Friends in Christ,
I debated studying this Psalm at this time, or waiting until next week or the following. The conclusion I have come to however, is to enjoy all that this Psalm offers us for the next weeks leading up to Easter.
Psalm 22 is one of the most important Psalms recorded. No Psalm so clearly relates the details of Jesus' suffering and crucifixion and no Psalm is quoted more times in the Scriptures. Thus Luther calls this "one of the chief psalms." Because Psalm 22 is so weighty, we will pick it apart piece by piece, little by little.
Read Luther's comments, the Psalm and prayer. For the next few weeks, meditate upon the portions of this psalm that we cover as well as what is recorded for us in the Gospels during Holy Week, that is, from Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem through Good Friday. Read one or all of these sections devotionally as you have time. If you live with your family this would be a great section of Scripture to highlight for daily reading from now through Easter. You will find these accounts beginning at:
Matthew 21
Mark 11
Luke 19
John 12
Now then, we will go no farther than verses 1-2 today. For already you are reminded of the crucifixion:
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God I cry out by day but you do not answer, by night but I find no rest."
In Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 Jesus cries out, "Eloi, Eloi lama sabachthani" which is translated, "My God, My God why have you forsaken Me?" Jesus words exactly.
Here in the first two verses of the Psalm the Messiah is pleaing for help from the Father. Just as He prayed in Gethsemane, "If it be your will take this cup from Me..." so now He continues to plea but it looks hopeless.
There are so many questions to ask, "What is going on here?" Why does the Son receive no help from the Father? Why is He tortured so? It is bad enough to be physically tortured, but being forsaken by your beloved, the Father no less, is unimaginable. We often miss the absolute horror of Christ's passion when we only talk about physical things. It is safe to say that Christ's spiritual suffering was far more torturous than the torture endured by His body.
The Son of God is the only one in the world who was ever forsaken by God. Yes, God's only-begotten Son from eternity, God Himself, the perfect one, is the only one to be forsaken.
To be forsaken is to be rejected, trashed, discarded, ignored, abandoned. Like an item left off at the local landfill, Jesus was dumped by the Father because He was loaded up with OUR SINS.
That's right. No human being, no matter how trashy and corrupt has, is or will ever be forsaken by the Father because out of His great love for the world, the Father saw fit to forsake the Son on our behalf. So there hangs Jesus, pleading for mercy from the Father, and He doesn't get it.
I don't know what was worse when I was growing up, getting a spanking or knowing that I displeased my father. When you have someone's full attention, full love and full trust and you do something stupid or thoughtless, you ruin a relationship. There is no way to fix something that is ruined. Your only option is repent. Say you're sorry. Be forgiven.
Christ took a spanking for us. Christ felt the heat. Christ was trashed, abandoned, forsaken for our sins so that we wouldn't be. By His death and resurrection He has brought us into a new relationship with our heavenly Father. Because Christ was forsaken, our God is not an angry judge, a Father waiting with a paddle. Rather, He is love, like the Father anxiously awaiting the prodigal sons return. Full of compassion, He wants us to come home and can't wait to lavish us with kisses.
In the name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
4 comments:
The question was asked but not posted, "How could Christ believe that the Father had forsaken Him?"
Well, actually, the Father did forsake Him! Now, is this hard to understand? Yes! Why would God turn His back on His "only-begotten" Son from eternity? He did it because that is how He might save you!
The question then came up, "Well, it doesn't seem like Christ knew this from the beginning when you study the Gospels." There Christ is struggling with Satan, temptation, death (Lazarus) and desiring to overcome these things. Then in Gethsemene, He prays that He be offered a way out of them (His own death).
From Christ's incarnation through His death is what we call the "humiliation" of our Lord. During this time, Christ set aside the full and continual use of His divinity. While He was still God and Man, He did not always put to use His divine powers. So, there were actually times that Christ did not know something, was unaware, or did not heal, help etc. This is all part of Christ's as our substitute. He not only lived for us in our place, but He felt like we feel, was uncertain, and for our purposes with this study, He even went through what we will never have to go through, being forsaken by God. He did this all for us.
That is true love.
I'm not really sure how to state this , but here it goes.
For those who don't believe the new testament is real or actually took place, who do they believe said this? Do they think it was David? Or do they just omit sections like this?
I guess from the perspective of believing that both(OT&NT) are true, it is hard for me to understand how one can not believe it.
How great is our God, our Lord and SAVIOR.
For those who don't believe in the New Testament the one described in this Psalm would be David. The superscription calls this Psalm a "Psalm of David." The opening verse would be David speaking of Himself saying, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?"
How would you feel if you thought these were David's words? Is this very comforting, to think that God actually would forsake you? Not in the least. You make a good point. The Old and New Testaments work together to proclaim Christ. We must have both, the one can't do without the other.
Moving on. Please look again at Psalm 22 but now go on through verse 21. In all of these verses you will note things that clearly are taking place at the crucifixion. You can almost picture the seen on Golgotha. Jesus cries out, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me" in verse one. In verse six our Lord calls Himself a worm and not a man "a reproach of men and despised by the people." Here you may think of Jesus being mocked, betrayed into the hands of sinful men, hated by his own people. In verses seven and eight we see a direct quote recorded in the NT, "He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him..." And the psalm goes on.
-Many bulls surround me
-They gape at me
-heart is like wax
-strength dried up
-tongue clings to my jaws
-pierced my hands and feet
-divide my garments
-cast lots for my clothing
This is all amazing! Becca is right in noting how Old and New Testament work together to proclaim Christ!
Look further at verse 21. Your bible likely doesn't have this amazing verse translated properly. However, Psalm 22:1-21 is all about the crucifixion and the rest of the Psalm reveals our Lord delivering His Christ from death and destruction through the grave to life. A proper translation from the Hebrew for verse 21 should read, "Save me from the mouth of the lion's mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen!
You have answered me."
The "You have answered me" is not in every translation and it is one of the most important parts of this Psalm. This means that the Father has heard His Son in His distress, though He had forsaken Him, it was out of necessity not hatred. The Father had to forsake the Son so that we might be saved. In forsaking the Son, He was given over to death but then raised to life! This Psalm therefore, reveals both the death and resurrection of our Lord Christ.
Read the second half of the Psalm again and note the transition after verse 21. If you have a New King James Version of the bible, read verse 21, there you will find the proper translation.
Let's stick with this Psalm until Good Friday, we will move to a new one after Easter.
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