Any day is a good day to praise God;
Any place is a good place to glorify him.
And yet we neither praise God in every place
Nor glorify him every day. Why is that?
Perhaps there are days when we just don’t feel like it.
Maybe there are places in our lives where we feel
Too sad or too burdened to lift our voices to God.
But should we let those days or places exist?
Consider the example of Jesus.
Think about the worst time in his life;
Consider the worst place he ever was.
It’s not too hard to locate that, is it?
The day of his death, pinned to the cross …
Yet what does Jesus do on that day,
From that place? He quotes a psalm.
Not just any psalm. Psalm 22.
Remember the words from its first verse?
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
This appears to be, at first, Jesus asking a “why” question.
And we know that asking God a “why” question
Is asking God the wrong question, don’t we?
The Jewish people who heard Jesus would have known;
They would have understood that he was quoting the psalm,
And they would have understood that by quoting
Its first line, he was, in effect, quoting the entire psalm.
Even when he did not have the breath to speak it all.
This was a device used frequently in the synagogue,
And it still happens in our pulpits today.
A part stands for the whole. A synecdoche.
So Jesus does not merely ask why; in effect
He delivers his entire lament to his Father:
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night, but find no rest.
Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
Where is God? Enthroned upon our praises!
Why do we praise this God?
In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried, and were saved;
in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.
Yet both the psalmist and Jesus
might understandably struggle
With trusting at this trying moment;
Neither might feel so close to salvation
While in the hands of their enemies …
But I am a worm, and not human;
scorned by others, and despised by the people.
All who see me mock at me;
they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
"Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver —
let him rescue the one in whom he delights!"
Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
you kept me safe on my mother's breast.
On you I was cast from my birth,
and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.
And so the psalmist describes the feelings of his heart
In a way that eerily foretells the events of the cross,
So well that they easily become the words of Jesus:
Many bulls encircle me,
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
my mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs are all around me;
a company of evildoers encircles me.
My hands and feet have shriveled;
I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me;
they divide my clothes among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
But you, O Lord, do not be far away!
O my help, come quickly to my aid!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my life from the power of the dog!
Save me from the mouth of the lion!
Despite these heart-breaking events,
Both the psalmist and Jesus anticipate the shift,
The turning from the disaster, and
The returning from the grave.
And in that turning which only God can empower
Is found the ultimate reason for praising God.
From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.
I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
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.
From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord.
May your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before him.
For dominion belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
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.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord,
and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying that he has done it.
May we have the courage and faith to trust God today,
enough trust to be able say “He has done it”
even before he finishes doing it.
May we give God the glory today.
Blessings,
Ron
Quotations are from the NRSV.
