Just before Jesus breathed his last breath, he cried out: “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Did Jesus want to come down from the cross? Did he believe that God had forsaken him?

Jesus was quoting from Psalm 22:1 because he could relate with the pain the psalmist felt. I don’t wish to think that Jesus believed that God his father had forsaken or forgotten about him; nor would I want to think that he wanted to come down from the cross either. But in one’s moment of extreme pain and loneliness, can one’s feeling of pain be separated from one’s belief?