START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 22:25-31
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OBSERVE:
These verses of exultation and praise are a little misleading when taken out of context. Psalm 22, which is usually read in relation to the Passion of Christ, begins with the famous line which Jesus uttered from the cross:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Clearly this Psalm begins as a cry of dereliction and lamentation, but there is a complete reversal in tone as the Psalmist considers the glorious future of God’s people.
The positive reversal of fortune for the poor, which is a frequent theme in Scripture, reminds us of the social justice issues lifted up by the prophets and in Mary’s Magnificat in the Gospel of Luke.
The Lord, who has dominion over all the earth, is also recognized not only as the Lord of Israel but of all nations:
All the relatives of the nations shall worship before you.
The rich also will feast. But the real kicker of this passage is that the Psalmist addresses the specter of death that was raised by the first verses of the Psalm:
All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him,
even he who can’t keep his soul alive.
Death is answered with life, and those who die shall kneel before the living God!
And the one who was near death is also promised a glorious future:
Posterity shall serve him.
Future generations shall be told about the Lord.
They shall come and shall declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born,
for he has done it.
APPLY:
If the first half of Psalm 22 from verse 1 to 24 is appropriate for Lent and the Passion of the Christ, these verses from 25 to 31 are perfect for the Easter season!
We see here the great eschatological themes that run through the most hopeful passages of Scripture:
- The poor are lifted up.
- All nations come to worship the Lord of all creation.
- The dead are raised.
- Generations to come will continue to glorify God.
This is the cycle of redemptive suffering and glorious renewal that is so consummately fulfilled in Jesus Christ. There is never a crucifixion without a resurrection because of him!
RESPOND:
While the Scriptures are always realistic about the sorrows of suffering, they are also unfailingly hopeful about the promise of God’s renewal and future promises.
Therefore whatever I may go through that seems a setback, a sorrow, a suffering can always be turned into celebration by a Resurrection God!
Lord, turn all our sorrows into joy, all our tears into laughter, all our hungers into true fulfillment in you. Amen.
PHOTOS:
“...Hope...” by Darren Tunnicliff is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.
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