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Mark 15:34
“At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?””
This verse describes Jesus' cry from the cross, in the Gospel of Mark. It occurs in the final hours of his crucifixion, a moment of profound suffering and apparent abandonment.
What does Jesus' cry from the cross reveal about the nature of divine presence, even in moments of perceived absence?
Then — the setting
This cry from the cross, recorded by Mark around 65-70 CE, was written for a primarily Gentile Christian audience likely facing persecution. The Evangelist is keen to portray Jesus as the suffering Messiah, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies even in his darkest hour. The quotation of Psalm 22 would have been recognizable to those familiar with Jewish scriptures, framing Jesus' experience within a larger biblical narrative of lament and ultimate vindication. For early Christians, this moment validated the reality of suffering and abandonment, while also pointing to Jesus' solidarity with human experience.
Across the Testaments
The main passage is in the New Testament, directly quoting from the Old Testament Psalm 22. Psalm 22 begins with this anguished cry but moves towards an affirmation of God's saving power and global praise. By quoting the opening line, Jesus directly connects his experience to centuries of Israel's lament tradition, demonstrating profound human suffering. The New Testament, particularly through this cry, portrays Jesus entering into the deepest human experience of desolation, even to the point of feeling forsaken by God, thereby bridging the gap between divine presence and human suffering in a unique way. The later part of Psalm 22, speaking of ultimate deliverance, also implicitly foreshadows the resurrection, turning the lament into a declaration of hope.
Keep thinking
Read alongside it
The Old Testament psalm Jesus quotes, expressing similar anguish and a feeling of abandonment.
Matthew's parallel account of Jesus' cry from the cross, with a slightly different Greek transliteration of the Hebrew/Aramaic.
This passage emphasizes Jesus' full humanity and ability to sympathize with human weakness, including feelings of desolation.
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