Mid-week Lenten Service #4

March 29, 2006

Hymns: 158; 171:1-3,12; 154; 565

            Grace to you and Peace, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The word of God taken for our meditation this evening comes from Psalm 22:14-15b:

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;

Theme: The Savior suffers great physical pain.

In the Name of our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, who gave His life for the sheep; Dear Fellow Redeemed,

A number of years back there was a TV commercial which asked the question: “How do you spell relief?” The product being advertized was not a phonetic spelling system; the advertizement wanted you to think of a product that offered relief from a certain kind of physical pain. The commercial wanted you to equate physical pain relief with their product. This evening I would like for you to consider that question: “How do you spell relief?” When you are in physical and spiritual pain, to what do you turn? This evening I would invite you to spell relief: JESUS. When you are need relief, think of Jesus who has been there; trust in Jesus because He has made sure that our pain will end; turn to Jesus as He counters our physical pain with spiritual blessings! May the Spirit give us every needed spiritual blessing through the hearing of the Word. Amen.

During the last few weeks we have been considering the suffering of our Savior. He was forsaken by God, and suffered the agonies of our hell; He was verbally abused; He was forsaken by His friends and surrounded by His enemies. But through His suffering in our place we have also been able to see how Jesus grants us much needed relief. Because Jesus was forsaken by God and suffered the agonies of our hell goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our life and we will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Jesus restored our souls by becoming a worm and trusting in God through all the verbal abuse. Because Jesus suffered alone surrounded by enemies, a table has been prepared for us in the presence of our enemies, our head is anointed with oil, and our cup overflows. And tonight as we consider these two Psalms, we are reminded that our Savior endured great physical pain so that He might make us lie down in green pastures and lead us beside the still waters. Certainly Jesus is our source of relief, both now and forever!

When we are suffering - Jesus is our relief. We can be sure that He is able to give us relief because He has been there. Have you ever discussed a troubling situation in your life with someone close to you, looking for some comfort, only to come away with the feeling that the person didn’t really understand what you were going through? It happens to us all the time, doesn’t it. Sometimes we have a hard time relating our troubles to others because they have never had to deal with that before, or because they don’t understand our problem. Jesus understands trouble, He knows suffering. Jesus has been there. He has endured great physical pain, and He can relate to our pain. The writer to the Hebrews describes Jesus in this way: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus knows our weaknesses, because He was just like us.

The next two verses of this Psalm are an example of the great physical pain our Savior endured and remind us that He can relate to the pain we suffer in our life. The verses we are considering this evening show the effect of the enemies’ physical attacks on the soul of Jesus. Five simple and short phrases are used to describe the physical suffering Jesus endured while on the cross: “I am poured out like water;” “all My bones are out of joint;” “My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me;” “My strength is dried up like a potsherd;” and “My tongue clings to My jaws.”

The first describes Jesus being “poured out like water.” This phrase is used throughout the Old Testament to describe completeness. The phrase “poured out” is used most often by the Old Testament prophets to describe God’s judgment which is complete on unbelievers. But it is also used of the suffering of individuals. Hannah, who was barren and prayed to the LORD for a child tells Eli, “I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD” (1 Samuel 1:15). Job, in his suffering declared, “my soul is poured out because of my plight; The days of affliction take hold of me” (Job 30:16).

In an even greater way the Savior would be poured out as Isaiah prophesied: “Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12). The physical sufferings our Savior endured drained Him of His strength, it was poured out of Him.

The Suffering Savior continues to describe His pain with the words: “all My bones are out of joint.” I would like for you to think for a moment about the pain of crucifixion. The solider feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy square wrought-iron nail through the wrist deep into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the same action being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flex and movement which adds to the pain. The cross is then lifted into place, and set into the prepared hole. The jolt drops the body and it hangs from the nails in his wrists. Then the soldiers grab the right foot and the left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, while a nail is driven through the arch of each foot leaving the knees flexed. As the crucified person slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain. The nails in the wrists put pressure on the median nerves. As he pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he places the full weight on the nail through his feet. Again he feels the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the bones of his feet. All this described by the simple words, “all My bones are out of joint.”

Still the Savior continues: “My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me.” Think of the act of crucifixion again. As the arms fatigue, cramps sweep through his muscles, knotting them up into deep relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe. Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. He fights to raise himself in order to get even one small breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially subsided. Spasmodically, he is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen. Hours of pain, cycles of twisting, joint-renting cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain. Then another agony begins: a deep, crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with water and begins to compress the heart. The compressed heart struggles to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the body already short on oxygen.

Finally the Savior describes the agony of dying of thirst, saying, “My tongue clings to My jaws.” This was also part of crucifixion. The Gospels record the fact that wine and vinegar were kept on hand at crucifixions to help alleviate the pain of liquid deprivation, but Mark tells us that Jesus “did not take it” (Mark 15:23).

Jesus had no relief, but through His suffering He has become our relief. We can be certain that no matter what pain or suffering we may face in this life, Jesus can relate because He has been there. He has suffered unimaginable physical pain and suffering. Through His physical pain and suffering, Jesus has made sure that our pain will end. Think back again to the verses we read from Hebrews earlier. “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” That passage continues: “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” When we are in need here in this life, Jesus is our relief. We can come to Him with our troubles knowing that He will hear and He will answer us.

Jesus as our Resurrected High Priest lives to counter our physical pain with rich spiritual blessings. Jesus is our Good Shepherd. We have been reminded of this throughout our study of Psalm 22 and its connection to Psalm 23. It was not only foretold that Jesus would be the Shepherd of His sheep, He stated it very clearly. He said to the people of His day: “I am the good shepherd.” Jesus also told them that as the Good Shepherd He came to give His life for the sheep: “The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

Jesus is our relief from physical pain. He gives us the strength we need to endure such times of trouble, and even uses the physical trials we face to strengthen our faith. Again the writer to the Hebrews reminds us: “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).

And the result of His suffering and death? Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Thanks to our Suffering Savior our pain will at last come to a permanent end. In that same section Jesus also says: “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9). Through His suffering, our Savior has saved us from the eternal punishment of our sin and leads His sheep through death to a place of everlasting peace - green pasture and still waters. He has prepared the way for us by His death, and leads us there by His Word!

How do you spell relief? When you are need relief, think of Jesus who has suffered great physical pain through His agonizing death on the cross; turn to Jesus as He gives us the strength we need to endure our physical pain and as He strengthens our faith through them; and trust in Jesus because He has made sure that our pain will end as He makes us to lie down in the green pastures, and leads us beside the still waters of eternal life! Jesus is our relief from all pain now and forever. Amen.     

And the Peace of God which surpassed all understanding, will gaurd your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Nathanael Mayhew