Psalm 21 and the Elevation of the Cross: "My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?"

The author of Psalm 21 is Saint David. Though he is king and has more than any human can imagine, he is still tormented by feeling abandoned and defeated by his circumstances. He cries out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” And it is not just for himself that he shouts out in anguish, for he is the icon of the people of the promised land, the kingdom of heaven on earth, the royal chosen of God. The land, city, and people fall as their king falls.

For the Jewish people, Esther is perhaps one of the most important books of the Old Testament. The entire Jewish holiday of Purim is dedicated to teaching and remembering the book of Esther and its meaning. Esther, who represents all of God’s people, is subjected to a foreign power and the immediate plot of her people to be subjugated to death. She fasts for three days and three nights before meeting with the foreign king to bargain for her peoples’ lives. This is called the “Fast of Esther.” According to Jewish tradition, as Esther walks down the hall of idols to confront the judgment of her people, she feels the shekinah (i.e., the dwelling of the divine presence) of God leave her. She thus cries out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”

When Israel was in exile during the Babylonian captivity in Persia, God’s people would participate not only in the “Fast of Esther” for three days and three nights, but also in her recitation of Psalm 21, beginning with “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”

So when Jesus is on the cross and cries out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” this is not Jesus questioning God. Jesus remains fully God. Still, He is fully man and participates in that despair of man abandoned and defeated. He is reciting Psalm 21. He is joining His people in chanting this psalm of His people, Israel.

In His agony on the cross, Jesus does not speak out of His own personal imagination. Instead, He speaks out of the historical story of His spiritual community. He calls the world by reciting the words of an exiled people. While dying, He is singing a song—like a martyr about to be shot for his faith who begins to recite the LORD’s prayer. He embraces love by calling His mystical community in exile, agony, and impending death.

He is the image of King David who cries out for His people. He is the picture of Esther who confronts a dark foreign power for her people to be spared death. He is the icon of the “exiled” in the new Babylon of Rome chanting the vision of the heavenly city on the hill. All of the voices of Israel form a chorus that lift up praise together. God is with us even as God dies on the cross. At the foot of the cross, He knows the comfort of a mother who will never be separated from the love of God (v. 9, 10). He dies and yet he sings. The song of the cross, Psalm 21, is for us.

And while the psalm begins in a dark subterranean place of the flesh: “My God, my God why have You forsaken me?” the song turns around to face the twilight and feel the beating warmth: “But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel” (v. 3). Hope and courage are found to move forward, to join this procession of holy sound, to march into battle proclaiming this psalm of exile. God moves from “far away” (v. 1) to “not far from me” (v. 19). The music and the memory pull together the unmeasurable distance. The lament of Man who is planted into the earth for three days and three nights and fasts from life itself, becomes the angelic crescendo from a seed of light that births the Sun of hope.

A viral pandemic, racial unrest, the explosion in Lebanon, vitriolic political hatred…these times around us make many of us feel weakened and alone. We feel separated quite literally from our people—entombed in our own flesh. The surroundings feel dark, lightless, ominous, even deathlike. The wood of this cross feels too heavy to carry through these streets. A dead silence in the womb of our heart detaches roots and begins to decay. We have lost the desire to speak even a Word. Our chest aches as if blood and water were being poured out. Our prayers have dried up in our mouth. Our heart like wax has melted. Even with those meant to guard us, everything seems up to chance. This cross has taken everything away from us. We too begin this prayer, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”

In that breathless moment, a song cries from the cave of our heart. We must listen carefully and hear the rest of Psalm 21. There is a sound very low like trembling thunder. And then a slight scent of basil. The cross of Christ elevates and delivers strength to rise with it. We follow the voices of the living and the dead who sing, “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD: and all the families of the nations shall worship before You” (v. 27). All of history becomes eternal. All loss becomes gain. Like Saint Helena, we are guided to discover the true cross, again. We are the poor who are satisfied not by the measure of what we are given but by the measure of our thankfulness (v. 26).

On September 14th, we gather for thankfulness. It is the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross. We celebrate this discovery and re-discovery. On this day—on every day—put the cross of Christ upon you. Let this sign impregnate your flesh. Carry it in front of you. Bear down with it. Give birth to it. Hold it to your chest. Feed it with your body. Close your eyes. Lift up your hands. Breathe deeply and release life to it. Stand facing the east. Inhale the light fragrance of flowers as if incense in the wind and sing together with Christ and all the earth as we die and rise.

1 My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? (Matt. 27:46) Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?

2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent.

3 But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.

4 Our fathers trusted in You: they trusted, and You delivered them.

5 They cried to You, and were delivered: they trusted in You, and were not ashamed.

6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people.

7 All those that see me, ridicule me: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head (Mk. 15:29), saying,

8 “He trusted in the Lord; let Him rescue him. Let Him deliver him (Matt. 27:42) since He delights in Him.”

9 But You are He that took me out of the womb: You made me trust while on my mother's breasts.

10 I was cast upon You from birth: From my mother’s womb, You have been my God.

11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.

12 Many bulls have surrounded me: strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.

13 They gaped at me with their mouths, like a raging and roaring lion.

14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it has melted within me.

15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue clings to my jaws; (“I thirst” ~Jn. 19:28). You have brought me to the dust of death.

16 For dogs have surrounded me: the congregation of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet (Matt. 27:31-32).

17 I can count all my bones (“a bone shall not be broken” ~Jn. 19:36). They look and stare at me.

18 They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing, they cast lots (Matt. 27:35).

19 But You, O LORD, do not be far from me. O my Strength, hasten to help me.

20 Deliver me from the sword; my precious life from the power of the dog (“take this cup from me” ~Lk. 22:42).

21 Save me from the lion’s mouth: and from the horns of the wild oxen. 

22 I will declare Your name to my brethren: in the midst of the assembly, I will praise You (Heb. 2:12).

23 You who fear the Lord, praise Him. All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him; and fear Him, all you offspring of Israel.

24 For He hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from him; but when he cried to Him, He heard (Is. 53:3).

25 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly: I will pay my vows before those that fear Him.

26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied: those who seek Him will praise the LORD. Let your heart live for ever!

27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD: and all the families of the nations shall worship before You.

28 For the kingdom is the LORD’s: and He rules over the nations.

29 All the prosperous of the earth shall eat and worship. All those that go down to the dust shall bow before Him: even he cannot keep himself alive.  

30 A seed shall serve Him; it shall be recounted of the Lord to the next generation.

31 They shall come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has done this.