Matthew 27:46 meaning

The parallel Gospel accounts for Matthew 27:46 is found in Mark 15:34.

After describing the crucifixion darkness in the previous verse, Matthew writes: 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?” (v 46).

Matthew introduces Jesus’s cry by first noting the time it was said: About the ninth hour. This indicates that the timing of Jesus’s outcry is significant.

The significance is not difficult to see. Jesus’s outcry is connected to the crucifixion darkness. Matthew ended the previous verse by noting the crucifixion darkness lasted “until the ninth hour” (Matthew 27:45). Matthew begins this verse with the expression: About the ninth hour. The timing between the darkness and Jesus’s outcry is hard to miss.

Jesus seems to have cried out just before the crucifixion darkness lifted, as it was lifting, or just after it lifted. But the timing of Jesus’s outcry and the conclusion of the darkness seems to be more than a mere matter of coincidence. It appears to be Jesus’s commentary about the darkness itself. (This commentary will elaborate on this thought later).

Moreover, Luke seems to indicate that Jesus “breathed His last” around the ninth hour (Luke 23:44-46)—which makes this outcry, which was expressed about the ninth hour, one of the final things Jesus will say on the cross.

The first part of Matthew’s introduction to Jesus’s outcry tells us when Jesus cried out, and the second part tells us how He cried out—loudly.

Matthew’s expression: Jesus cried out with a loud voice—informs us that Jesus screamed or yelled this statement. He did not say it softly or quietly, but loudly, for all to hear. The fact that Jesus cried this statement out suggests that it was a guttural lament or cry of deep agony and anguish.

Jesus anguished from the cross’s physical torture, the emotional pain of Israel’s rejection and scoffing, and His spiritual death when He was separated from God as He became an object of sin and wrath.  

Jesus cried out “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?”.

This was spoken in Aramaic—the common tongue of the day. It is possible, if not likely, that all seven of Jesus’s recorded statements from the cross were spoken in Aramaic, and not Hebrew—the religious language; or Greek—the language in which these events were written and have been passed down through the New Testament.

The apparent reason Matthew records this particular expression in Aramaic before translating its meaning was because there was evidently some confusion among those who were at the cross about what Jesus was actually saying. Some in the crowd seemed to misinterpret Eli as referring to the prophet “Elijah” instead of “My God” (Matthew 27:47-49). Matthew sets the record straight.

Matthew clarifies Jesus’s intent by correctly translating Christ’s expression when he writes “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

The question My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?  is a direct quote from Psalm 22:1. Psalm 22 describes the unjust suffering and divine rescue and vindication of David. Psalm 22 is prophetic of Jesus the Messiah’s suffering and death on the cross, and of His resurrection from the dead.

To learn more about Psalm 22 and its prophecies concerning Jesus the Messiah, see The Bible Says commentary for Psalm 22.

Jesus’s outcry in verse 46 is Matthew’s third explicit reference to Psalm 22 as he describes the Messiah’s crucifixion. 

Matthew’s first two references to Psalm 22 during his crucifixion account were:

• Matthew 27:35—when the soldiers divided Jesus’s garments—see Psalm 22:18
• Matthew 27:43—when Jesus’s enemies mocked Him with the same words David’s enemies used to mock him—see Psalm 22:7-8.

Jesus’s quotation of Psalm 22:1 in this outcry is also Matthew’s eighth allusion to a fulfillment of prophecy within his account of the Messiah’s crucifixion.

When Matthew translated Jesus’s outcry: “Eli, lama sabachthani?” as “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” every Jew would have instantly recognized it as Psalm 22:1. The reference to Psalm 22 would have been as immediate to them as when someone in modern America says “Four score and seven years ago” and people automatically recognize this as Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address.”

Jesus and Matthew both point to Psalm 22 with this outcry to demonstrate how the psalm predicted the Messiah’s crucifixion. Jesus becoming a curse for us on a tree does not disqualify Him from being the Messiah (Deuteronomy 21:23, 1 Corinthians 1:23a, Galatians 3:13). Psalm 22 and other prophecies like Isaiah 52:10 - 53:12 prove that Jesus was and is the Messiah.

In addition to being a way to allude to Messianic prophecy, the outcry—My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me—also provides personal commentary on the crucifixion darkness from the perspective of Jesus.

From Jesus’s perspective, this darkness seems to represent the emptiness He felt when God forsook Him in wrath as the sinless Lamb of God became the incarnation of every human transgression.

Jesus’s outcry is His agonizing response to this terrible moment.

For what was possibly the first time in eternity, God was forsaken of Himself. The Son of God was isolated from the Father in His most desperate hour of suffering. The apparent reason God forsook the Son was because the Son sacrificially allowed Himself to become the sin of the world and an object of wrath.

