Understanding Matthew 27:45 in Depth: Forsaken for Our Sake

The Cry from the Cross

This moment comes at the very end of Jesus’ suffering, just before He breathes His last.

It was about three in the afternoon - what the Bible calls the ninth hour - after hours of darkness had covered the land, beginning at noon (Matthew 27:45). The scene is tense and solemn: Jesus hangs on the cross, surrounded by soldiers, a mocking crowd, and a few faithful followers. Then, in a loud voice, He cries out, 'Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?' - words that mean 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' - a quote from Psalm 22:1 that also appears in Mark 15:34.

This cry is the voice of the sinless Son of God, feeling separation from His Father for the first time and bearing every sin so we could be drawn near.

The Weight of Abandonment

Jesus’ cry from the cross echoes Psalm 22:1, linking an ancient lament to redemption.

He spoke in Aramaic - 'Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? - the everyday language of a Jewish peasant, making His cry both personal and highly accessible. This phrase mirrors the opening of Psalm 22, a psalm King David wrote when he felt surrounded by enemies and utterly alone, yet one that moves from despair to trust in God’s deliverance. By quoting it, Jesus identified with the suffering righteous one and signaled that this moment fulfilled the psalm. The crowd misunderstood, thinking He called for Elijah, revealing how few grasped the depth of what was unfolding.

In that cry, the sinless Son of God experienced the weight of divine abandonment - not because He had sinned, but because He was bearing the sins of the world. This is the heart of atonement: the one who knew no sin became sin for us, as 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, so we could be made right with God. The darkness from noon until three mirrored the spiritual reality of God’s presence withdrawing as Jesus took the judgment we deserved.

This moment also redefines honor and shame. In that culture, public crucifixion was the most shameful death, reserved for rebels and slaves. Yet Jesus transformed it into the ultimate act of love and glory. His cry shows He truly entered our brokenness - so that no one who feels forsaken today need believe they are beyond God’s reach.

The Cosmic Weight of the Cry

This cry from Jesus is a pivotal event in God’s plan to rescue humanity.

In quoting Psalm 22:1, Jesus is not only expressing deep sorrow but signaling that He is the fulfillment of a pattern of righteous suffering that leads to deliverance. The darkness that covered the land echoed the chaos of creation before God brought light, as in Jeremiah 4:23, where the earth is 'formless and empty' - a picture of what sin has done to the world. Now, in Jesus, that darkness is being absorbed so new creation can begin.

The Apostle Paul captures this in 2 Corinthians 5:21: 'God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.' This is the heart of the gospel: Jesus, who had never known separation from the Father, was forsaken so we never would be. He took our shame, our guilt, our isolation - not as a victim, but as a willing Savior. In that cry, the full weight of human rebellion was placed on Him, and the fellowship between Father and Son was broken so ours could be restored.

Matthew, who often shows Jesus as the promised Messiah fulfilling Old Testament hopes, includes this moment to reveal that the King’s victory comes through suffering. This cry proves Jesus truly entered the depths of human pain, so no one in despair is beyond His reach. And because He was abandoned, we can be sure that when we feel alone, God is still near.

The Echo of Psalm 22 and the Heart of the Cross

This cry from Jesus is the divine hinge that connects the Old Testament suffering of the righteous to the Messiah’s final sacrifice.

Jesus’ words 'Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?' - recorded in both Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 - are the Aramaic echo of Psalm 22:1, where David cries, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' That psalm begins in deep distress but ends in triumphant praise, describing enemies dividing garments and casting lots - just what we see at the foot of the cross in John 19:24.

By quoting this psalm, Jesus is not only expressing His agony but declaring that He is the fulfillment of its story - the righteous sufferer who trusts God even when deliverance seems absent. This moment fulfills what the Law and the Prophets hinted at but could not complete: a sinless man bearing the curse of sin so others could be set free.

Paul makes this clear in Galatians 3:13: 'Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”' Jesus, though innocent, took the place of the guilty, becoming the cursed offering that the Law demanded. In Romans 8:32, Paul adds, 'He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?' This shows that the Father’s surrender of the Son was not abandonment but purposeful love.

So this cry is not the end of hope but the breaking of a new dawn. Jesus entered the deepest darkness so that every person who ever feels forsaken could hear His voice and know He has been there first. The cross becomes the place where the old story of sin and separation ends, and the new story of grace and nearness begins.

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