I’ve been thinking about the connection between suffering and redemption... Christ’s own refining through suffering. And the way in which His suffering honors ours.
I used to think Psalm 22 was most significantly a foreshadowing of Christ’s suffering on the cross. But this week when I read it during our family devotions, I was enabled to view it from a different angle.
I think Psalm 22, the death Psalm, expresses the anguish of death which all of us experience at different points of our lives on earth.
The curse has brought us death:
- In our connection to our Creator. We long for assurance of our intrinsic value and place in the universe—to know that Someone wants us here and cares about the futility and anguish we endure in our heart of hearts. Yet sin constantly threatens to isolate and condemn us.
o David’s plight: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me? So far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but You do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.” (Ps 22:1-2)
o Christ’s experience: “From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ (which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’).” (Mt. 27:45-46)
o David’s reassurance: “Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; You are the one Israel praises. In You our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and You delivered them. To You they cried out and were saved; in You they trusted and were not put to shame… for dominion belongs to the LORD and He rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before Him—those who cannot keep themselves alive.” (Ps. 22:3-5 & 28-29)
- In our connection to our fellow humans. We long to belong, to be accepted and understood, to be considered and valued by those with whom we share the highs and lows of humanity. Yet the longer we live, the more alone and victimized we feel as mistrust and defensiveness increasingly define our interactions with those around us.
o David’s plight: “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. ‘He trusts in the LORD,’ they say, ‘let the LORD deliver him, since he delights in Him.” (Ps. 22:6-8)
o Christ’s experience: “Two rebels were crucified with Him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at Him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” In the same way the rebels who were crucified with Him also heaped insults on Him.” (Mt. 27:38-44)
o David’s reassurance: “I will declare Your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise You…. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before Him… Posterity will serve Him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim His righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!” (Ps. 22:22, 27, &30-31)
- In our confidence for the future. We long for a reason to hope, for the possibility of redemption and restoration, for the ability to pursue dreams and anticipate second chances. Yet we find brokenness all around us.
o David’s plight: “Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.” (Ps. 22:11)
o Christ’s experience: “Then He said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’ Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.” (Mt. 26:36-38)
o David’s reassurance: “I will declare your name your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you… The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the LORD will praise Him—may your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before Him, for dominion belongs to the LORD and He rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before Him—those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim His righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!” (Ps. 22:22 & 26-31)
- In our physical bodies
o David’s plight: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; It has melted within me. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; You lay me in the dust of death” (Ps. 22:14-15)
o Christ’s experience: “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished,’ and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit… “one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.” (Jn 19:28-30 &34)
o David’s reassurance: “But You LORD, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me. Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen… The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the LORD will praise him—may your hearts live forever!” (Ps. 22:19-21 & 26)
- In our individual sense of dignity and volition. We long for a clean slate, for the freedom to choose our own way, to shape our own participation in society. Yet so often we find ourselves stuck in roles and circumstances that we never wanted and being regarded in ways that shame and undermine our very identity.
o David’s plight: “Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” (Ps. 22:16-18)
o Christ’s experience: “Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.” (Mt. 27:27-31)
o David’s reassurance: “For He has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; He has not hidden His face from him but has listened to his cry for help. From You comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear You I will fulfill my vows.” (Ps. 22:24-25)
When Christ took on and embodied Psalm 22, He wasn’t just fulfilling prophecy. He was honoring the human experience. He dignified the suffering and hopelessness we all experience. He said that our suffering is not without meaning or consequence. He demonstrated the centrality of pain and loneliness to the human experience and proved that rather than being our shame, suffering has the potential to be the most honored and purposeful statement our lives ever make—the crowning glory of our participation in the divine nature as “the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life.”
I watched The Matrix: Resurrections last night and a couple lines stood out to me as uniquely expressive of the human experience:
That’s it, isn’t it? If we don’t know what’s real… we can’t resist. They took your story, something that meant so much to people like me, and turned it into something trivial. That’s what the Matrix does. It weaponizes every idea. Every dream. Everything that’s important to us. Where better to bury truth than inside something as ordinary as a video game?
And
Quietly yearning for what you don’t have, while dreading losing what you do. For 99.9% of your race, that is the definition of reality. Desire and fear, baby
I think that is the reality our enemy seeks to impress upon every human. God has placed within us longings that are such a glaring testament to our identity and purpose, and yet we find ourselves settling for trivial pacification. We miss our high calling in the universe for the plight of eking out a bearable existence and buy in to the lie that all suffering is meaningless chaos.
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