Victory or shame? Eli Eli ....

When the pastor informed me that I would be sharing for 10 minutes this Friday on one of the seven utterances that the Lord spoke while on the cross, he could not have chosen a more difficult verse for me. Matthew 27:46. I turned on my pocket E-Sword and searched for the verse only to find that I had no idea on how to understand and share its meaning apart from the obvious. That the Lord was crying out to God during his moment of distress. This was how limited my understanding was.

Then, I took out my old-but-new-because-of-unused Keener's Bible Background Commentary and equally old-but-new-because-of-unused F.F. Bruce Bible Commentary to check on other possible understanding of this verse. It was only then that I realized Matthew and Mark were using Psalm 22 to interpret the events of Jesus' crucifixion. What was the connection? Why use this Psalm to interpret Jesus' utterance? Why maintain the Hebrew and Aramaic language forms in Matthew and Mark?

I began to see that there during the event of the crucifixion, the surrounding people, some who were obviously the Lord's enemies, did not understand why Jesus cried out. They misunderstood him, in the Hebrew and Aramaic form, and thought that he was crying to Elijah for help. To them, this clearly showed that he was not the Messiah, Saviour, King of Israel, or Chosen One, because God had abandoned him, did not rescue him nor gave him the power to save himself. This showed that he was a defeated normal human being who taught he was someone great from God. This was to them a moment of defeat and shame.

Matthew and Mark were in some way trying to correct this misunderstanding and provide a way for Christians in the first century to comprehend what was actually happening. They drew on Psalm 22 as an analogy between the sufferings of David and Jesus. David suffered under Saul even though he was chosen by God to be the anointed king of Israel. His suffering was due to injustice done to him by Saul. Jesus was also the Chosen One, the One whom God was well-pleased, the King of Israel who was appointed to save them. But he too suffered terrible injustice under the hands of the rulers of Israel, the high priest and his council. Matthew drew on many instances from Psalm 22 to interpret the crucifixion of Jesus in order to show that the prophetic utterances in Psalm 22 were now being fulfilled 'unknowingly' by the perpetrators. This was too him not a moment of defeat nor shame.

What was once understood as proof of his failure and a mockery by the Lord's enemies had now become the key for Matthew to tell his audience that Jesus was not defeated on the cross. This was God's way of victory over sin and death. For as in Psalm 22, the suffering king David indeed was redeemed by God and installed as the ruler of Israel, so was Jesus proclaimed as the Lord of the whole universe after his resurrection. Matthew showed that Jesus, in his distress, articulated his current sufferings and eventual victory by calling out to God using Psalm 22. He knew the what was happening and what would be the final outcome. To him, this was not a moment of defeat nor shame.

As Christians, we will not be able to escape injustice, sufferings, or calamities. Sceptics would question us if bad things are to occur to believers. They might even mock us saying that if we are the chosen ones of God, why has he allowed such sufferings and evil to happen to us. It is a moment of shame to those who do not understand. As Christians, we draw our strength and hope from the events of the crucifixion. That just as our Lord had suffered, we too will bear such pains. And as the Lord was vindicated by God, so too will our hope and faith be placed in the hands of God. That he would indeed deliver us. That we too might experience and understand that these are not moments of defeat nor shame.