Mark 15:34 At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” which is translated, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”

When does Jesus cry out with a loud voice?

“At the ninth hour …” (Mark 15:34).

·      τῇ ἐνάτῃ ὥρᾳ (tē enatē hōra) =3 p.m. (BDAG, 331).

·      How does Acts 3:1 describe the ninth hour?

“Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer” (Acts 3:1).

What does He cry out with a loud voice at the ninth hour?

“…ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?...” (Mark 15:34).

·      “Jesus’ cry is an Aramaic quotation of Psalm 22:1, which was sometimes recited at this time of day in prayer but receives special significance when Jesus prays it. The first line would evoke this whole psalm of the righteous sufferer—and its hope of divine vindication. (Jesus probably quoted the psalm in Hebrew, as in Matthew; Mark uses the Aramaic form because the saying was transmitted in an Aramaic milieu. ‘Eli’ could be mistaken for ‘Elijah’ much more easily than ‘Eloi’; cf. 15:35-36.)”

Craig S. Keener, “15:33­–41 The Death of the King,” The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993).

What is the translation of “ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI”?

“...which is translated, ‘MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?’” (Mark 15:34).

·       “Mark (and Matthew) recorded only this one of Jesus’ seven sayings from the cross. At the ninth hour (3 p.m.), Jesus cried … Eloi, Eloi (Aramaic for the Hebrew, ’Ēlî, ’Ēlî), lama sabachthani? (Aramaic; from Ps. 22:1) Mark translated the saying into Greek for his readers, which in English means, My God, My God, why (lit., ‘For what [reason]’) have You forsaken (lit., ‘did You abandon’) Me?

This was more than the cry of a righteous Sufferer affirming His faith that God would cause Him to triumph (contrast Ps. 22:1 with Ps. 22:28). Nor did Jesus merely feel abandoned. Instead Jesus’ cry combined (a) abandonment by God the Father in a judicial not relational sense, and (b) a genuine affirmation of Jesus’ relationship to God. Bearing the curse of sin and God’s judgment on sin (cf. Deut. 21:22-23; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13) He experienced the unfathomable horror of separation from God, who cannot look on sin (cf. Hab 1:13). This answers Jesus’ question, ‘Why?’ Dying for sinners (Mark 10:45; Rom 5:8; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18), He experienced separation from God.

Also Jesus’ cry affirmed His abiding trust, reflected in the words, ‘My God, My God.’ This is the only one of Jesus’ recorded prayers in which He did not use the address ‘Abba’ (cf. Mark 14:36). Far from renouncing Him, Jesus claimed the Father as His God. He died forsaken by God so that His people might claim God as their God and never be forsaken (cf. Heb. 13:5).”

John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 189. 

Father,

In the pit of the darkness of the curse of sin and death, the soul is ravished by desperation and despair. Abandoned. As Jesus became the curse of sin on the cross, He was crushed under the full magnitude of Your wrath against the sin of the whole world…past, present, and future. He bore our sin in its entirety, and His divine soul was tortured by the hell of judicial separation from You.  Jesus endured Your just condemnation of sin and bore its penalty, which is death. Glory to Christ for His power to endure and overcome the power and penalty of our sin.

And You did not forsake Jesus in death, but raised Him in glorious victory over death. Glory and thanks to You, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ for You have shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of Your glory in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of You and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. We know that You who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus. Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Glory to You, our God and Father, Who raised Jesus from the dead. Our faith and hope are in You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.