The Quotable Psalms

The gospel story of Jesus’ crucifixion in Matthew and Mark includes a moment that always troubled me. Right before dying, Jesus seems to give up, to despair, to lose hope in God the Father. “Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to; for he said, ‘I am God's Son.’” The bandits who were crucified with him also taunted him in the same way. From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o'clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, […] “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” […] Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last.” (Matthew 27:39-50)

Why have you forsaken me? It is an anguished cry. Does it really mean what it seems on the surface, that at the last moment, Jesus has lost his prior certainty that God will raise him up again? Has he felt the constant presence of God abandon him in the end, leaving him to face death alone, with all hope lost? The very idea of Jesus losing faith at the last moment, or of God really forsaking his anointed one, is troubling. Fortunately, that was not what was going on. That was not the real meaning of Jesus’ cry of “why have you forsaken me?” As strange as it may seem to us, Jesus was using his last moments to quote a song.

Imagine that you sadly broke up with someone you were dating. As you walked out that person’s door for the last time, you turned back and said, “You think I'd lay down and die? Oh no, not I, I will survive.” Did you truly mean that there was a real chance of your dying over the breakup? No, chances are, your “ex” would know you were just quoting a popular song by Gloria Gaynor. The words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” are from a popular song of Jesus’ day, which we know as Psalm 22. By quoting it, Jesus was actually being a Rabbi, a teacher, to the end. It was common practice at the time to quote just one line of a passage from scripture, in order to bring to mind the entire passage. The dying teacher was responding to all the mocking people around him by reminding them about the entirety of Psalm 22, which begins in despair, but which ends on a very different note.

Here is the first half of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame. But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people. All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads; “Commit your cause to the LORD; let him deliver— let him rescue the one in whom he delights!” Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast. On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls encircle me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs are all around me; a company of evildoers encircles me. My hands and feet have shriveled; I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me; they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

It is easy to see why Jesus was thinking about this Psalm. His suffering was similar, and the mocking crowd surrounding him was much like the one in the Psalm. Perhaps most of all, it was because he had just seen the following thing happen: “When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.” (John 19:23-24) It was like the words of the Psalm coming to life. Psalm 22 is widely regarded as a kind of prophecy to be fulfilled, in which the Holy Spirit foretold Jesus’ suffering through the words of the Psalmist King David. Jesus was aware of this when he said, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:44)

Psalm 22 does not end on a message of despair. In quoting it, Jesus not only reminds the listeners about his suffering, but also, he rebukes them for their doubt and scorn. As the Psalm tells us, suffering is followed by salvation. Here is the second half of Psalm 22: “But you, O Lord, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion! From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me. I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him. From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him. Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.”

That was the complete lesson Jesus the teacher was giving to those mocking him at the end of his life. They mocked his inability to save himself, and they scorned his trust in God’s deliverance. But Jesus did trust in God to the end. As we have seen, his cry of “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” was not a failure of trust. It was a quote that brought to mind the whole of Psalm 22, and in the second half of that Psalm was the answer to the mockery of the crowd: “For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.” God did deliver Jesus from death, and the conclusion of Matthew’s gospel echoes the promise of the last lines of Psalm 22 (All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him). “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)