"The Suffering Messiah: Forsaken by the Father"

Psalm 22:1-2: My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?  Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?  O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent.

This entire week will be spent on Psalm 22, and thus we provide a brief introduction:

        David speaks prophetically of Christ’s ministry as our shepherd in Psalm 22—the Good Shepherd who dies for the sheep (John 10:1-18); Psalm 23—The Great Shepherd who cares for the sheep (Hebrews 13:20-21); and Psalm 24—The Chief Shepherd who comes for the sheep to take them to glory (I Peter 5:4).  This psalm describes two aspects of Christ’s ministry---Christ’s sufferings and the glory that should follow (I Peter 1:11).  Besides marveling about the exact prophecy of Christ on the Cross that we observe here, the element that we must keep ever before us as our lesson from this Psalm is:  No matter how difficult the situation might be, we must keep God before us and seek to relate our own needs to God’s abundant provision.  That is skillfully and continuously done in this Psalm, and we must apply it to our own times of suffering and trial.   If we look only at ourselves, we will be tempted to drown in an ever deepening self pity.  But if we look to God, we may lose touch with reality.  When we see a need in our own lives, we must look by faith to Christ and match His adequacy with that need.  Then that need can become a strength for serving God and glorifying Him.

Thoughts on verses 1-2:

         Cry from the Cross (1-2)—Jesus quoted verse 1 on the Cross (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34).  Jesus had affirmed the Father’s presence with Him (John 16:32), and now He was alone!  Jesus asks why –Dios mio, Dios mio, por que—I have heard that very poignant word for why—por que—from a mother whose daughter had just died at age 13.  There is no easy answer to por que. Jesus asks Why?  What is the great cause of such a strange fact as for God to leave his own Son at such a time and in such a plight?  Why was He deserted?  Verse 2 is a lesson for us.  Jesus prayed and prayed, and  yet there was no response.  Yet, he still held fast to believing on God, and still cried, My God.  No answer came during his prayers at Gethsemane at night, during the trials of the early hours of the morning, nor now in the middle of the afternoon—exactly 3 PM, at the close of 3 hours of darkness, we have this cry: Dios mio, por que.  Let us answer now the question Jesus asked on the Cross:  Why? Jesus had been forsaken by his disciples, and now also by God—He was really alone.