ACC ~ Matthew 27 v46

THE CRY IN THE NINTH HOUR

HILARY OF POITIERS: Night following day marks a division of times. Thus is fulfilled the triad of days and nights, and the hidden mystery of God’s work is perceived with astonishment by all of creation. The cry to God in truth is the voice of a body departing, having declared the separation of the Word of God from itself. He wonders why he is being abandoned when he exclaims, “God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” But he was forsaken because his humanity had to pass even through death. It must be considered carefully that he gave up the spirit with a loud cry after he drank from the sponge full of vinegar offered to him on a reed. [1] Wine is the honor and power of immortality, but it soured through the fault of the vessel or through carelessness. Therefore, since this wine had soured in Adam, he himself accepted it and drank from the nations. The fact that it was offered to him to drink from a sponge on a reed signifies that he took from the bodies of the Gentiles the sins which had ruined eternity and transferred our sins to himself, uniting them to his immortality. ON MATTHEW 33.6. [2]

[1] Mt 27:48, 50.

[2] SC 258:254.

WHO IS FORSAKEN?

ORIGEN: Certain people, in an outward display of piety for Jesus, because they are unable to explain how Christ could be forsaken by God, believe that this saying from the cross is true only as an expression of his humility. We, however, who know that he who was “in the form of God” [1] descended from the greatness of his stature and emptied himself, “taking the form of a servant” [2] according to the will of the one who sent him, understand that he was indeed forsaken by the Father inasmuch as he who was the form of the invisible God and the image of the Father “took the form of a servant.” He was forsaken for people so that he might shoulder so great a work and come “even to death” and “the death of the cross,” [3] a work which seems thoroughly shameful to most people. For it was the height of his abandonment when they crucified him and placed above his head the disdainful inscription “This is Jesus, king of the Jews.” [4] It was the height of his abandonment when they crucified him with thieves and when “those who passed by blasphemed him and wagged their heads.” [5] The chief priests and scribes said, “He saved others but cannot save himself.” [6] At that time “even the thieves reviled him” on the cross. [7] Clearly then you will be able to understand the saying “Why have you forsaken me?” when you compare the glory Christ had in the presence of the Father with the contempt he sustained on the cross, for his throne was “like the sun in the presence of God and like the moon established forever; and he was his faithful witness in heaven.” [8] Afterwards, he also added with regard to those reasons for which he said “why have you forsaken me?” “But now you have cast off and rejected, you are full of wrath against your anointed. You have renounced the covenant of your servant, you have defiled his crown in the dust.” [9] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 135. [10]

[1] Phil 2:6.

[2] Phil 2:7.

[3] Phil 2:8.

[4] Mt 27:37.

[5] Mt 27:39.

[6] Mt 27:42.

[7] Mt 27:44.

[8] Ps 89:36-37 (88:37-38 LXX).

[9] Ps 89:38-39 (88:39-40 LXX).

[10] GCS 38.2:279.

TESTIMONY FROM THE PSALM

JEROME: Jesus appropriated the beginning of the twentyfirst psalm. [1] That which is read in the middle of the verse, [2] “Look at me,” is superfluous. For in the Hebrew it reads, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” They are impious therefore who say that the psalm is written in the person of David or Esther or Mordecai, since the Evangelists understand that other testimony taken from the same psalm is to be applied to the Savior, as for example, “they divided my garments and cast lots for my clothing” and “they pierced my hands and my feet.” [3] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 4.27.46. [4]

[1] Ps 22:1 (21:1 LXX). Jerome means that Jesus willingly applied the beginning of the psalm to himself with the exception of “look at me,” the intermediate phrase between “My God, my God” and “why have you abandoned me?” He therefore contests the Jewish interpretation, which in disagreement with the Christians denied the messianic nature of the psalm.

[2] See LXX.

[3] Ps 22:18, 16 (21:19, 17 LXX).

[4] CCL 77:274.

STILL YOU ARE MY GOD

CHRYSOSTOM: Why does he speak this way, crying out, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” That they might see that to his last breath he honors God as his Father and is no adversary of God. He spoke with the voice of Scripture, uttering a cry from the psalm. [1] Thus even to his last hour he is found bearing witness to the sacred text. He offers this prophetic cry in Hebrew, so as to be plain and intelligible to them, and by all things Jesus shows how he is of one mind with the Father who had begotten him. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 88.1. [2]

[1] Ps 22:1 (21:2 LXX).

[2] PG 58:776; NPNF 1 10:521.

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