My God, Why Have you Forsaken Me?: Learning to Pray Psalm 22 (vv. 12-18)

The plight of the psalmist reaches its pinnacle in verses 12–18 and his faith is never more steady than in verses 19–21. 

¹² Many bulls surround me;
    strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
¹³ Roaring lions that tear their prey
    open their mouths wide against me.
¹⁴ 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.
¹⁵ 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.

¹⁶ Dogs surround me,
    a pack of villains encircles me;
    they pierce my hands and my feet.
¹⁷ All my bones are on display;
    people stare and gloat over me.
¹⁸ They divide my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.

¹⁹ But you, Lord, do not be far from me.
    You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
²⁰ Deliver me from the sword,
    my precious life from the power of the dogs.
²¹ Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
    save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
The intensity of lament boils in these verses (vv. 12-13). There appears to be no way out for the psalmist. He metaphorically views his enemies as wild and ravenous beasts seeking his life. Close your eyes and picture yourself surrounded by any of the following: a herd of angry bulls, a pride hungry lions, or a pack a wild dogs. Terrifying. This is how the psalmist feels. His body responds physically to the terror and pain (vv. 14–15).

Verses 12–18 connect directly with Jesus’ last hours on the cross. He cried out in thirst, opponents surrounded him, and the soldiers responsible for his execution gambled for his clothing.
These verses are meant to sound extreme because suffering is devastating and shocking. We’ve all experienced it in some form. Whether its the loss of a loved one, the suffering caused by illness (our own or of a loved one), the loneliness and grief of a broken relationship or marriage, or the sheer, or aftermath of some other trauma, the words of Psalm 22 give us vocabulary and phrases and serve to model prayer for moments of authentic desperation. Jesus looked to this psalm. So can we.
 
If verses 12–18 function as the psalmist’s words as he reaches the bottom of the pit, it is profound to remember and recognize that God is still present. This is one of the most vital resources for the faithful. We may literally reach the end of our rope, exhausted all of our resources, and have no one on earth to help us, but our future is not depended on any part of creation. The psalmist continues to hope in God and in verses 19–21 offers a final impassioned cry and pray for help. Read the psalmist’s words in these verses again. Note how they connect with his description of his plight.
 
When we pray to God, we do not have to sugar coat our words. The promise of the Gospel is that God already knows our needs (Matt 6:8). So why hide our true feelings and deepest desires? The psalmist is surrounded on all sides by enemies who seem like famished beasts. So what does he pray for? The psalmists asks specifically for deliverance and rescue from dogs, lions, and wild oxen. Notice that these are in the reverse sequence of their appearance in vv. 12–18 where the order was bulls, lions, and dogs.
 
The psalmist prays for God’s presence and help (v. 19). This is the key to prayer. The psalmist recognizes that God is present, able, willing, and powerful enough to save. Sometimes we mistakenly believe that it is the amount of our faith that activates God’s actions. It’s not. Faith is only as powerful as its object. Our God is able to hear our prayers and bring deliverance. Jesus prayed Psalm 22. This did not alleviate his suffering immediately, but we know that resurrection occurred on the other side of suffering and death. The psalmist in Ps 22 experienced deliverance and answer to his prayers. He will tell us this story in the concluding verses of the psalm (vv. 22–31).

How do verses 12–21 teach us to pray in the midst of our suffering?
 
What role does faith play in our prayers for help?

The Cross and Mission: Am I All in?

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matt 16:24, emphasis added).

A Paradoxical Existence

The central characteristic of discipleship is to live as though you were already dead. Too often we read the call to self-denial as a call to an ascetic or disciplined life. We read this as an exhortation to life a more simplistic lifestyle or to take a vow of poverty. Cross-bearing can easily be spiritualized or sentimentalized. A careful reading of the context of Matthew’s Gospel however betrays a more radical agenda for Jesus.

Why do I say this?

First, the only other context is which the word translated “deny oneself” is used in Matthew is chapter 26. There Peter denies Jesus three times. In this context, Peter is clearly trying to save his own skin by denying any relationship with Jesus. This suggests then that to deny oneself in Matt 16:24 is to renounce one’s claim to life. This need not be interpreted as a call for suicidal martyrdom or to live recklessly. But it does mean that the ultimate call in life is to follow Jesus. It is a call to renounce self-preservation as one’s modus operandi for living.

Second, “take up one’s cross” is found in two other contexts - Matt 10:38 and 27:32. The first is parallel to 16:24. 27:32 is illuminating. In it, Simon of Cyrene is commissioned to “take up” Jesus’ cross and bear it to the place of Jesus’ execution. This is profoundly important as this context shows the literal meaning of the phrase. To “take up one’s cross” is to live as though you were on the final journey of your life. To use a modern phrase, it is to live as a “dead man walking.” Jesus is thus calling his followers to a radical life in which they die to themselves up front and by doing this paradoxically find life: Matt 16:25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of me will find it.” 

