Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Cry from the Cross | The Gospels | Mark 15:33–47

Episode Date: March 3, 2026

Why did Jesus quote Psalm 22 in his final moments? Why does it sound more like desperation than victory? What does his agony reveal about God’s heart toward you? In today’s episode, Tanya walks through Mark 15:33–47 and shows how Jesus bore the agony of spiritual separation in our place so we could be fully known, fully loved, and never abandoned. Read the Bible with us in 2026! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passage: Mark 15:33-47

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. I work in public relations, and if Christianity was my client or my brand, which is not, obviously, I would not choose the final words Jesus said on the cross as a way to, as we say, amplify and elevate. I would not choose these words because they sound more like desperation than leadership. Why then?

Did the early writers include them in their own? accounts of the resurrection. The fact of their existence is the best evidence that these words must have been spoken. This must be true. Why else would they be recorded here? But when Jesus spoke those words, he was not thinking about brain reputation or thought leadership. He was thinking of the one thing he did not have before he came to earth to take on flesh and die on the cross. He was thinking of us. We were the reason he voluntarily came to suffer and die. We were the reason he went at the Father's will to the cross. We are the reason he spoke these words. My God, my God. Why have you abandoned me? When Jesus cried out these words, he was experiencing something

infinitely more painful than the crucifixion itself. He didn't cry, my feet, my side, my body. He cried out to God as he experienced the agony of being spiritually separated from the presence of his father. You and I have experienced the pain of separation. You and I have experienced the pain of separation, it's painful when a good friend moves away. My friend moved to St. Louis a few years ago, and I remember just this pain of that separation. It is painful when a child leaves home to go to college. It is painful when a spouse leaves you. It's incredibly painful when someone you love, especially someone that you're related to, dies. But what Jesus experienced here is beyond any kind of pain we can fully comprehend. This was a relationship of perfect unity.

perfect communion and perfect love. But what Jesus was doing for us in the midst of this pain was not a surprise to him. Jesus had been shaped by the scriptures. He had grown up reading them, memorizing them, and praying them. And as he hung on the cross, he was quoting scripture that he had memorized with all his heart. He was fulfilling words written a thousand years ago, earlier in Psalm 22. King David wrote these words. My God, my God, why have you abandon me? Why are you so far away when I'd grown for help? See as Jesus grew up, he had read and memorized these words, and on the cross he found that they expressed what he was going through, his own agony. Up to this point, Jesus had been remarkably composed. He had been beaten, whipped,

he'd been mocked, they'd put a crown of thorns on his head, they nailed him to a cross, and still he'd been silent. But when the weight of the spiritual separation, the father fell on him when he experienced the withdrawal of his father's presence. His agonies surpassed his physical pain, and he cried out. Now this isn't the way any of us would write the story. It confuses us to think of God turning his face away. It pains us so much that we really don't want to think about it. But we have to see that this was not an accident. This was not a problem for God. This was purposeful. One of our greatest fears, if we are really honest, is abandonment. We're worried that if anyone realized who we really are, deep down, they wouldn't like us.

They would hate us. They would leave us. We are so much worse than the image we put on display. And deep in our hearts, we know that. Yet, we are the reason Jesus came. Because God turned aside from his son on the cross, you never need to fear that God will abandon you. Jesus experienced the worst separation so that we don't have to. How often do you talk to God about the things really going on under the surface? How often do you sit still enough to let his spirit unravel the stuff and get underneath the things that are bothering you? This passage, though it feels dark, is deeply comforting. There's nothing that we can hide from God. There's nothing that needs to be hidden.

He knows the worse about us, and he loves. loves us anyway. And because Jesus took separation for us, we now have freedom to live differently. We can have real relationships, not shallow, surface-level conversations, but honest ones. We can talk about struggles with our kids, our marriages, our work, our finances, our doubts, our fears. We don't have to minimize them. We don't have to hide them. We can share, we can listen, we can remind one another that Jesus will not abandon us. We can also be people who stay. Other people's pain does not have to scare us away.

We're not always called to fix it, but we are called to be present, to remain, to love, and to reflect the heart of Christ. Let's pray. Lord, I am the one who sins, yet you are the one who suffered. You experienced the agony that should have been mine. Because you took my place, I no longer fear separation or abandonment. You pay for my sin past, present, and future. Thank you for your extravagant love.

Help me reflect that love to others. Only by your strength can I live honestly and allow others to be honest with me. Help me Jesus. Amen.