Matt 27:46 – When did God leave Jesus behind?

The cry from the cross, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me’ is very well known. The Greek verb (evgkatalei,pw) is given the meanings ‘leave behind, abandon, desert, forsake’ in lexicons. The corresponding Hebrew verb in Psalm 22 (bz[) is common and has a similar range of meanings. Since ‘forsake’ and ‘abandon’ carry a negative moral overtone, ‘leave behind’ or ‘leave’ are perhaps better choices. The question is: when did God leave Jesus behind?

The answer to this question is – at the ninth hour. At this time the darkness that had been present from the sixth to the ninth hour left (Matt 27:45). Jesus recognised in this darkness the presence of Yahweh who had descended in this visible manifestation to be with his Son.

Darkness is a common indicator of the presence of God from the natural world (Gen 1:2, Psalm 18) to the tabernacle and temple in the Holy of Holies. Jesus’ annunciation is his observational comment on the departure of the darkness and Yahweh.

Jesus died at about the ninth hour. His question is very precise: it is not about the severance of fellowship, nor about feeling his ministry was after all a failure, nor was it an expression of a feeling of rejection. Rather, it is just the question of why God lifted the darkness at the ninth hour. The answer is that this is how the Father told his Son that the moment for him to die had come. And so he did.