About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Matthew 27:46.
Jesus had been interrogated the whole night through. False witnesses had made statements against Him. The high priest and the sanhedrin had accused Him unjustly. Did they not know what He had done and taught? The Son of God was scoffed at, reviled, beaten and spat upon.
Early next morning His accusers brought Him to the judgment hall of the Roman governor Pilate, demanding His death. They themselves were forbidden to carry out the death sentence. Yet the Roman judge testified several times that he could find no fault in Jesus.
Pilate finally condemned the Lord of glory to death against his own conscience. His soldiers ill-treated Jesus with brutal violence before nailing Him to the cross. Even there the Jews did not stop scorning Him. The Lord bore it all without protest and without defending Himself.
At midday darkness came upon the whole land until three o’clock in the afternoon, when the Lord cried out with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This was suffering far worse than anything that men had caused Him. Christ felt it more deeply than we can imagine. Did He not know why God had forsaken Him? Indeed, He did: He was suffering there not for any guilt of His own, but for that of others.
The Son of God endured all that out of love towards us, so that we might obtain the forgiveness of our sins.