Jesus’ Abandonment on the Cross and the Christian Understanding of God as a Trinitarian Communion

An exegetical and Trinitarian–theological analysis of Mk. 15:34 and Mt. 27:46 through the theology of J. Moltmann and H.U. von Balthasar

Abstract

In this paper, we reflect on Jesus’ revelation of God as the Trinitarian communion beginning with his abandonment and separation from his Father at the time of his death on the cross as expressed in his outcry: »My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? « (Mk. 15:34; Mt.27:46) The first part of the paper puts forth a historical– critical exegesis of the aforementioned lines of the New Testament in their Greek original, while reflecting on the question of whether Jesus’ abandonment by his heavenly Father may be understood also as a significant critique of the Christian doctrine of God as being an indivisible communion of love. Hence in the second section, we confront the results of this analysis with the Christian Trinitarian doctrine, specifically by presenting the Trinitarian–theological contribution of Moltmann and Balthasar. In the third section, the paper points out the true Trinitarian and theological potential of Jesus’ real abandonment in his death on the cross through the pneumatological dimension and soteriological orientation of the doctrine of the Trinity as a possible new interpretation of God as love.