What is the context?
Darkness covers the land from the sixth to the ninth hour, which the BSB note identifies as noon to three in the afternoon. About the ninth hour Jesus cries out with the opening words of Psalm 22:1. Matthew preserves the sound of the cry and then gives its meaning: a prayer asking why God has forsaken Him.
Forsaken comes from ἐγκαταλείπω, enkataleipō (eng-kah-tah-LAY-poh). Thayer's entry explains its use here as abandoning someone in distress or leaving someone helpless. The word conveys the depth of the cry; it does not by itself explain every aspect of the relationship between the Father and the Son.
Some standing nearby speak of Elijah. One runs for a sponge, fills it with sour wine, and holds it up for Jesus, while the others say to wait and see whether Elijah will rescue Him. Matthew then records another loud cry and Jesus yielding up His spirit. The next verses describe the torn temple veil and other events surrounding His death.
John 19:28–30 also records the sour wine and Jesus' declaration that His work is finished. Luke 23:44–46 records His final entrusting of His spirit to the Father. Reading these accounts together keeps both the anguish and the willing self-giving in view.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Christians commonly recognize the words of Psalm 22:1 in Jesus' cry and understand His suffering and death as part of His saving work. They differ in how they explain His experience of being forsaken.
Calvin on 27:46 understands Jesus as bearing the judgment due to sinners in both body and soul, while His trust in God remains firm through the anguish. Wesley on 27:46 likewise emphasizes both trust and the terrible loss of the felt comfort of God's presence. The Westminster Confession, 8.4–5, teaches His willing suffering in soul and body and His sacrifice for reconciliation.
The Catholic Catechism, 603–604, emphasizes that Jesus did not become a sinner rejected by God: He remains united to the Father in redeeming love while taking our condition upon Himself and speaking in our name. This explanation preserves both His real anguish and the Father's continuing love. These sources give the cry serious weight without treating it as playacting or a failure of faith.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
Psalm 22 moves from a sufferer's cry to praise, God's hearing of the afflicted, and the nations turning to the LORD (Psalm 22:22–31). The New Testament itself carries this connection further: Hebrews 2:10–13 quotes the psalm's declaration of God's name among brothers when describing Jesus bringing many children to glory. The cry belongs within a larger scriptural story that reaches beyond the suffering to a people gathered in praise.
Romans 5:6–11 explicitly describes reconciliation through the death of God's Son and presents that death as the demonstration of God's love for sinners. 1 Corinthians 15:20–22 then places Christ's resurrection beside the death that came through Adam. His death and resurrection belong together in the saving purpose that brings reconciliation and life.
What is our position?
On Jesus' cry in verse 46, What Does Prayer Look Like? emphasizes honest prayer within suffering. Jesus brings the weight of His experience before the Father without pretending that the anguish is less than it is. The study takes this as a model for bringing grief to God without treating such honesty as unfaithfulness. This supplies our position on the prayer; it does not decide every explanation of the darkness or of how Jesus' suffering accomplishes salvation.