Having just completed Job, as we turn to Psalm 5, we see King David held the common view of his day that God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. Job reminds us this is not always true, though it is generally true. King David calls on the LORD to remember his righteousness, and to judge his enemies’ wickedness toward him. We can do the same in our lives. The LORD’s code of justice is consistent and sure. As we call on the LORD to judge those who have hurt us, we have an additional step to take, because of Jesus’ coming in our lives: we are called to forgive our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. The principle of the LORD’s justice remains, and in addition to it we have the principle of forgiveness. King David understood forgiveness. As we’ll see when we get to Psalm 51, in particular, David knew his own need for forgiveness and called on the LORD for it. Yet, at other times, he was more likely to lean on the LORD’s justice than to ask for the LORD to forgive His enemies. That will always be our tendency. Forgiveness is the higher calling.
Psalm 6 finds King David crying out to the LORD for protection and deliverance from his enemies. This is no mild petition as he tells us he has cried out day and night and his couch was wet with his tears. David was going through a time of deep pain and affliction. But in the final verse he acknowledges the LORD will ultimately vindicate him. This is a common aspect of David’s psalms of lament, or psalms in which he begins with a strong cry to the LORD concerning his despair, his being abandoned, his sense of hopelessness. While many psalms start with this tone, nearly everyone ends with an affirmation of the LORD’s faithfulness, or an affirmation of praise to Him. As I was reminded many years ago in seminary, “Hopeless is not a Christian word.” While King David lived long before Jesus walked the earth, He, too, believed hope was the final word, because He believed in the goodness, faithfulness and steadfast love of the LORD.
In Psalm 7, King David cries out to the LORD to vindicate his righteousness, to examine his life and to judge the wicked. This is another common trend in the psalms, particularly the psalms of David. He asks the LORD to look into his life, to examine it for sin and fault and to judge what he finds. David does acknowledge the need to confess our sins in this psalm, and David’s process is helpful: Live in righteousness; confess our sins when we fail and receive God’s restoration.
Psalm 8 is a “creation psalm,” which means it offers us a picture of God’s majestic creation. Indeed, it starts with the words, “O LORD, our LORD, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens!” As the psalm continues, King David wonders at this reality: as wonderful and majestic as the LORD is, He has set humanity at the pinnacle of His creation. He has made us a little lower than the angels! That is an incredible reality. We aren’t divine. We aren’t majestic, and yet the LORD regards us so highly–amazing!
As we return to Matthew 26, it is the final “countdown” to Jesus’ crucifixion. Indeed, Jesus starts the chapter by telling His disciples He will be arrested and crucified. The events of the chapter are extensive. They start with a woman pouring an expensive bottle of perfume on Jesus, which starts a major discussion among the group. Some were upset at the “waste” of money, but Jesus made it clear the woman’s action was one of great love and sacrifice. It would be remembered throughout history, and it has. Judas left the group to conspire with the religious leaders to betray Jesus. Then the group celebrated what we call the Last Supper together. During that time, Jesus told the group one of them would betray Him. Each wondered if he was the one. Then Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper by reinterpreting the Passover meal as a time of remembrance of His establishing a new covenant between the LORD and people sealed in Jesus’ own blood. After the meal the group sang some hymns and went to the Mount of Olives. There, Jesus told them they would all desert Him. Peter promised he would never leave Jesus, even if it meant going to prison or death. Jesus told Peter He would deny Him three times. After this, Jesus told all the disciples to pray, and took Peter, James, and John to another place apart from the rest and asked them to pray for Him. Then Jesus went and prayed by Himself with His Heavenly Father. The gist of Jesus’ prayer was, “I don’t want to die on the cross, but if it’s Your will, then I’m ready.” After praying He returned to the three and found them sleeping. He roused them and told them to pray again. This sequence was repeated three times. Then Judas came with soldiers and they arrested Jesus. One of the disciples cut off the ear of the High Priest’s servant, but Jesus put a stop to that approach. He was arrested and taken for a “trial,” by the Jewish religious leaders. They had bribed false witnesses to testify against Jesus, but they couldn’t get their testimonies straight. Finally, Jesus was asked if He were the Son of God and said He was. This was all the religious leaders needed to condemn Him. Meanwhile, Peter had followed Jesus at a distance and was waiting outside with others. In the next period of time, a servant girl and others accused him of being one of Jesus’ followers. He denied it–three times. At the third denial, he remembered what Jesus said and went out and wept bitterly.
This rapid sequence of events to us, must have seemed like an eternity to Jesus. He knew He was heading to the cross, and we know from His prayer in Gethsemane He wasn’t looking forward to it. Jesus’ agony in the garden was not because He was afraid to die. He tells us in the Gospel of John that is why He came. He knew He would die, but the agony was caused because He knew He would be enduring the sin of the world on the cross, which would separate Him from His Heavenly Father. We cannot imagine such a situation, but we benefit from it infinitely. Jesus exchanged His innocent life for ours, and as a result, we are freed from sin and death now and forever! No wonder Jesus called the new lives we receive from Him being “born again,” in John 3. The change is so dramatic and so radical, nothing else could describe it.