These words from the cross have troubled many for centuries. There appears to be several possible explanations for Jesus saying this.
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(2) I recall a Baptist preacher 50 years ago who spoke about these words on Palm Sunday and he said that Jesus felt forsaken on the cross by the Father and this was Jesus' way of expressing his isolation at the moment. While this explanation seems a little better than the first one, it is still not very satisfying for many of us. Even Luther tried to do a sermon on these words, but could not understand how God could forsake God.
(3) Jesus was not God, but merely the Son of God and thus truly did feel forsaken by God on the cross.
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What do the rest of you think of these words from the cross? Is it quite possible that the Greek translation erred in the meaning of Jesus' intent and that this reported Aramaic translation is the accurate one?
Psalm 22 is about David, and about the Messiah, and it's beneficial to take the entire Psalm 22 context into account. Jesus apparently identifies with David's position and attitude here, so if the one who is the Son of God, and who came down from heaven, died, that is pretty much the lowest point - so from Jesus' perspective God had 'left' him at that moment. God is life, and Jesus died - that's a direct link (but nowhere in the Biblical texts we read that 'God died').
Now in Psalm 22 the David/Messiah figure is calling out to 'El', 'Elohim'; and the David/Messiah figure is distinct from YHWH in Psalm 22:8 :
He (=David/Messiah) trusts in YHWH;
let him (=YHWH) deliver him (=David/Messiah);
let him (=YHWH) rescue him (=David/Messiah),
for he (=YHWH) delights in him (=David/Messiah)!
Also in the NT at various other places we find direct references to the 'God of Jesus':
John 20:17
I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.
2 Corinthians 11:31
The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, ...
Ephesians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ...
Ephesians 1:17
.. that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, ...
Hebrews 10:5-7 / Psalm 40:6-8
I delight to do your will, O my God; ...
1 Peter 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! ...
The pattern IMHO is quite clear: God the Father was (during Jesus' ministry on earth), and still is (after His ascension) the God of Jesus.
In the NT we find the phrase 'the Son of God' many times, but never 'the Son of God the Father'. Many times we find that Jesus is 'at the right hand of God (or Majesty)' (about 10 times in the NT), but nowhere do we find the phrase 'at the right hand of God the Father'.
All this is consistent with God the Father = the God of Jesus, and hence, the inherent authority hierarchy between them, as is expressed in:
1 Corinthians 11:3
.. that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.
So far my observations ..