The Father turned his face away . . . or did he?

Psalm 22 is a powerful "messianic" psalm. In vivid detail it describes what happened to Jesus on the cross. Its opening words were cried out by Jesus as he was dying: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" It seems that Jesus was aware, even as he was facing death, that he was fulfilling this psalm and that his death was significant because he was giving his life in fulfilment of the Scriptures. The psalm goes on to describe, hundreds of years before the event, exactly what happened to Jesus as he suffered the agony of the cross . .
'All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: "He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him . .'" (v.8)
'I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.' (v.14)
'They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.'  (v.18)

And in verse 24 we read the surprising words
'For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one;
      he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.'

This seems to fly in the face of 'traditional' evangelical teaching which says that as Jesus suffered on the cross there was a period of time when God the Father 'turned his face away' from Jesus the Son as he suffered because at that moment Jesus was carrying all the sin of humankind and God cannot look upon sin. This is what it means for Jesus to endure 'hell' - he experienced complete isolation from God as he became sin for us. He endured the penalty due to us for our sin so that we can go free and escape God's judgement. Hence the cry that Jesus uttered: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Which is true? Did God the Father turn away from Jesus as he bore our sins? Was he really forsaken by God at that moment as he cried out? Or can we believe the psalm when it says, "he has not hidden his face from him"?

There are several ways that we can seek to reconcile this apparent contradiction. We can say that Jesus really was separated from God the Father as he carried our sins. This means that the words of the psalm are to be taken figuratively, looking back on the whole sequence of events surrounding the cross. God the Father was pleased with the obedience of Jesus and when Jesus was dead, the Father raised him to live again and, about 40 days later, lifted him up to heaven and gave him authority and power. God the Father was not ashamed of Jesus, but was pleased with him. He did not ignore his obedience and suffering, but rather honoured him, and in that sense he did not "hide his face from him."

Alternatively, we can take the words of the psalm literally. The Father did not hide his face from his Son, but continued to look upon him and remained with him throughout his ordeal on the cross. In which case, what did Jesus mean when he cried out: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Was Jesus forsaken by God or not? There are two possible solutions. It could be that this was Jesus' experience, but not the reality: he could not feel the presence of God as he suffered, he felt forsaken by God, but nevertheless God the Father was with him right through the ordeal. Or it could be that Jesus was deliberately invoking this psalm, so that people could see the parallels between the psalm and the events unfolding so that they would realise that his suffering was in accordance with scripture and that he was truly the Messiah. (Or possibly both of these are true - it was Jesus' experience and he was invoking Psalm 22.)

IF this second explanation is correct, if it is true that God the Father did not turn his face away from Jesus but was with him through the ordeal on the cross, then there are some truly amazing consequences for us. Firstly, if it is true that God the Father did not turn away from Jesus as he carried our sin, then it means that God does not turn away from us when we sin. Even when we are disobedient and do things that offend God's holiness, he sticks with us. He is offended, even disgusted, by the sin but he sticks with us because we are his children and his heart is for us. Secondly, it means that as people did disgusting, degrading and downright evil things to Jesus, God the Father was still with him, even though Jesus did not feel it. That means that if people have done disgusting, degrading and downright evil things to you, God did not abandon you: he was still with you, even though you did not feel it. And if at times you feel utterly abandoned by God, you can take some comfort from knowing that Jesus felt just the same, and that God neither abandoned Jesus nor you. That is amazing!