Take notice of the “circles of rejection” in verses 29-37. Reflect on where you are in this story. In what ways does the world reject and mock Jesus today?
Read Psalm 22 and feel the ways that it illuminates Jesus’ time on the cross . . . how it moves from the suffering to the glory!
“The cry from the cross represents the deepest possible pain. The Father and the Son have enjoyed perfect, unbroken harmony and fellowship in the Trinity for all of eternity . . . until now. THIS is the moment that the Father places the sin of the world upon his Son as the Lamb of God, as Jesus carries the full measure of the pollution of our wickedness, an obscenity God is too pure and holy to behold, so he must turn his face away for the first and only time. Jesus endures a moment of separation from God, which is far worse than the mocking, scourging, and crucifixion . . . it’s the searing pain of forsakenness . . .” R.C. Sproul.