Questions and Answers 8 years later - Tender Mercies

Back when I first started going back to church in 2005 I was assigned a companion and given a visiting teaching list. We only went out together once, but I remember talking in my living room when we got back and she said something that I never heard before and never heard since. She said that even though it is taught as doctrine that Jesus was without sin that was wrong. She said that Jesus had in fact sinned, when he was on the cross and asked “oh God, why hast thou forsaken me?” She said that he doubted and that doubt was his sin, so he was in fact not a perfect man. Now don’t get me wrong, she was active in church and I had just gone back but I still wasn’t buying it. If it is preached from the pulpit that Jesus lived a perfect life, then that is the doctrine that I cling to, but I had no rebuttal other than “that’s not what the prophet says.” I’ve often thought about that and while I didn’t believe her view on the subject, I did wonder about it, what it meant, but have never had any answers, until today. On my way to work I was listening to an article in the January 2011 Ensign entitled “Never Forsaken” by Adam C. Olson. In it he says “during His ministry the Lord often quoted scripture… but I was caught off guard one day when I read the first verse of Psalm 22, ‘my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’” Now I’m not a scriptorian so when I heard that I it caught me off guard as well. He continues “I had never considered that the Savior may have been quoting sacred writings when He spoke those words in His agony on the cross… Did His cry also rise from uncertainty – even doubt? Did it mean that there was a question for which my all-powerful, all-knowing Savior had no answer in the very moment my salvation depended on His power to provide all answers and overcome all things?” This was it, this was the question that I had waited years to have answered, not answered so that I would be convinced, because I already knew the truth, but to be answered so that I could have understanding. It was a very surreal moment for me as I waited for the answer. He says that this was “not an indication of doubt.” I knew it!!! I knew that the prophets were right, but I wanted to hear it from this man who knew how to phrase this question of mine that has sat in the back on my mind for 8 years, I wanted to hear him say that this was not doubt, no inference, no assumption of understanding, I wanted words. “The very act of calling out to His Father in His greatest hour of need using words from holy writings was not only an evidence of faith but also a profound teaching opportunity. Though Psalms 22 begins with a question, it is an expression of profound trust that God does not forsake… Using the psalmist’s experience as a foreshadowing of the Savior’s suffering, the psalm foretells the mocking (verses 7-8), the false trial and coming torture (verses 11-13), His pain and suffering (verse 14), His thirst (verse 15), the wounding of His hands and feet (verse 16 ), and the casting of lots and parting of His garments (verses 18).” What?! I went and listened to Psalms 22 and this was true! What does this mean then? Was this Christ’s way of saying that this scripture had been fulfilled in him? At the very moment that most of it had happened?! Was he reminding the people that this exact sequence of events had been foretold of the Messiah and it had JUST happened to him? Surely anyone with scriptural knowledge at the time would have recalled the reference. First off, at the time there weren’t tons of scriptures, simply the Old Testament, and the phrase verbatim “why hast thou forsaken me?” should have rung some bells for at least someone, especially with all the Jewish leaders there and their supposed familiarity with the scriptures. It seems like this would be one more way for Jesus to say “hey, go back and search the scriptures and see if you can recognized, finally, that I am the Messiah.” Brother Olson concludes saying “Though the Savior quoted only the first verse, the remainder of the psalm stands as another testimony that He is the promised Messiah, that His suffering fulfilled prophecy, and that He trusted in His Father completely.” This was a tender mercy extended to me from the Lord to further my understanding and answer a question that I had for many years. And I am grateful.