Chizuk Emunah (Pt 2) Under the Microscope: Chapter 26

Matthew 27:46, "And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,'—that is to say, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me'"? See the same passage in Mark 15:34. By this exclamation, Jesus clearly announced that he was not a God, but was like other mortals, who invoke God in the day of trouble. 

Not only has Troki used this, but the proponents of the Zealot hypothesis, such as Shmuley Boteach and Reza Aslan have used this quote to suggest that Jesus was a political zealot who cried this out in defeat after his failed revolution. All such hypotheses have the same method: emphasize one aspect of Jesus and dismiss all the passages against it as later historical invention.

Father Robert Barron explains:


Proponents of the zealot hypothesis have to dismiss all the early material to the contrary, even the material in Mark (considered by secular scholars as the earliest and most historically reliable of the gospels) as a later invention, yet they have no criteria for separating fact from fiction, other than their hypothesis. Interestingly enough, Mark's gospel is mostly a series of miracles performed by Jesus. In several of the stories, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and leaders of the Jews, foretells his own death, foretells the destruction of the temple, yet there is not a shred of evidence that Jesus had ever meant to start a violent revolution. A ministry of healing miracles is not something you would expect from a militant zealot. All of the evidence that Boteach and Aslan use to establish Jesus as a failed zealot come from sources less reliable than the miracle stories that make up the majority of Mark.

Of course, we haven't answered Troki's challenge yet. Why would Jesus, who was God in the flesh, who freely accepted worship, and repeatedly used divine prerogatives such as the forgiveness of sins cry out to God? The answer should be obvious if you have been reading this blog for any length of time. In the Tanakh, there are two names used for God: Yahweh, and Elohim. The Septuagint translates these as Kurios (Lord) and ho Theos (the God) respectively.

This is the key to the New Testament use of those terms. God can sometimes mean God simpliciter, sometimes means divinity, and sometimes means God the Father. Paul follows this tradition quite thoroughly. He repeatedly makes distinctions between Jesus and the Father and yet says that in Jesus, all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. See my two other posts:
Jesus as God: Clearing the Ground
Jesus as God: a Biblical Case

In fact, one does not even need to go to Paul to find this trinitarian view of God. Jesus himself says this in Matthew 28. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." That word for name is singular; it is the one name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. You don't baptize in the one name of God, a prophet, and a force.

If you still have issues with Jesus saying those words, keep in mind that he was quoting the opening verse of Psalm 22, perhaps a hint that this psalm was ultimately about him. Matthew was certainly not shy about applying passages in Tanakh to Jesus.