Dying Like a Man

At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”

One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there. (Mark 15:33-41)

Jesus did not always enjoy doing his Father’s will. When Jesus was dying, he cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Why did Jesus say that? Some have suggested that when God put all the sins of the world on Jesus, for the first time ever Jesus experienced separation from his Father.

But that explanation forgets that Jesus was a man. He had been betrayed by one of his closest friends. Most of the rest of them had run away. So he died like men die when they’re on a cross: in agony and alone. How could he feel despair? He had the same feelings, the same needs that all the rest of us have.

Jesus loved life and he experienced its full range of emotions. And human beings were created in God’s image. As God he already knew those feelings. And feelings simply are, like the blue in the sky, or the wet in water. Some people seem bothered by Jesus’ cry of despair when he died. Rather, we should be bothered only if he hadn’t.

If you ever think that God doesn’t understand the pain of being human, the sometimes despair of it, then you don’t know God. He understands. He’s been there. Sometimes there is reason to feel despair. It is not a sin to feel bad, any more than it is to feel good. Like Jesus, we can rejoice when times are good, and cry when times are bad.

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