Mid-week Lenten Service #2

March 8, 2006

Hymns: 145; 143:1-5; 151:1-5; 562

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 22:6-10:

6 But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people. 7 All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 8 “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” 9 But You are He who 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.

Theme: The Savior suffers for our Restoration.

In the Name of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, Dear Fellow Redeemed,

Of the one hundred and fifty Psalms found in our Bibles, Psalm 22 is not the best known, nor the most familiar. The opening verse of the Psalm is probably the most familiar verse of the Psalm, but most people are familiar with it because of its being recorded in the Gospels as it was spoken by Jesus while He was on the cross. Undoubtedly, the best known and most familiar of all the Psalms is the one that follows Psalm 22 – the twenty third Psalm, the Shepherds Psalm.... Its words are familiar to all of us, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” But as familiar as those words are, few people have considered the close connection between these two Psalms.

Listen once again to the words of Psalm 23: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.”

At first glace there doesn’t seem to be anything in common between the two at all: Psalm 23 is full of comfort and hope for the believing child of God. This seems to be quite a contrast from the “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” and the “I am a worm and no man” of Psalm 22. This Psalm reveals the thoughts of one with no comfort, no hope.

So what is the connection? Here in Psalm 22 we see what had to take place in order for us to have what is promised in the twenty third Psalm. Psalm 22 reveals the high cost involved in acquiring the blessings of Psalm 23. Psalm 22 is cause, and Psalm 23 is the result. Last Wednesday night we considered how Jesus was forsaken by God and suffered the agonies of hell so that we would not. Because Jesus was forsaken by God, the twenty third Psalm is able to assure us, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.”

This evening we will consider another section of Psalm 22 and we will again see the high cost of the assurance given in the twenty third Psalm. In Psalm 23 we are told: “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.” This evening, as we consider Psalm 22, we see that the Shepherd restores our souls by becoming a worm, suffering verbal abuse, and trusting in God who had been with Him from birth. May the Holy Spirit bless our study of our Suffering Savior. Amen.

This evening we see another very descriptive picture of the suffering of our Savior. In verse six, the Messiah proclaims, “I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.” These words may seem rather odd at first. What is the meaning of that statement? First, think back to what we studied in Psalm 22 last week. We saw how Jesus was abandoned by God and had to suffer the agony of our hell on the cross without the help of God. In the final verses of our section from last week we heard the Savior declare, “Our fathers trusted in You; They trusted, and You delivered them. They cried to You, and were delivered; They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.” Throughout history God was with those people who trusted in Him. God had been with them and had delivered them from all kinds of danger, trouble, and death.

The fathers were not ashamed, “But I am a worm, and no man” the Savior says. There was no deliverance for Jesus. The Savior was not treated as Job, Jacob, Moses or Rahab, but as a worm. The description of Jesus as a worm brings out two aspects of His suffering: His helplessness and His dejection. Worms are one of the most helpless creatures God made. They are slow, and they have no defenses against enemies, making them very vulnerable. Our Savior was completely without help. He had been abandoned by His disciples who had fled for their lives, and forsaken by His God.

As a worm, Jesus was also, “A reproach of men, and despised by the people.” The people saw Jesus as a worm too. What began as a hatred of Jesus by the chief priests and scribes turned into a hatred by the people of Israel. On the morning of Good Friday, as Jesus stood before Pilate, we are told that “the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus” (Matthew 27:20) and later, it was “the people” who cried out, “His blood be on us and on our children” (Matthew 27:25). The Savior was despised by the people. The real meaning of that word “despised” is “worthless”. People only despise things that have no value in their eyes. Jesus was despised by the people – His life was seen as worthless to them. And they were eager to get rid of Him.

