Our dishwasher has a delay setting. We can load it with dirty dishes, add the soap, and then set it to run several hours later. We don’t need to be there when it happens. We know that once we have set the dishwasher it will go through all the cycles and clean the dishes.
While on the cross Jesus quoted the first line to Psalm 22. Such a comment should have called to mind the entire psalm for those in the know. What suffering is talked about in verses 16-17? What is talked about in verse 18? How do these words fit with the crucifixion?
Just as the dishwasher goes through the whole cycle whether we are there or not, Jesus was urging his followers to go through the whole of Psalm 22 to understand what was going on. Jesus was not only reminding his followers that what he was doing was for the ultimate good of the world by quoting Psalm 22. He was also showing them that what was happening was a fulfillment of prophecy.
Hundreds of years before Jesus entered Jerusalem and was crucified his ancestor King David wrote a psalm. In that psalm David expressed the despair and sorrows that all of us feel from time to time. He talked about the familiar feeling of hopelessness we all go through.
When life becomes difficult and we think that we have no friends we may feel as if we are surrounded by a pack of vicious dogs that snap and snarl at us. We may feel under attack. But these words from David were a prophecy of how God would work His salvation and grace. It predicted the crucifixion that Jesus would go through.
As Jesus hung on the cross he was encircled by evil men. They did indeed pierce his hands and feet when they nailed him to the cross. And beneath him the execution squad of soldiers cast lots – rolled dice – to see who would get his clothes.
Jesus had a message in his words from the cross. Ultimately he was reminding all of those who believed to have hope in the good that would come through his death, the salvation that he brought through the crucifixion. But he was also reminding them that he was indeed the Son of God, the fulfillment of prophecy, the living out of God’s promise.
We must bear in mind that the death of Jesus was not the end of the story. We must remember that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the Son of God, and that he gave himself completely that we might have hope and joy in the grace and love of God.
DAILY CHALLENGE: What can remind you of the purpose of the crucifixion?
