encouraging us to fearlessly give whatever we have for the glory of God, eager to see how God's plan will unfold, and confident that God's plan will be far more marvelous than anything we could have ever imagined.

Jesus' words were an echo of this Psalm, perhaps Jesus was proclaiming that he, just as the psalmist, had overcome his self-pity and was living every moment in the glory of God.

The crux of this matter is: Was Jesus expressing self-pity? or was he giving us a greater message?

To me the answer is clear... Jesus knew that he was being betrayed, and could have easily gone into hiding rather than being captured, but he did not. Rather than run or hide, Jesus went peacefully and lovingly  into the hands of his captors knowing that he would be crucified.

Jesus knew exactly what was happening. He knew of his impending death. He could have escaped to avoid capture, but he did not run away. In fact, he stayed and even threw a big dinner party to celebrate the occasion. Clearly, Jesus chose to go along with whole plan, knowing full well that he was to be crucified. Does that sound like someone who would feel forsaken?

On the contrary, Jesus showed us that he would not be distracted from his ministry of Love where the greatest of principles is to rise above one's own self-centered concerns in order to "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart..." (Luke 10:27).

Jesus told us, and showed us, that we must rise above our self-centered concerns such as selfishness and self-pity. Jesus told us: "No servant can serve two masters". (Luke 16:9-13)  That is one of the great messages of the crucifixion. Self-centered concerns such as possessions and money will all come and go, they can never offer any lasting happiness, only the Divine Presence of God offers everlasting peace and joy.

Those who choose to put their ego, their body, or their possessions above God will indeed suffer and cry in self-pity and self-made torment, while those who put God above themselves will see the glory of God everywhere and will thereby discover both true love and life eternal.

When one is able to see the works of God in life, another world is opened before one; then a man does not look at the world as everybody else does, for he begins to see not only the machine going on but the engineer standing by its side, making the machine work. This offers a still greater interest, the greatest interest in life. If one were to be flayed or crucified one would not mind, for one rises above all pain and suffering, and one feels it worthwhile to be living and looking at this phenomenon that gives one in one's lifetime the proof of the existence of God.

      from The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Volume XI, Nature

On that day of crucifixion, while showing all of mankind an example of selfless action, confident of his eternal life, Jesus cried out in joy, excitedly wondering what God would do with him next, wondering what wondrous adventure God had in mind for him next, saying:

   My God, My God, for what am I being set free?

which might be paraphrased as:

   My Sweet Lord, what great works will we do next?

And most importantly, these inspiring words are not merely a comment from 2000 years ago, but if we are courageous enough these words are guidance for each of us today, encouraging us to fearlessly give whatever we have for the glory of God, eager to see how God's plan will unfold, and confident that God's plan will be far more marvelous than anything we could have ever imagined.