The account of the Savior’s Crucifixion in Matthew indicates that before Christ died, He “cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (emphasis added).
The phrase Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? is generally considered to be a Greek transliteration of the phrase in Aramaic, which was the common language at the time. President Jeffrey R. Holland believes that this translation choice reflects a vital truth about Christ’s experience and personal love for us. In a recent Easter study video, he explained:
“May I suggest that ... the translators, early and late, do not translate the ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani’ into the English of the day, our English in the King James Version. ... They leave it in the Greek into the Aramaic as the language of the day, the language everyone down there would be speaking and hearing. And He says in their language, so they would understand, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’
“I think the force of that verse is the force of the ultimate expression of Christ’s gift for us. … Now, God was never closer. My suggestion, my declaration [is] that God was never closer to his Only Begotten Son than at this moment. Never.
“But the Savior can’t quite be allowed to feel that. He has to walk this path alone. He stands in the vat and crushes those grapes of redemption alone. ‘I tread the wine vat alone.’ And it can’t even withstand translation.
“We just have to hear it in full force, and with some sense, we have to hear it with a loud voice. A voice that says, ‘I know what I’m doing, and it hurts. I know what I’m doing, and I bleed. I know and feel. And the only thing I can say, I say it in a loud voice, in the language you understand.'”
As President Holland suggests, this verse conveys “the force of the ultimate expression of Christ’s gift for us” because it shows He wanted to communicate the depth of His love and sacrifice in a way that we would understand.
During extreme moments of pain or grief, many of us have felt distant from God. However, as President Holland has taught previously, “One of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so.”
Watch the full video from President Holland in the player below.
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▶ 10 minutes a day to a Christ-centered Easter week
▶ Pres. Holland turns the phrase ‘going through the temple’ on its head
▶ The parable that multiple speakers mentioned during conference
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