Good Friday - Psalm 22

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?…

All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him.” …

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint…My mouth is dried up like potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death…

All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.

They divide my clothes around them and cast lots for my garments…

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to you, Lord, and all families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations…future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!”

(v. 1, 7,8, 14,15,17,18,27,28,30b,31)

“At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema, sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mk 15: 33-34)

These are the same words we find in Psalm 22. In The Cross of Christ, John Stott tells us that there are four interpretations of Psalm 22:1. This can be helpful to keep in mind. It is not an easy thing to understand. John Stott explains: “the God- forsakenness of Jesus of the cross must be balanced with the assertion that ‘God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ’…God’s love must be wonderfully beyond comprehension.”

Nothing can stop Jesus’s love for God the Father.  Nothing can stop the Father’s love for his beloved Son. “God is love,” said Rick Warren, “He didn’t need us. But he wanted us. And that is the most amazing thing.”

While on the cross, many believe that Jesus had the whole of Psalm 22 in mind. The first half of Psalm 22 (v 1-21) is about suffering. The last half of the psalm is about faith and hope. It anticipates praising God for his deliverance. (v. 22-31) In the psalm, we find a journey from lament to praise that comes through suffering. Jesus meets us in our suffering as one who has suffered. He was flogged. beaten, mocked, insulted, spat on, stripped naked, and nailed to a cross.  Notice that what was foretold in Psalm 22 is happening to Jesus.

Through the cross, we learn a way to suffer. Sometimes trouble seems nearer than God. At noon, the sun stopped shining. (Lk 23:45) God turned off the lights - for three hours. (1) There were three hours of darkness and silence right in the middle of the day. In the darkness, amid intense suffering, Jesus cried out to God. He cried out to God using scripture. He suffered with God. Even though it may seem that he is alone, in the darkness, as Jesus is dying, the whole of creation responds - the earth quakes, the sun stops shining, the curtain is torn in two.

Twice, in Psalm 22, the psalmist cries out, “do not be far from me.” (v11,19).  Three times, the psalmist reminds us to trust in God. (v4-5) In all things, at all times, when we suffer and find ourselves in loss or pain, we need the Lord to be near. We can put our trust in him.

The prophet Isaiah tells us: “Surely he took our pain, and bore our suffering…he was pierced for our transgressions and crushed by our inequities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isa 53:4-5)

“He has done it!” (Ps 22:31)

“By the cross we know the gravity of sin and the greatness of God’s love toward us.”

John Chrysostom

Reflect…

1. Read Psalm 22

2. How are you or a loved one suffering right now? What is your pain or loss?

3. How might it be different in light of the cross? In light of God’s unfailing love?

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1. See also Amos 8: 9-10; and recall the 9th plague - 3 days of darkness. The next plague was the death of the firstborn son. (Ex 10:21-23, 11:4-6)