Did Jesus Have a Crisis of Faith?

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭27:46‬ ‭ESV‬‬, And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

As a young Christian, I came across this passage and for a long time struggled over its meaning. What was Jesus saying here? Did He give up, overwhelmed at the pain on the cross? Was He done with it all? Even more, was He having a crisis of faith?

Not knowing my Bible, I wrestled with this passage, especially reading it out of context. But as I grew in my faith and read my Bible more and more, I began to connect the Old Testament with the New. I would also dig deeper to research passages like this one. One thing that I realized is about how people in Jesus’s day would quote Scripture: they would recite the first few words of the text as a reminder of the rest of the message. For example, the Shema (hear) was a reference to Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One.”

And as we go to what Jesus said on the cross, we see this same statement as the first line of Psalm‬ ‭22, “[1] My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?” Going further into this psalm, we can see that this text points to Christ and his cross. He was the One who bore our sins, and He did it with unbearable pain. And in case there was a doubt of what He was doing, while in the middle of His pain and suffering, Jesus referred to this psalm. He wasn’t having a crisis of faith, He was reciting this psalm, clearly making a declaration of faith!

The result is miraculous. His death gave us life. His life gave us eternity. His righteousness was placed on a people, even those not yet born. And for those who believe, they have the right to be called children of God (John 1:12). Surely He has done this!

As a result of His magnificent work, we are faced with a choice whether or not to respond, and our response should be nothing but faith in Him. We are saved, not automatically, not universally, but particularly, by the power of grace and the conduit of faith. Believe and be saved, trust and live forever.

Jesus, the One and Only, did this for you. He died, was buried, and rose again, verified by many witnesses. May you see His glorious sacrifice, respond to His offer of forgiveness, repent and be changed forever.

Pastor Fran