Why does Jesus call for this radical sort of existence? I think that it is simple: God’s mission in the world requires that disciples be willing to enter the darkest places in the world - places where only dead women and men can go.

Remember the movie Braveheart‘s tagline: Ever man dies; not every man truly lives.

We truly find lives of meaning and significance when we die up front and then follow Jesus moment by moment in order to create an unbelievable future. It all starts with the Cross. Have I found my place on Jesus’ cross? Tim McGraw’s hit song from 2005 had the great line “Someday I hope you will live like you were dying.” This summarizes aptly Jesus’ call.

A Secure Future

Jesus is not calling persons merely to die for a lost cause. Discipleship is not an invitation to a pointless martyrdom. Jesus’ call is radical, but it is also rational in light of the future. Remember Jesus’ words in 16:21 “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life“ (emphasis added). Jesus was already pointing to a victorious future when he talked about the “mustness” of his journey to Jerusalem. Resurrection would follow suffering and death. Notice also how our passages ends:

NIV Matthew 16:27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. 28 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

These two verses also point to the victorious future. In other words, Jesus’ call to a radical, sold-out discipleship in which we live as though we were already dead needs to be read in light of God’s future. The future is secure. The way of Jesus Christ is not merely about this life - it is about life in the age of salvation (present and future). This sort of hope ought to unleash us in the now of our existence to live fully for God.

A Way Forward

How do we live into the radical standard that Jesus establishes for his disciples? The issue is that Jesus is looking for to lead us into places that only dead women and dead men can go. The mission is to “make disciples of all nations” (28:19). The Risen Jesus continues to go before us calling us to follow him moment by moment.

As I reflect on Jesus’ call for discipleship, I realize that Jesus is calling for me to die to myself so that I can truly live. I am to live as one who is carrying his or her own cross - as a person with nothing left to lose. There is great freedom in this. But first I need to recognize that all of my gifts and talents are not enough…That being smart is not enough…¦That the walls that we build based on past experience (good or bad) are not high enough…that we are not courageous enough. In other words, the focus can no longer be on self, but on Jesus Christ. And when we focus on Jesus Christ, we must inevitably face the Cross. At the cross, we find the essence of discipleship. There God invites us to live as a community of the Cross. There we are shaped into a Mosaic of broken pieces that are renewed and transformed by the Cross so that we can offer wholeness, hope, and salvation to a broken world.

If anyone would come after me, let him or her take up his or her cross, deny him or herself, and continually follow me.

Reflections:

1) Am I living "all in" as a follower of Jesus Christ?

2) What is holding me back from a full commitment?

3) Am I seeking to secure the future on my own terms or do I trust God with my future?

4) Have I found my place on the Cross of Jesus Christ?

© 2015 Brian D. Russell, Revised 2016

The Heart of Discipleship: Matt 16:24 the Way of the Cross and Mission

Jesus does not end his conversation with Peter with a rebuke. Rather Peter’s challenge to Jesus’ mission serves as the impetus for Jesus to make his clearest statement about the nature of discipleship in the Gospel of Matthew. In 16:24, Jesus articulates clearly and positively what it means to live as a follower of Jesus Christ.

NIV Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Verse 24 serves as the center of Jesus’ portrait of discipleship.

A Key Assumption

Before looking at the details of this verse, we need to put this passage into its proper context. The Gospel of Matthew needs to be read in a missional context. Discipleship at its heart is missional. Jesus calls disciples in order to multiply his own work of making disciples. This is clear in the climactic passage of Matthew (28:16-20). This text, better known as the Great Commission, centers on Jesus’ exhortation to “Make disciples.” Thus, we need to read 16:24 and its call to discipleship within this overarching framework of mission which undergirds Matthew’s portrait of discipleship.

Movement

Discipleship implies movement. Look at our text. “If anyone would come after me…follow me.” This verse begins and ends with words about movement. At its heart, being a disciple of Jesus involves movement. Why movement? If we desire to be missional, we have to embody a “go to” mentality rather than waiting for the world to come to us. As we read through the Gospel, Jesus was always on the move. He didn’t wait for persons to come to him. He moved around the countryside and served the people as he met them in their own contexts. Furthermore, when large crowds did surround him, Jesus slipped away and moved on to others who needed him.

Discipleship simply means following Jesus. Too often today we think of “following Jesus” as “following Jesus’ teachings.” This is correct as far as it goes. As Jesus’ disciples we are to be shaped by a Jesus ethos. Yet, Matthew goes out of his way to make it clear that the Risen Christ resides with His Church on Mission. Matthew’s Gospel is framed by two references to Jesus’ presence: 1:23 and 28:20.

