The End of Jesus' life

Mark 15:33-36

Jesus reached the place called Golgotha at 9 o‘clock. At midday, something strange happened. The whole country became very dark. It remained dark until 3 o‘clock.

At 3 o‘clock, Jesus shouted something. It was the beginning of Psalm 22 which describes the troubles that the Christ would have. It describes Jesus‘ death. David wrote it about 1000 years before Jesus died.

Jesus shouted it because he was alone on the cross. Jesus had these troubles because of the wrong things that other people have done. He died on behalf of those people. This was necessary so that God would forgive them (John 1:29; Isaiah 53:5). On the cross, Jesus had taken the bad things that people do (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:3). But God is completely good; and he is against all bad things. So God the Father was not still with Jesus when he died. Even God the Father had left Jesus. So Jesus was really alone.

The people did not hear Jesus clearly and they did not understand these important words. Jesus said "Eloi," which means "my God." But the people thought that he said "Elijah." Elijah was a prophet of God who had done some very powerful things. The teachers said that Elijah would come before the Christ (Mark 9:11). And Elijah would help the Christ. So the people thought that Jesus was asking Elijah to help him. They thought that this was Jesus‘ last chance. And they waited to see whether Elijah would come.