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Even audiences largely unfamiliar with the Bible’s contents are likely to know phrases from Psalm 23 (though whether or not they know what they are hearing is biblical is another question!). Used in countless television scenes and movie shoots, often as protagonists stumble toward their inevitable death or as mourners huddle around a graveside, the … Continue reading “Psalm 23 Commentary by Kelly J. Murphy”

How odd is it, during Easter, to return to the Psalm of Good Friday, the chilling scream of the crucifixion? We would prefer to move on, to get over it, to sound the resurrection trumpet and roll the stone back to erase the unhappy memory of Good Friday. But the crucifixion is always the Gospel. … Continue reading “Psalm 22:25-31 Commentary by James Howell”

Anne Lamott has famously said, “Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.” While Psalm 22 cannot be reduced to these words, it does seem as though this … Continue reading “Psalm 22:25-31 Commentary by Eric Mathis”

The final verses of Psalm 22 provide us with a wonderful hymn of praise. The Psalmist is inviting…no, compelling the whole community to join her in standing in awe of the Lord. One wonders what type of occasion would call for such praise. We need not look any further than the hymn itself to discover … Continue reading “Psalm 22:23-31 Commentary by Shauna Hannan”

Psalm 22 is a familiar psalm to most of us. It opens with the words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? — words uttered by Jesus on the cross in the gospel narratives. It continues in verse 18 with, “they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.”  … Continue reading “Psalm 22:23-31 Commentary by Nancy deClaissé-Walford”

From the utter abandonment of its opening line to its exuberant, full-throated praise in its final strains, Psalm 22 is a study in contrasts. It is a prayer of one who is utterly alone, at the brink of death, beset with fear, and in extreme pain. Yet, somehow, by the end of the psalm, the … Continue reading “Psalm 22:23-31 Commentary by Joel LeMon”

If we follow the lectionary reading for this Sunday, we enter Psalm 22 right in the middle of an anguished scream. The psalmist has begun the psalm with a desolate cry of abandonment (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”), and then has detailed his troubles, using vivid metaphors. He is a “worm, … Continue reading “Psalm 22:19-28 Commentary by Kathryn M. Schifferdecker”

The Psalter lection includes portions of the two major components of an individual lament/complaint. Verses 19-21a consist primarily of petition, along with embedded lament/complaint (see “the sword” and “the power of the dog” in verse 20, and “the mouth of the lion” in verse 21). Since verses 19-21a bring to a conclusion paired sections of … Continue reading “Psalm 22:19-28 Commentary by J. Clinton McCann”

This psalm selection begins with a sharp transition calling upon God (“But you, O LORD,” v. 19a). The Hebrew construction invites us to emphatically pronounce “you” (referring to God). The urgency of his plea is further stressed by the request that God should hurry (v. 19b). The psalmist establishes how he relates to God, whom … Continue reading “Psalm 22:19-28 Commentary by Jin H. Han”

This is one of the Bible’s saddest texts, appropriately read by Christians on Good Friday, the saddest day of the church year. I find myself emotionally drawn into the agony of the speaker, and I also experience the speaker’s joy as he celebrates his rescue and prospect for the future. But Psalm 22 raises a … Continue reading “Psalm 22 Commentary by Robert L. Hubbard, Jr.”