That the Messiah would sacrificially bear the sins of the people and suffer the wrath of God was prophesied by Isaiah time and again in his fourth Servant Song (Isaiah 52:10 - 53:12):

“Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
             And our sorrows He carried;
             Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
             Smitten of God, and afflicted.”
             (Isaiah 53:4)

“But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
              To fall on Him.”
              (Isaiah 53:6b)

“But the Lord was pleased
              To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
              If He would render Himself as a guilt offering.”(Isaiah 53:10a)

“My Servant, will justify the many,
              As He will bear their iniquities.”
             (Isaiah 53:11b)

Peter, who references Isaiah’s Servant Song, explains how Jesus was the foretold Servant who bore the penalty of our sins on the cross, absorbing God's wrath on our behalf and providing redemption and salvation for all who believe in Him:

“and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”
(1 Peter 2:24)

Paul and John also explained and elaborated upon this mysterious transaction:

“He [God the Father] made Him [Jesus, God the Son] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [Jesus].”
(2 Corinthians 5:21)

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us.” (Galatians 3:13)

“He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”
(1 John 2:2)

During those three hours of darkness, Jesus the Son of God and Messiah, willingly suffered God’s wrath and judgment upon sin, so that He would be able to save us from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

Jesus was likely expressing the profound anguish and effects of enduring God’s wrath during the three hours of darkness when He cried out with a loud voice “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Jesus was in effect describing His own spiritual death, His own separation from the intimacy with His Father He had always known.

Separation defines death. Death is a form of separation. In physical death, we witness the departure of the spirit and soul from the physical body, severing our spirit’s connection with our body. However, spiritual death transcends mere physicality. Spiritual death occurs when our soul has no connection with God—the source of life itself. The Scriptures equate sin with death, suggesting a twofold separation: from God and from His intended design for humanity (Genesis 2:16-17; Romans 6:23; James 1:15).

Even though He knew no sin, when He became sin on our behalf we can infer that sin had the same deadly effect upon Jesus’s human spirit as it did upon Adam’s spirit. Adam's spiritual death occurred when he hid from God and was subsequently expelled from Eden (Genesis 3:7-8, 3:23-24). Thus, His untainted relationship with God was broken. And similar to Adam, Jesus first encountered spiritual death, immediately followed by His physical demise.

When Jesus became sin during the crucifixion darkness, His human spirit died by being separated from and forsaken by God. On the cross, Jesus endured both spiritual and physical death. The Father inflicted spiritual death, forsaking Jesus during the darkness and placing the world's sins upon Him (Isaiah 53:10a; Colossians 2:14). Shortly after, Jesus surrendered His life physically, yielding His spirit (John 10:17-18; Luke 23:46).

Jesus’s spirit was resurrected on the cross before He physically died. We know this because the Divine relationship between Father and Son was restored before Jesus yielded up His spirit. Jesus’s final words were addressed not to “My God” but rather to “Father” (Luke 23:46).

All of these things suggest the following:

• Jesus spiritually died on the cross during the crucifixion darkness as He became the sin of the world and was separated from and forsaken by God.
• Jesus’s spirit was resurrected on the cross when the Divine relationship was restored as signified by His final statement: “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46b).
• Jesus physically died on the cross: “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit” (Matthew 27:50—see also Luke 23:46c).
• Jesus was physically raised from the dead three days later (Matthew 28:5-6, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

Those who are born again into God’s family follow a similar death-resurrection pattern:

• We are spiritually dead in sin.
  (Ephesians 2:1, Romans 5:12)

• We are restored to spiritual life and born again when we believe in Jesus.
  (John 3:16, 2:4-5)

• We physically die.
  (Ecclesiastes 12:7, Hebrews 9:27)

• We will be raised up again in the New Heaven and New Earth.
  (John 11:25-26, 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17)

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

The abyss of emotional, mental, psychological, and spiritual agony hinted at by this expression is unfathomable. Perhaps the most we can discern is that Jesus endured the utmost suffering within human capability.

Although Jesus comprehended His mission clearly (Matthew 20:18-19) and willingly embraced His cross in obedience to His Father, imbibing the bitter cup of God’s wrath (Matthew 16:24; Luke 22:42; Philippians 2:5-8), this did not alleviate the emotional anguish and existential torment of spiritual demise.

Despite knowing in advance what the scriptures said about how bad it would be, Jesus still cried out to God—asking Why? Why did saving the world have to hurt so much? Why did the world’s redemption have to be like this?

To more fully explore Jesus’s question, see The Bible Says article, “Jesus’s Seven Last Words from the Cross: 4. A Word Of Desolation.”