NIV 23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”–which means, “God with us.”

NIV Matthew 28:20b And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Thus, following Jesus involves literally following our Risen Savior into the world for mission. Jesus resides with his people.

To where does Jesus ask us to follow him? As we read the Gospel we find many clues:

1) To those desperate for the things that only God can provide. Jesus routinely interacted and served those on the margins of society: lepers, blind, tax collectors, demoniacs, children, etc (see especially Matthew 8-9).

2) To the crowds who were “harassed and hurting as sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus served those neglected by the religious and righteous of his day. Jesus motivated by compassion (9:35-38) called on his disciples to look upon the fields ripe for harvest and to pray that God would send additional workers. In 10:1ff, Jesus empowers and sends out the twelve to serve the world.

3) Perhaps most radically for his original Jewish audience, Jesus reached out to all nations. This is subtle in most of the Gospel. Jesus’ earthly mission was to the people of Israel. There are exceptions, such as the healing of the Centurion’s servant (8:5-13). The Genealogy also suggests that Jesus has a wider mission by tracing his lines back to Abraham. As Son of Abraham, Jesus lived to fulfill the promise to Abraham from Genesis 12:3 “all peoples will be blessed through you.” The scope of Jesus’ mission becomes clear in 28:16-20. There the Risen Jesus unleashes his disciples into the world to “make disciples of all nations.”

Thus, we may conclude that if we seek to follow Jesus, Jesus will lead us to serve and make disciples of all peoples. He will call on us to break down boundaries that separate people. He will push us to pay attention to the very people that polite society and self-absorbed religionists are happy to ignore.

Reflection:

1) To whom is Jesus leading me?

2) Have I embraced mission as the principle function of following Jesus

3) How would my life be different if I embraced movement as essential to discipleship?

© 2015 Brian D. Russell 

Remembering Good Friday: A Poem

I can see Jesus carrying his cross all alone,


He took on our flesh so far from his rightful throne.


Disregarded his name
, He embraced the cross


And its shame


To save the lost.

He’s the Son of God, carrying the sins of the world

I can see Jesus wearing a crown made of thorns,


In the anguish of death, feeling humanity’s scorn.


His Father’s will to obey


He died on the tree


To set us free


And show the way.

He’s the Son of God, healing all the pain of the world.

I can see Jesus crying to all “It is done,”


Creation’s redeemer, our Lord God’s victory won.


The offer is made


The price has been paid


To give us life


And end all strife.

He’s the Son of God, still reaching out to us everyday.


He’s the Son of God, still reaching out to us everyday.

So see through the pain


The means to true gain


For its true


He died for you.

He’s the Son of God, carrying the sins of the world.


Amen.

Thank you God!

By Brian D. Russell
Revised April 2017

Jesus and the "mustness" of His Suffering and Death: Reflection on Matt 16:21

I want to begin a series of essays on Jesus radical call to discipleship in Matthew 16:21-28 for Holy Week. Today we ponder Matt 16:21

NIV Matthew 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

This text occurs at a major transitional point in Matthew’s Gospel. In Matthew 16:13-20, the disciples through Peter declare the true identity of Jesus - “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus commends Peter and gives a great deal of authority to the disciples for the ordering of the life of the community of faith for the future (Matt 16:17-20).

Matthew 16:21 serves as the transition to the remaining third of Matthew’s Gospel which will culminate in Jesus’ death, resurrection, and commissioning of the disciples for a ministry of “disciple making” (28:16-20). Note the force of 16:21. If Matthew 16:13-20 marks the climax of the initial chapters of Matthew’s Gospel in the disciple’s unambiguous declaration of Jesus’ identity, Matthew 16:21 focuses Jesus’ identity as the Son of God on a journey to Jerusalem where Jesus the Son of God will suffer, be killed, and on the third day raised to life.

In this one verse, Jesus explodes many of our popular conceptions about the person and identity of Jesus. Jesus essentially is saying that his identity cannot be fully comprehended apart from his death and resurrection. This is challenging for us because it forces us to come to the cross as well. My friend, Alex McManus likes to talk about the need for Christian leaders to be people “who must.” Notice that Jesus was the first. It was not optional for him to go to Jerusalem, suffer, die, and be raised. He had to do this. It was a “must do” for him. In the verses that follow, we will discover that the cross is a “must do” for us as well.

As we reflect on Jesus’ passion during this holy week, let us begin to ponder deeply Jesus as one who had to embrace suffering and death on a cross.

Reflection:

1) What role does Jesus’ death and resurrection play in my own faith?

2) Would the Jesus that I believe in be crucified?

3) Have I been so touched by the power of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection that I have been transformed into a person who must?

© 2015 Brian D. Russell