“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”
As we finish Mark we see Jesus asking why God has forsaken him. When we read this part of Scripture during the week before Easter, this sentence always chokes me up. Who is Jesus to doubt God? Who is God to allow Jesus to think he’s been forsaken? What chance do I have, if this is how Father and Son interact?
I’ve never known what to do with this. I’m not sure I do still, but I have another piece to chew on. The accompanying reflection for this section of scripture is from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and opens by saying we need to recognize that we live in a world “Etsi deus non daretur”. Not having taken Latin, I looked it up. As though God doesn’t exist. Bonhoeffer continues that we absolutely need to understand that “before God and with God, we live without God.” As I was reading this, I was experiencing the same discomfort as Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani.
Bonhoeffer continues, “God lets the divine self be pushed out of the world onto the cross”. Ok, I understand this, but why?
“God is weak and powerless in the world, and that is precisely the way, the only way, in which God is with us and helps us”. He concludes that “Christ helps us, not by virtue of his omnipotence, but by virtue of his weakness and suffering.”
Jesus had to face the cross, wondering whether God was with him, with his own version of Etsi deus non daretur. Jesus, fully-human and fully-divine was killed on that cross, full of fear and doubt. If Jesus skipped the doubt and ‘why have you forsaken me’ part, it would be much harder for us to relate. We do need Jesus to show us resurrection life, despite the doubt. Jesus fully-human and fully-divine was raised from the dead.
I don’t particularly like the idea that God lets me trapse through this world without certainty or proof of God’s presence, providence and all-powerfulness. But Jesus didn’t get that assurance, and Jesus can be my savior, tortured and killed, and risen.
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