Psalm 22 and the cross

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Jesus cried those words from the cross. With his human skin torn, his human face beaten, his human body exposed, his human hands and feet pierced, and his human brow bleeding, it was being abandoned that hurt most of all. His connection with God was so unique and so cherished, it is amazing that he gave it up just so you and I could experience it as well.

But at this moment, his only companion is the deep, agonizing emptiness of solitary.

This wasn't the cry of a betrayed servant. It was the pain and loneliness of a scapegoat.

This soldier fought alone. He had to. He had been abandoned.

No one would be there to save him. No one would help him bear the pain. No one would help ease the weight of his body on those three Roman nails; the agony, ironically, caused by the gravity that he created.

Oh, how it must have hurt. Unspeakable, unimaginable hurt.

For you and me.

With it being Easter week and Passover on Tuesday, my mind is on the cross. It's meaning, it's purpose, and it's power.

Jesus is recorded to have spoken seven times from the cross. Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34; Luke 23:43 and 46; and John 19:26,27,28 and 30.

Only one of these is an obvious quote from the Old Testament: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" which comes from Psalm 22:1. But there are other sayings from the cross that also come from that Psalm.

Jesus, a master of the text, was reciting Psalm 22 when he died.

Don't believe me? Grab a copy of Psalms 22 and let's study together.

Verse 9 "Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God.

From the cross: Mother, behold your son. Son behold your mother.

Verse 15 "My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death."

From the cross: I thirst.

Verses 4-5 "In you our fathers put their trust: they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed."

From the cross: Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

Verses 8-9 "All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him."

From the cross: Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.

Verse 23 "You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help."

From the cross: Today you will be with me in Paradise.

Verse 31 "They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn - for he has done it."

From the cross: It is finished.

You will most likely hear Psalm 22:1 quoted this week, but don't let that be the only verse of that Psalm you read. All 31 verses are like a "Jesus view" of Calvary. Our God is truly amazing.

And remember when you do hear that Jesus cried "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He cried that so that I will never have to and neither will you.

1st Kings 8:57 "May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us."

Oh, and remember that he is not here. He is risen!