There is an interesting illustration of Christ as a worm found in nature. There is a certain species of worm called the scarlet worm. When this worm is ready to give birth to her young, she attaches her body to the trunk of a tree, so tightly that she will never leave again. The eggs are then protected until they hatch and are able to enter their own life cycle. As the mother dies, a crimson fluid stains her body and the surrounding wood. What a picture this gives of Christ, dying on the tree, shedding his precious blood that he might “bring many sons unto glory” (Hebrews 2:10). Jesus, our Good Shepherd, restores our souls by becoming a worm and dying for us, that we might live through him!

Jesus is still despised by the people. People throughout the world know Jesus as a man. But like the people of His day, they see the life of Jesus as worthless and unimportant. They fail to see the meaning of His perfect life and His sacrificial death for us and for our sin. Yet how important this is! To know Jesus not just as a man who deid accomplishing nothing, but as the Savior from sin!

As the Psalm continues it describes how Jesus was reproached and despised. We see them mocking Him with their gestures, and taunting Him with their words. The Savior proclaims, “All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head.”

Those words remind me of children. Children often master the art of mocking or ridiculing others without a word, but using only gestures. To make fun of someone else they will often impersonate or mimic others. If a child is crying they might pretend to cry as well. If someone has a bad leg and walks with a limp, they will often mimic the limp to ridicule that person.

This Psalm describes the mocking gestures of those around the cross when Jesus was crucified. They eagerly ridiculed the pain and the agony of the Suffering Savior, mimicking the painful contortions of His body and face. But it didn’t stop there. They weren’t content to mock Him quietly, they also abused Him verbally saying, “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” Once again we see this directly fulfilled at the cross. Matthew tells us how the chief priests with the scribes and the elders fulfilled this by saying, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God’” (Matthew 27:42-43).

During His ministry Jesus had claimed a special relationship with God. Jesus had said, “all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him” (John 5:23) and “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). Now Jesus was on the cross about to die. God had the power to save Jesus, but He wasn’t saving Him – for them this was proof that all Jesus had said was a lie. Little did they realize that this supposed proof that Jesus was a liar and blasphemer, was instead proof of the truth of His words!

Jesus had been forsaken by God. For Jesus there would be no help. He became a worm and suffered verbal abuse and blasphemy so that He might restore our soul and lead us in the paths of righteousness!

I’m sure that we have all been made fun of at some time in our lives. It can be very discouraging and hurtful when others make fun of us – even when it is done in a joking manner. Jesus was mocked and ridiculed in the worst possible way. When we are ridiculed by a large group of people, it often makes us wonder if it is really true and can even drive us to despair.

Jesus didn’t despair. He continued to trust in the God that had blessed Him and been with Him from the time that took our human nature upon Himself. Jesus was all alone and yet He knows that the taunts of the people were not true. He says, “But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts. I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been My God.” God had continually declared His love for Jesus. Angels had been sent to announce His birth, and the Father had declared His love for Jesus at His baptism and at His transfiguration. He had been strengthened by angels sent by His Father. Here we find Jesus at the very depths of His humiliation, suffering all this for us as our brother, as true Man. Here the suffering Savior reminds Himself of all that God had done for Him, how God has been with Him, and has given evidence of His love throughout His life. Jesus was all alone, but He continued to trust in God.

We also get discouraged, and we have often failed to trust in God as we should. At times we might wonder if God loves us. He didn’t announce our birth by angels, didn’t speak from heaven at our baptism, yet our Heavenly Father has declared His great love for us in an even greater way. “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9).

Jesus, our Suffering Savior and Good Shepherd leads us in the paths of righteousness and restores of our souls through His work of redemption which He came to secure for us. Through faith, His righteousness becomes our own, and His death the atonement for our sins!

All this had to take place to make the restoration of our souls possible. He humbled Himself, becoming a worm, helpless and despised. He suffered the verbal abuse of the people, as the mocked ridiculed and blasphemed against Him. And still He trusted in the God who had been with Him and blessed Him. This is the high cost that was necessary so that each of us might be able to declare with confidence, “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.” Eternal thanks and praise to our Suffering Savior. Amen.

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

Pastor Nathanael Mayhew