“A surprising turn around”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Sunday, April 28, 2024
Psalm 22 (Forward, p. 90) CEV p. 567
Years ago—I can scarcely remember exactly when--I used to sing a couple of very sad, melancholy songs, “Old Coat”, by Peter, Paul and Mary, and the Black spiritual, “Wayfarin’ Stranger.” Funny thing: I felt better after getting this negative stuff, these depressive emotions, out of my system. And, in like manner, this also seemed to happen with my poetry. After spilling out all the garbage in my life, and getting it out in the open, I felt better.
So, I wonder whether this did not also happen with David, the author of today’s psalm. Over the course of the first 22 verses, he literally ‘spills his guts’ with unmitigated woes. He feels deserted by God and is oppressed and attacked on every side. He is utterly bereft of any resources of his own to deal with these. And he describes his predicament in the most graphic terms, terms which, totally surprisingly, describe what a crucifixion would later be like. And so, he shares all of this with God.
Surprisingly, however, he doesn’t leave it there. In the next 9 or 10 verses, he does an about face, a turn around. He is convinced that God will not leave him in this state but will rescue him. And so, before he even sees this taking place, he praises God.
And so too Jesus, when He was faced with an actual crucifixion, turned to this psalm, perhaps to express how He felt, or perhaps for comfort. We have no way of knowing whether He pressed on to its resolution, its praise aspect, but I suspect that He did. It would have bolstered His spirits and increased His confidence in God’s all-abiding care. Indeed, maybe this is why He could also say, with confidence and certainty, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46).
And maybe this is a way forward for all of us, to use the psalter, and perhaps the hymnbook, as a way of expressing our emotions, both good and bad, and giving them over to God. Maybe, during these uncertain times, this era when nothing ‘seems as it should’, it can be a way forward. Thanks be to God.
Forward notes: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And are so far from my cry and from the words of my distress?” (verse 1).
“Throughout his ministry, Jesus cited Old Testament scriptures, including the psalms, and this is the psalm he prayed from the cross during his crucifixion. It is an agonizing plea for help from God at time of acute alienation, of being forsaken by God.
“The psalmist continues with the memory that God has been present from birth. ‘Yet you are he who took my out of the womb, and kept me safe upon my mother’s breast.’ The psalmist speaks honestly of feeling abandoned but also of the strong awareness of God’s presence, of God’s saving powers not just for the individual praying but for the ‘great assembly’ [verse 25]. In this moment of extreme pain, the psalmist turns to communal worship, taking individual suffering to the congregation of the faithful, where ‘the poor shall eat and be satisfied’ [verse 26]”.
“Take, eat: This is my Body which is given for you.”
Moving Forward: “Have you ever felt abandoned by God? How did that experience shape your journey of faith?”