenly Father—because he carried on his head the sins and mistakes of every one else!

Jesus suffered on the cross instead of me. Jesus suffered—the innocent punished to rescue the guilty. The devil tempts people to think you can run away from your sins. Imagine a young man pulled over for a routine traffic stop. Imagine your sticker on your license plate is expired. Imagine the little laminated license you carry in your wallet but seldom look at is expired. What do you do? If you have a bad conscience—you might not even wait to find out why you are being stopped. In fear you think it’s something much worse! What do you do? Run? Run seven football fields away? Is that far enough? How far can you run before you are stuck in the mud—the cold and the exhaustion so great your heart stops beating? Can you imagine that? You can’t run fast enough or far enough to escape from your sins. Only Jesus can take them away. And he did when he died in our place!

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Sometimes sins are a horrible explosion—a burst of blinding anger and rage. In the light of careful calm thought they make absolutely no sense—and yet—in a moment they are done! Imagine a little grandpa down in a little town named Batavia. This grandpa is devoted to his lawn. He has a small home—simple and neat. And he’s got a nice lawn—grass—no dandelions. There are some shrubs neatly trimmed—a flag pole—the United States flag and the Navy flag. This grandpa likes to sit all by himself on his front step—enjoying the fact that his lawn looks so nice. Along comes the neighbor kid—15 years old—walking on his grass—walking on his lawn. It’s irritating. It’s frustrating. But it’s just lawn. Still—the little grandpa lost it. He completely lost control and shot the neighbor kid—shot him dead! That’s horribly wrong! Could we do that? Could we lose control—lash out in blind anger—and in a moment do deadly harm to our neighbor—our spouse—our child—our co-worker? It happens all the time! This man, too, is described by his other neighbors as quiet—gentle! For all the times we lose our temper—when people tail gate us and then pass us and cut us off. For all the times we are angered by rude workers in stores—hurtful hateful co-workers that get us in trouble with our boss. For in-laws that have that hurtful way of saying even nice things—so that they hurt our feelings. For all our sins—Jesus suffered on the cross—to pay for them all!

Why have you forsaken me? Jesus was forsaken by His Heavenly Father—so that we will never be! In Old Testament times—during times of troubles—people in fear and sadness despaired. They complained that the LORD had forsaken them. Remember the scroll of the prophet Isaiah: “But Zion said, ‘The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.’ Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…” Isaiah 49:14-16a Jesus has engraved on his hands—the forever marks of his forgiving love. The letter to the Hebrews comforts us. “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5b Human love can fail. Parents can fail their children and children can fail their parents. Spouses can fail each other. It has happened again and again. But no matter how faithless we might be—it cannot spoil the faithfulness of Jesus’ love for us!

Why have you forsaken me? Jesus was forsaken by his Heavenly Father—so that we will never be! How simple is that Gospel comfort! Did you hear they discovered a new species of dinosaur? They are huge! They have a neck that’s so big—each neck bone is the size of two loaves of bread. Ankle bones—ankle bones are the size of potatoes! The neck is so huge—it’s twice as long as the body! There is a groove down the middle of these neck bones—not for muscles to hold the neck up—like a giraffe—eating leaves from the tops of trees. But like a bungee cord—to keep the neck parallel to the ground. How old is this dinosaur supposed to be? Between 100 and 120 million years? Again, little children in our Sunday School and Day School know what many of these scientists don’t. The students at our Luther Preparatory School and Lakeside Lutheran High School know—Jesus made everything—including dinosaurs in 6 days of twenty-four hours. The students in our schools understand Creation—the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets, the plants and animals, the birds and the fish and the dinosaurs—all made with wisdom and love and profound wisdom by our Heavenly Father. This creation was spoiled by sin. This creation was redeemed—bought back by the innocent Son of God. Jesus was abandoned on a Friday afternoon when the sun stopped shining. Jesus was abandoned until all our sins were paid for. Jesus died and rose from the dead—so that we will never be abandoned by our Heavenly Father. Amen!

To God alone all glory!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz