My Father, My Father, Why Have You Accepted Me?

My Father, My Father, Why Have You Accepted Me?

By Apostle Felix

46  And at three o’clock Jesus shouted with a mighty voice in Aramaic, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”—that is, “My God, My God, why have you deserted me?” 

Matthew 27: 46

Have you ever been loved by someone you had probably offended? You expected retribution from the person but instead the person lavished love, care and favor. The response to such gestures is normally suspicion, and oftentimes, reject the gesture. It is very hard for someone to receive love, ho feels does not deserve to be loved. This is the reason why many find it very hard even to accept forgiveness when they are forgiven. The same attitude makes them hard to forgive others. Individuals that find it hard to forgive, also find it hard to receive forgiveness.  Jesus is our example. While hanging on the cross, mutilated and dying like a criminal, He chose to forgive His accusers, the Jews and the Roman government that crucified Him.

34  While they were nailing Jesus to the cross, he prayed over and over, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.” The soldiers, after they crucified him, gambled over his clothing.

Luke 23: 34

Jesus on the cross, experienced the darkest moment of His life. Not just because of the pain, but because of the judgement that fell upon Him. For the first time. He addressed His Father as God and felt abandoned and deserted by the Father. The cry He made was from the heart of innocence. He did not deserve the cruelty and worst still the feeling of rejection. Jesus had done nothing to deserve that. What did He do to deserve condemned in that way, and God the Father to turn His back on Him. The king of glory is dying a shameful death of the cross. This is God hanging on the cross, being mocked by His own creation. He could not even call God, FATHER. But He cried, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?’

18  This infuriated them and made them all the more eager to devise a plan to kill him. For not only did he break their Sabbath rules, but he called God “my Father,” which made him equal to God. 

John 5: 18

Jesus was hated for calling God, Father. This was because the title Father suggests equality. The equality is in the sense of nature, of the same nature. The religious leaders and the people could not just imagine a man having the same nature as God. For religion, God is a far distant being that cannot be associated with man. This is the reason why the Jewish people could not even want to mention the name of God. For them, God cannot live among men. Isaiah’s prophecy of God becoming man did not make sense to them. How can God become man.

14  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 7: 14

God became like one of us. Jesus took our place, the place of condemnation and was condemned. The rejection He went through was not because He had done anything wrong. No, it was because we had sinned against God and Jesus had to be condemned instead. He cried on the cross, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me,’ so that I may be able to cry to God like, ‘my Father, my Father, why have You accepted me?’ Then the Lord will be able to respond and say, ‘It is because of the rejection of My Son on the cross, that’s why you have been accepted.’ So, His rejection became our acceptance.