13th February 2026 Question box

OK, so this is a deep question:

How was the eternal Trinity working in Mark 15:34? How can God forsake himself?

Mark 15:34 comes as the climax of the gospel. Jesus has been hanging on the cross for nearly six hours. For the last three hours there has been darkness. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) Mark 15:34. And not very long after this Jesus breathes his last.

Can God forsake himself? Let’s think through this.

First of all, we recognise that God is not one person, He is three persons. Father and Son bound together in the unity of the Spirit. And so, when Jesus is speaking to God here, he is speaking to God the Father.

Also let’s think about who Jesus is. Jesus Christ is one person who has two natures: he is fully divine, and he is fully human. That is, we can call him the “Son of Man born of Mary”, and we can call him “the Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father.”

Something amazing happened when the Son of God took on human flesh. It wasn’t that the son of God stopped being divine, but rather that human nature was added to his divine nature: The eternal Son of God who exists beyond space and time, took a body within space and time. The all-knowing One, took on a nature which could learn and grow. The all-powerful One, took on a body which could get tired, and hungry. The one who cannot suffer, took on a body which could suffer. The author of life, took on a body which could die. And so Jesus is able to experience his existence in both of these natures. As the eternal Son of God – he has always experienced perfect love from his Father. And yet at the same time, as the human representative of his people, he is facing the wrath of God for their sins. On the cross, he does not for a second stop being the eternal Son of God. There is no suggestion in the bible that the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit somehow breaks apart, or that they work their power against each other. I mean, this is the moment when the Son is bravely completing his obedience to the Father who sent him!

Notice that in these words, the focus is not on Father-Son relations. There were other times on the cross when Jesus said: “Father”: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do…” (Luke 23:34) and “Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit….” (Luke 23:46). But here, he doesn’t say: “My Father why have you forsaken me;” No, he says: “My God!” The focus here is on relations between God and humanity. And through his human nature, Jesus is experiencing a complete removal of all of God’s blessings. That’s what it means to be forsaken. As his physical body hangs in darkness, all the light of God’s face is hidden from him. And in this experience of abandonment, Jesus is experiencing the alienation from God which is the result of our sin…so that we humans can be brought into the fellowship with God that he experiences as the Father’s beloved Son.

This was the Father’s plan, eagerly followed by the Son, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. In order to display the riches of his grace to us.

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This question was originally answered in our evening service on 24 August 2025. I’ll aim to post another question and answer next week. You can read about how our question box works here.