Listen to a meditation on Psalm 22.22-31 for the Second Sunday of Lent
Meditation on Psalm 22.22-31
Psalm 22 is well-known because of its haunting opening words, words which Jesus uttered as he hung on the cross: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
What is less well-known is the account of the risen Jesus using other words from Psalm 22, as recounted in the letter to the Hebrews: I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; the midst of the congregation will I praise you.
Despite its powerfully bleak and despairing opening, Psalm 22 does not stay in that place.
Psalm 22 does look back on the past, but it does not leave us there.
Psalm 22 also looks towards what God will do in the future, and what our response should be.
Having said that, let us pause and consider how we respond to challenges in our lives.
Do we view the glass as being half full or half empty?
Do we bury our heads in the sand and pretend all will be well, or do we become obsessed and overwhelmed in our despair?
No matter where our instincts might lead us, Psalm 22 models a different way for us.
No matter what bleakness or despair may drive us towards us crying out My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? this latter part of Psalm 22 reminds us that God has always loved us, and that he is always with us.
Of course, there is another message in these verses.
Psalm 22 does not only urge us to look forward to thanking God for his deliverance from despair, it also urges us to look forward to testifying to that deliverance to other people.
These latter verses of a psalm so closely associated with Our Lord’s crucifixion are a call to evangelism, that is the spreading of the Good News (the Gospel) of Jesus Christ to all.
Let us pray that we might set aside our instinctive responses to the challenges and tribulations that confront us each day.
Let us pray that we may never forget God’s love for us, and God’s presence with us.
Let us pray that we may ever, through our words and actions, bring the truth of the risen Christ into the lives of others.