“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:2, Mark 15:34, Matthew 27:46)
No matter how many times we hear the accounts of Jesus’ Passion on Palm Sunday and Good Friday, there is something jarring, if not shocking, to hear the Lord cry out this lament from the Cross. On the one hand, it is a reminder of the terrible suffering He endured for our sake, as well as a reminder of the humanity He shares with us. On the other hand, it sounds strange, as if Jesus is doubting His Father’s mercy at this moment of anguish and pain. To fully understand what Jesus means here, you have to look at the whole of Psalm 22, which is a profound meditation on trusting God, and also a short summary of salvation history.
Following that opening lament, the psalmist recalls God’s faithfulness to His chosen people in the past (1):
Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the glory of Israel.
In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted and you rescued them.
To you they cried out and they escaped;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed. (Psalm 22:4-6)
If the Lord delivered His people in earlier times, He will surely deliver them again now. This is true in all times, but has a special meaning in connection with Jesus. For just as the Israelites in Egypt trusted in God and He freed them from the bondage of slavery, so we who trust in Jesus are freed through His death and resurrection from our slavery to sin.
Remembering the good things Jesus has done for us in the past is essential to maintaining our trust in Him. Ours is not a blind trust; we know that the One in whom we trust will fulfill His promises. Believers can look back on difficult times in their personal lives that the Lord helped them get through. Most dramatically, the Resurrection was the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to triumph over death:
But at daybreak on the first day of the week they took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them. They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.” And they remembered his words. (Luke 24:1-8)
“And they remembered his words.” Always, but especially in times of trial, recall all the blessings Jesus has bestowed on you. We sometimes betray Him, but He will always deliver us. (2)
The psalmist goes on to prophecy about the Lord’s Passion. Several of the verses are familiar to us from the Passion accounts in the gospels:
All who see me mock me;
they curl their lips and jeer;
they shake their heads at me:
“He relied on the Lord—let him deliver him;
if he loves him, let him rescue him.”
Like water my life drains away;
all my bones are disjointed.
They have pierced my hands and my feet
I can count all my bones.
They stare at me and gloat;
they divide my garments among them;
for my clothing they cast lots. (Psalm 22: 8-9, 15, 17-18)
Despite all of this, the Psalmist does not despair. He proclaims his trust in God:
But you, Lord, do not stay far off;
my strength, come quickly to help me.
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my life from the grip of the dog.
Save me from the lion’s mouth,
my poor life from the horns of wild bulls. (Psalm 22:20-22)
The Psalmist, with complete trust in God’s saving power, goes on to rejoice in his future deliverance. Not only that, the Psalmist prophesies again, foreseeing a time when the love of the Lord will spread to all nations, spanning many generations:
All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord;
All the families of nations
will bow low before him.
For kingship belongs to the Lord,
the ruler over the nations.
All who sleep in the earth
will bow low before God;
All who have gone down into the dust
will kneel in homage.
And I will live for the Lord;
my descendants will serve you.
The generation to come will be told of the Lord,
that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn
the deliverance you have brought. (Psalm 22:28-32)
In quoting the opening of this Psalm on the Cross, Jesus prophesies as well. In the days before His Passion He warned His apostles of the destruction of the Temple that was to come; He even wept for Jerusalem, longing that she would return to Him. Yet now on the Cross, knowing that all things are being fulfilled, He looks ahead to the time of the Church and the spread of the Good News throughout the whole world. He sees and tells us that all His agony and suffering is not in vain; that God is faithful and trustworthy; and that the fruit of His Passion is “a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.’” (Revelation 7:9-10) Amen!
Notes:
(1) Psalm 22 is traditionally ascribed to King David.
(2) Pablo T. Gadenz, The Gospel of Luke: Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group (2018), p. 391.
Image: Raising of the Cross by Peter Paul Rubens (downloaded from Wikipedia Commons).
***Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet every day for the salvation of souls!
***You can also help fight the COVID-19 virus and pray for souls by saying two “Hail Marys” every time you wash your hands.
