Evidence · Case 06 · Problem of Evil
The Gospel of Mark, the cry from the cross
One exhibit from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
On the cross Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” quoting the opening line of Psalm 22. Whatever else that moment means, it shows the Christian God has himself spoken the words of a person who feels abandoned in agony.
Sources
Mark 15:34, NASB
Objections & responses
- Jesus is quoting Psalm 22, which ends in vindication and praise. Isn’t the cry a reference to the whole psalm rather than an expression of real abandonment?
Many scholars do think the quotation invokes the whole psalm, including its hope, and that reading is a fair one. Even so, Jesus chose the opening line, not the ending, and Mark records no answer from heaven. The Christian tradition has held both that the cry is real dereliction and that it is spoken in faith, which is not a contradiction but the texture of lament. For the pastoral point made here, that God has spoken the words of the forsaken, either reading serves.