And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying,
Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?
which is, being interpreted,
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
All Commentaries on Mark 15:34 Go To Mark 15
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Out of the voice of the psalmist, which our Lord then transferred to himself, in the voice of this infirmity of ours, he spoke these words: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He is doubtless forsaken in the sense that his plea was not directly granted. Jesus appropriated the psalmist’s voice to himself, the voice of human weakness. The benefits of the old covenant had to be refused in order that we might learn to pray and hope for the benefits of the new covenant. Among those goods of the old covenant which belonged to the old Adam there is a special appetite for the prolonging of this temporal life. But this appetite itself is not interminable, for we all know that the day of death will come. Yet all of us, or nearly all, strive to postpone it, even those who believe that their life after death will be a happier one. Such force has the sweet partnership of flesh and soul. Letter , To Honoratus
