Psalm 22 - The Park Forum

Scripture Focus: Job 14.7-9, 14-17
7 “At least there is hope for a tree:
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail.
8 Its roots may grow old in the ground
and its stump die in the soil,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth shoots like a plant.

14 If someone dies, will they live again?
All the days of my hard service
I will wait for my renewal to come.
15 You will call and I will answer you;
you will long for the creature your hands have made.
16 Surely then you will count my steps
but not keep track of my sin.
17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag;
you will cover over my sin.

Psalm 22.1, 31
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?

31 They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!

Reflection: Hope In the Tree of the Cross
By John Tillman

“At least there is hope for a tree…”

This phrase sparked a memory. I remembered the phrase, “I want to be a tree,” but I didn’t remember its source. When I looked it up I was reminded of the remarkably strange world of 80s British music videos and Tim Pope’s song, “I Want to Be a Tree.”

I’m sure I heard this song during the early days of MTV (when they used to play music) and the phrase must have stuck in my memory. Pope is most well known for his music videos for David Bowie, The Cure, and others.

Pope’s song is mostly tongue-in-cheek escapism but buried in the humorous lyrics are the roots of real issues. At first he wants to escape attention and life’s annoyances. He obliquely references the Eden narrative. He then hopes to escape “World War Three.” Today’s crisis-centered culture is fraught with uncertainty about many things but it is hard to explain how inescapable nuclear annihilation seemed to GenXers and how powerless we felt about it.

Job’s lament is more desperate and is grounded in suffering that is more intense than Pope, or most of us, ever will know. Job’s thoughts also take us deeper into the promises of God.

Job planted his hopes in God. The idea that God will raise humans to eternal life is a seed in Job. It develops in the Psalms and other scriptures and blooms in the gospels.

Today we also read Psalm 22, referenced by Jesus from the tree of the cross. It begins, like Job, questioning God’s abandonment, but ends triumphantly, celebrating God’s victory. “He has done it,” Psalm 22’s last line proclaims. “It is finished,” Christ’s last breath from the cross echoes. (John 19.30; Psalm 22.31)

Our hope is found not in becoming a tree but in laying down our lives and being transformed by the cross of Christ. The cross—the cruel instrument of death—becomes a blossoming tree of life from which we are free to partake. (Genesis 2.16; 3.22-24; Proverbs 11.30; Revelation 2.7; 22.1-2, 14)

At the roots of the tree of the cross, we find healing, peace, and power. As we follow Christ, we will become like this tree. Grafted into the Root of Jesse, (Romans 11.16-21) we bloom in deserts of suffering. We protect others under our branches and shade. We bless the earth, bringing up water of life and healing for the nations.

When grown to maturity, a Christian is like a tree. (Psalm 1.3)

Further Study: Humans are… Trees? From The Bible Project Podcast

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Our sins are stronger than we are, but you will blot them out. — Psalm 65.3

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Job 14 (Listen – 2:23)
Psalm 22 (Listen – 3:49)

This Weekend’s Readings
Job 15 (Listen – 3:23), Psalm 23-24 (Listen – 2:03)
Job 16-17 (Listen – 3:40), Psalm 25 (Listen – 2:18)

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Read more about Praise from a Stump
In Isaiah chapter 11, we see this shamed, humbled tree being miraculously restored.

Praise from a Stump :: A Guided Prayer

Psalm 30.11-12
You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.
Lord my God, I will praise you forever.

Reflection: The Prayer From the Cross
By John Tillman

On the day the Church now calls Good Friday, when Jesus hung on the cross and cried out, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani,” people were confused about what he meant. Some even thought he was crying out to Elijah.

Truthfully, we don’t know exactly what was in Christ’s mind, and we also don’t know that he wasn’t thinking multiple things all at the same time, as most humans do in stressful and painful situations.

The clearest, simplest explanation that I lean toward is that Jesus was intentionally quoting Psalm 22, which appeared in our reading plan on Palm Sunday. Jesus knew that most of his audience would recognize the quote and understand that he was referencing the entire psalm. If I said, “To be or not to be,” many people would recognize that I was referencing Hamlet’s entire monologue and its meaning. People less familiar with Hamlet might be confused. Some might think it was from some other source, such as an Arnold Schwarzenegger film.

So, on this Good Friday, we will join Christ in his suffering, praying excerpts from this psalm prayed on the cross, ending with excerpts from Psalm 30 from our reading for today.

Make these psalms our prayer, today and over Holy Saturday as we await the joy of resurrection morn.

Praying with Christ, from the Cross (Psalm 22):
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?

All who see me mock me;
   they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
   “let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
   since he delights in him.”

Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
From birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

You who fear the Lord, praise him!
  For he has not despised or scorned
   the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
   but has listened to his cry for help.

Future generations will be told about the Lord.
They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!

Weeping may stay for the night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.

You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.

Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And are so far from my cry and from the words of my distress? — Psalm 22.1

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Leviticus 23 (Listen – 6:31)
Psalm 30 (Listen – 2:41)

Today’s Readings
Leviticus 24 (Listen – 2:58) Psalm 31 (Listen – 3:11)
Leviticus 25 (Listen – 7:41) Psalm 32 (Listen – 1:34)

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Read more about Joy in The Way of the Cross :: Throwback Thursday
You will find the joy of the Lord comes as you go on in the way of the Cross. It was one who had nobody all his own on earth who said, “If I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice.” (Philippians 2.17)

Joy in The Way of the Cross :: Throwback Thursday

Read more about Where Martyrdom Begins Part 1
It’s easy to think that when Jesus referred to laying his life down for his friends, he was referring to his imminent death on the cross. But stopping there simplifies what Jesus did — and what he said — into one single act.

Where Martyrdom Begins Part 1