Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Psalm 22:6-8 But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, "He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!
CRY OF SHAME
We come in our meditation on the thoughts of our Lord to a turning in His outlook, a turning from an inward upward looking to the Father, to an outward looking at those who surround Him. He moves from thoughts dwelling on the Father's goodness to the patriarchs to thoughts dwelling on His own condition, that even if the Lord was good to them, surely I cannot even be considered a man. Finally we move from thoughts of being forsaken by God, to thoughts of being forsaken by men.
Is it not enough that He is forsaken by the Father, does he need to endure being forsaken by men as well? Yet we see in His words no bitterness, no accusation of injustice. These thoughts run through Him not in anger that they would think such things but in recognition that such things were indeed true. He begins the section with these words, "But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men."
This phrase does not carry with it the thought that men disregarded and despised Him (though that idea is brought out in the next phrase) but that they indeed ought to despise Him. He isn't speaking of the way that men see Him, but says "I am a worm." For He was not a man but a thing that should be despised. He carried the sins of the world. He was a rapist, a murderer, a thief, a liar -- everything of man that was and is most despicable and most awful, He was. All our sins were laid upon Him. And He was therefore an object to be despised for there is nothing about our sins that is anything but ugly. They would make of us maggots, but He became the maggot in our place.
