On this Good Friday, we feel the suffering of Jesus especially sharply. Matthew 27:45 tells us that from noon until 3pm, when Jesus breathed his last, the world was covered in darkness. Then in verse 46 Jesus exclaims, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” These past few weeks I have found myself exclaiming similar sentences and asking God why all of this is happening.
This kind of lamenting has a rich history in the Abrahamic faiths. These words of Jesus would have been recognized by the people around him as the start of Psalm 22. The author of this psalm felt abandoned by God, as many of us do at times in our lives. Like Jesus, he has been mocked and despised by other people, has been left starved, and those around him are casting lots to take his clothes. In verse 19 he cries, “But you, O God, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid!” Then suddenly, the cries of anguish are gone and replaced with praise for God. God heard his cries and stepped in to help. God acted to save the one stigmatized, marginalized, and cast off from the community.
Thinking about this Psalm in conjunction with Good Friday, the similarities of Jesus’ suffering to our own becomes apparent. Jesus, fully human and fully divine, knows what suffering feels like and suffers along side us. No matter how insignificant we may think our suffering. When we are hurting, no matter how small, it’s valid. And just like Jesus and this psalmist, we can cry out to God and ask for help. In Psalm 22, we read how God rescued the author. And unlike those present on the original Good Friday, we know that resurrection comes. Before that happens, friends, we can lament, and cry, and be angry at God.
