"For where Jesus appeareth, the blessed Trinity is understood, as to my sight."
Julian of Norwich (Ch. 4)
When we think of Jesus dying on the cross we may think of Him being there alone doing this act. We may even think that the Father turned His back on the Son because of the words Jesus cried out, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" But where Jesus appears, the whole Trinity is understood and is present. All of the Trinity work in union and harmony and all of the Trinity are always present to and with each other. Thus Jesus was not abandoned or alone at the cross. The whole Trinity was there present. When we see the love of Jesus as He is hanging on the cross, forgiving and saving us all, we see the love of the whole Trinity, forgiving and saving us all.
The cry of Jesus from the cross, then, is seen to be Jesus standing in solidarity with all of us humans who have felt abandoned by God and alone, though just like Jesus on the cross, God has never abandoned us or left us at all. Jesus quotes this line from Psalm 22 to show that He took on not only all our sin but all its consequences as well, such as feelings of abandonment or alienation, feelings of hurt and lostness, sadness and pain. He took all that on to free us from it, free us to fulfill our destiny of communion with the Trinity. He identified with sinners so we could be identified with the righteous God. He took on all the human condition and removed the pain, negative feelings and sins from us. He showed us that God does not turn His back on us when we sin; instead, God becomes man to enter into our situation, God hurts with us, God feels all our pain, God takes it on Himself, and God dies for us to free us from it. That is what kind of wonderful God we have!
"He looked death in the face and didn’t flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep."
Isaiah 53:12 (MSG)
A Prayer: Thank You for the way You took up my cause and freed me from sin and its effects.