And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthnai?'
that is 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?' Matthew 27:46
This is, in my opinion, one of the most important verses in the Bible, and it is, in my opinion, the one that most people tend to dismiss. Here Jesus stands at death's door, nailed to a cross by his hands/arms and feet, a crown of thorns pressed into his head, he has been beaten and spit upon, mocked and accused. His breath will shortly slip away and he uses what is left to question God's plan.
I say that most people tend to dismiss it because they place it within the context of the weight of sin bearing down on Jesus and so it is the burden of the sin of the world which forces Jesus' hand to utter such words. I don't know if that's true, [and neither, incidentally, do they] but here's what I take from this verse: If Jesus is allowed to question God so can we.
We don't have to hold back our doubts and questions, God can handle them. That can be powerful, because once we understand that God can handle them we are free to have them and not hold back, not allow ourselves to be chastised because of them, nor allow ourselves to be excluded because of them.
+ Have there been times when you felt you couldn't question? couldn't doubt?
+ How did you feel?
+Have there been times when you have chastised/excluded others because of their questions and doubts?
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