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Weekly Devotional

March 9, 2009

God’s Peace be with you all.

Psalm 22:1-10  My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?  ² O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.  ³ Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.  ⁴ In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.  ⁵ To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.  ⁶ But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people.  ⁷ All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;  ⁸ "Commit your cause to the LORD; let him deliver-- let him rescue the one in whom he delights!"  ⁹ Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother's breast.  ¹⁰ On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God.

First of all, yesterday was a wonderful day.  Thank you to all who helped cook, move chairs, greet our guests, etc.  I know the youth from Nativity enjoyed out space, and I hope you enjoyed the drama they performed.  The down side to yesterday was that we did not have our normal lessons like a regular Sunday morning.  So for today, I used the psalm that was assigned to yesterday.

As we grow closer to the end of Lent and the empty tomb of Easter, we recall the words that Jesus spoke from the cross: (Matthew 27:46) “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”  These words ring out strong in our ears.  My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?  We find those same words at the beginning of Psalm 22.  When Jesus said these words on the cross, it left a lot of people wondering if he was truly the Son of God.  But we read them in the context of the Psalm, and to us, it all seems to make sense.

God did not abandon or forsake Jesus, but instead delivered him, as he had done to his ancestors.  But I imagine that at that moment of death on the cross, Jesus did feel like God was a million miles away.  I can’t help but think that perhaps Jesus was thinking about this entire psalm just before his death.  Even with feeling alone, being mocked and scorned, Jesus would have the grace moment of being rescued, because not even death or the cross could defeat the Son of God. 

This psalm starts in a way in which it might make us wonder about the relationship that God has with God’s people.  Yet it ends by clarifying that position.  And so for the end of this devotion, I offer to you the ending of Psalm 22, and hope that you find some Lenten meanings in it.

Psalm 22:22-31 ²² I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:  ²³ You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!  ²⁴ For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.  ²⁵ From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him.  ²⁶ The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD. May your hearts live forever!  ²⁷ All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.  ²⁸ For dominion belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.  ²⁹ To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him.  ³⁰ Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord,  ³¹ and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.

 In our prayers this week: 

Ann, Doris and her mom, Joseph (having surgery on Wednesday), Norm (recovery), Jane’s mom, and St. John’s Lutheran Church

God’s Peace,

Pastor Judson