Why Have You Forsaken Me?: Mark 15:33-41

At noon, darkness fell over the whole land. Not an eclipse—Passover was at full moon—something else. The sun refused to watch. Creation itself recoiled. For three hours, darkness covered everything.

At three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice: "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

The opening words of Psalm 22, torn from a throat raw with thirst and agony. The Son crying out to the Father who had always answered, always been present, always loved him—and finding, for the first time, absence. The weight of sin, pressed onto innocent shoulders, had severed something.

Some standing near thought he was calling Elijah. "Listen, he's calling Elijah."