Thank you for joining me in this reflection on Psalm 22. I try each week to write a reflection on a psalm following the reading plan in the Seeing Jesus Together Journal, which is a resource that we use as a church to foster discipleship and Bible reading. Every day, we reflect on a portion of Scripture taken from both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible and on Saturdays we spend time in the Psalms. If you want to find out more or follow the reading plan through the week, then please click here.
Just as in England all roads lead to London, or in the Roman Empire all roads led to Rome so too does every portion of Scripture lead us back to Christ, to His work on the cross, and our need for Him. Charles Spurgeon, famous Baptist pastor of the 19th Century, highlighted this reality when writing to a young student about preaching.
“from every text in Scripture, there is a road to the metropolis of the Scriptures, that is Christ.”
Charles Spurgeon
Christ is the centre of it all. Everything that is written in Scripture is a massive arrow sign pointing towards the Messiah. It is in Him that Scripture finds its fulfillment and purpose.
Reading the Word with Christ-centred and Gospel-centred glasses allows us to see key themes throughout the Scripture, which we also see play out in Christ’s life and ministry. For example, as a church, Cornerstone is going through a series in the book of Hebrews, which pulls out the theme of priesthood in the Old Testament and uses the signposts laid out in the first five books of the Bible to highlight how Jesus fulfills a better priestly ministry.
The Psalms are a wonderful store of such cross-references and as I was reading Psalm 22 this morning, I was reminded of that fact. This psalm is full of references that we can find in the crucifixion of Christ, each one highlighting to us our need for a Saviour, a Saviour who was forsaken by men and in His human nature felt the forsakenness of God, that we should experience because of our sin.
Christ, crying out as He hangs on the cross, shouts, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” or in English, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This is how David begins Psalm 22, crying out to his God in desperation. Everything around him seems to be falling apart and so he cries out to God. It can be easy to think that this is a cry of weakness, or of doubt or of disbelief. Instead, this is a cry of faith. David is crying out to God, calling Him “My God”. David hasn’t rejected God but in this painful moment David shows his dependency, that he needs God because as a man he is too weak but God is strong enough to save him. When Christ cries out on the cross, He is shouting out in faith that He needs His Father to save Him and help Him, that His human nature is weak and frail but God is strong. He shows His dependency on His Father that in this moment of receiving all of the punishment due to us for our sin, He leans on the eternal relationship of love found in the Godhead.
David is mocked by all the people who look at him. His dependence on God causes them to mock him, saying that if God were real, then He would save David. On the Cross, Christ endures awful mocking, mimicking what people said to David:
And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
Matthew 27:39-43
As David describes in Psalm 22:16b, Christ too has his hands and feet pierced but not a bone was broken. Because crucifixion was such a painful yet slow death, the Romans would normally break the legs of the person being crucified, which would mean they were unable to pull themselves up to breath, suffocating them. Instead, Christ shows power over his own death and breathes out His last on His own terms - no one takes His life, but He freely gives it up.
In verse 18, David recounts how His enemies have divided up His clothes, that broken, beaten, and bloody he is left in nakedness and shame, exposed to everyone who would walk past. On the Cross, Christ is stripped and left naked, left to carry all of our guilt and shame, exposed before all of the people of Jerusalem.
The pain, the shame, and the forsakenness that we were due to experience because of our sin, was taken on by Christ on the cross. In our place He experienced the full wrath of the Father towards us. And through His sacrifice both God’s justice and His mercy are met and fulfilled. We have a dependable God, who will not forsaken us but more than that we have a God who was forsaken on our behalf so we can depend on Him. Even in this dark psalm, we can find joy and rejoicing in the work of our beloved Saviour!
Almighty Father,
Through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, you have been merciful to us. When your justice was fulfilled on the body of Christ, He experienced the forsakenness, pain, and shame that we should have felt. In doing so, He has freed us from death into eternal life. We worship you and praise you with joy for this glorious exchange. May your name forever be glorified.
Amen