Psalm 22

"Good" Friday - Years A, B, C


I would prefer one longer Psalm that would bind Psalms 22 and 23 together.


This new movement would go beyond a sense of entitlement betrayed and beyond a simplistic, “G*D is everything.”

A larger movement is from our sense of broken entitlement to a renewed understanding of living more largely than we have. It was our initial limitation of scope that led to the cry of abandonment.

Since this is a reflection on “Good Friday”, the end of Psalm 22 leaves us without ourselves. Everything is G*D. This is as much as death, to become a proclaiming puppet.
If this is all there is, we have moved from being individually forsaken to being forsaken as a series of generations.

We still yearn for a participation in life and life’s conflictual realities. Overflowing cups and resurrection invite us to live in light of goodness and mercy, no matter what the consequences.

Even as we have some down time here with this Psalm, it is not the end of the story.

 

As found in Wrestling Year A: Connecting Sunday Readings with Lived Experience

 



 

It might better have one longer Psalm that would bind Psalms 22 and 23 together.

The movement is not just from a sense of entitlement betrayed to simply saying, "G*D's everything."

The larger movement is from our sense of broken entitlement to a renewed understanding of our living more largely than we have. It was our initial limitation of scope that led to the cry of abandonment.

Since this is a reflection on Good Friday, the end of Psalm 22 leaves us without ourselves. Everything is G*D. This is as much as death, to become a proclaiming puppet.

If this is all there is, we have moved from being forsaken as an individual to being forsaken as a series of generations.

We are still yearning for our participation in life and that resurrection is living in light of goodness and mercy, no matter what the consequences. So we have some down time here with this Psalm that is not the end of the story.

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/april2004.html

 


 

This day, last night's betrayal sets in as the rest of the story is told.

There is still the option to call down an army of heavenly hosts on behalf of the future, the past experiences of temptation, and the present beginnings of torture that they will take their place and find their meaning. 

While usually focusing on the first part of this Psalm we might also hear how the worst sense of forsakenness transforms into a future community. Posterity will find out about service and belovedness and the difference they make. And so we go through the last temptation with an assurance that life is not in vain, even though it pass as a mist of vanity.

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/march2005.html

 


 

Psalm 22
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Hebrews 10:16-25 or Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1-19:42

Persistence in the face of overwhelming sorrow (try reading the Thomas Covenant series by Stephen R. Donaldson) can lead to provocation to love and good deeds, anyway.

Overwhelming sorrow can also deaden us to the point of non-responsiveness. It can call forth intermediary rituals to disperse such sorrow that eventually become a barrier to experiencing the sorrow at all. At this point we cling to our ritual rather than face again that which overwhelms us, every time. Far better to be obedient than to wrestle, as did Jacob of old, with unknown forces.

Suffering does come, as does everything in its time. But here the suffering may be more in the eye of the beholder than the actor. We do come to an empathetic and cathartic experience of suffering, but one that tends to keep us captive to it rather than release us into a new freedom to accept our suffering and not run from it.

We do not seem to find a way through suffering (a better conversation between Buddha and Jesus would help many a Christian and their congregation). It becomes a totem for us and we carry it around our necks and tattooed on our bodies. A cross becomes an ending spot for us rather than a beginning, everything is seen through its lens.

Note: None of this applies to the kinds of suffering we cause and ignore to the least among us. That kind of suffering has nothing to do with redemption.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html

 


 

On “Maundy” Thursday we hear the psalmist lead off with: 
“I love you, YHWH, for you have heard my voice and my supplications.”

On “Good” Friday the lead is:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning.”

What a difference a day makes. What day is today for you? Remember the other day is not far behind.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2012/04/psalm-22.html

 


 

One might almost think that a goodly portion of the Paschal Triduum is based on Hebrew Scripture quotes, repurposed with a twist, to make Jesus a G*D. Quoting the Psalms might make us want to take a look at them in their own right, but with these quotes it is more likely the Gospel writers were redefining the Psalms rather than honoring them.

At best we can play along with Nikos Kazantzakis’ Last Temptation of Christ and remember the first temptations after Jesus’ baptism were all responded to with quotes from the scriptures of Jesus’ time. The quotes drive us back to the originals. Note the Jewish tradition to read this Psalm on Purim, a celebration of the saving of a later exiled community. Thus Psalm 22 is a communal psalm, not an individual one; it is a psalm of community restoration, not about a Messiah.

For this year, re-view the last verses,

In such a time as this, so live today that a people yet unborn will have echoes of steadfast love and affirmations that new life is already present if they are willing to risk their personal life for the benefit of all.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2014/04/psalm-22-friday.html