From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts:
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Psalm for the Fourth Sunday of Easter
What if God would come down to earth and live the life of a human being? Of a Jew, say, during the time of the height of the Roman Empire? In that human life the Jewish man would learn and sing and pray the many songs of his people. If he were to be betrayed, arrested, abandoned by his friends, falsely accused, and suffering a tortuous death, it would not be surprising for him to whisper the 22nd Psalm, which begins “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?…I cry by day but you do not answer me….” How could this not occur to a faithful Jew?
The dying God-man is not simply providing a brief quote for a Gospel not yet written, but speaking from the heart of his pain and anguish. Later, when Gospels are written down about all this, they will be written in the usual manner of that day: restricted writing space make concision precious. “My God, my God” would be understood by everyone as the opening lines of Psalm 22, quoted to bring to the readers’ mind the entire psalm. The betrayed man had hours to pass in pain as he dies. The entire memorized psalm gives him something to cling to as he sinks. The psalm concludes with phrases like these:
23 …I will proclaim your name to my brethren;
in the assembly I will praise you:
24 “You who fear the Lord, give praise!
All descendants of Jacob, give honor;
show reverence, all descendants of Israel!
25 For he has not spurned or disdained
the misery of this poor wretch,
Did not turn away from me,
but heard me when I cried out.
26 I will offer praise in the great assembly;
my vows I will fulfill before those who fear him.
…
29 For kingship belongs to the Lord,
the ruler over the nations.
30 All who sleep in the earth
will bow low before God;
All who have gone down into the dust
will kneel in homage.
31 And I will live for the Lord;
my descendants will serve you.
32 The generation to come will be told of the Lord,
that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn
the deliverance you have brought.
The “poor wretch” (v.25) though devastated in his emotions, remains faithful to the end. And the psalm that follows it immediately is Psalm 23, copied above from our Sunday readings.
Both songs were Jesus’ songs. Both are his followers’ songs.
For further reflection:
Christians consider the Psalms as “inspired” (breathed in) by God. Psalms often jump around a topic, considering it from various angles, and sometimes they read as quite violent and unforgiving, which can trouble us. They ARE inspired, but they composed and written by human beings God created. Our ability to understand things is limited–just as children cannot comprehend the motives, reactions, and emotions of adults, it is impossible for us to understand everything going on in the mind of our Creator. We don’t have the words for all of what He means. Christ helps us with this–as the perfect human image of Who and What God is, he assures us that his Father (and ours) is both perfectly just and perfectly merciful. All will become clear at the proper time.