| THE SONG OF THE CROSS |
| Even the best people sometimes suffer. |
| They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. 22:18 |
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| Superficially, the Old Testament can sometimes read like it's taken from old movies. The good guys are the Israelites, and they fight with the bad guys from nations around them. The Israelites have moments when they get off track, worshiping idols and acting like their "bad guy" neighbors. But when they turn back to God, they invariably win, and win big. The ending, in story after story, is happy. God is on their side. Yet, in Psalm 22, and a few other places, the "good guy" story doesn't fit - at all. This peom credited to David, the great king and man "after God's own heart," tells of tremendous suffering with no relief from God. It sounds like a mob scene, a lynching. The "good guy's" enemies have him. They surround him, jeering, like a pack of dogs. He is helpless and exhausted. All he can do is cry to God. The psalmist wavers back and forth, first crying out his misery, then taking stock of God's wonderful character, then describing his misery again. The whole poem is a prayer to God. Although this cry has gone up day and night (verse 2), God remains silent. Whose Humiliations? Then, at verse 22, the poem takes a dramatic turn, switching from grief to jubilation. Somehow, God has saved the sufferer who, in great excitement, tells others about it. He sees more than his own good fortune: he forsees this deliverance spilling over into the whole world. He predices the story of God'shelp told to future generations forever. God will be worshiped by the entire world. A person might read Psalm 22 as an extravagantly poetic description of David's troubles. But Jesus and the writers of the New Testament saw something more in it. When |