The cry and the anguish of a suffering man.
On the cross, before dying, Jesus prayed the Psalm 22, which starts with the words: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
It is the complaint of someone who put all trust in God; it is the cry of the anguished person, who feels abandoned and lost, in total darkness without the slightest glimpse of light to give him hope. It sounds like a cry of protest and accusation, close to despair. In this Psalm, we are presented with a person that is completely on his/her own, without a protecting hand or a kind face to make the suffering bearable.
Some people reproach a sick person in acute pain, who complains, accusing that person of lack of faith. Such mentality is far from Jesus Christ or from many passages of the Old Testament (see, for instance, the book of Job). There is a Bemba proverb that says: Icikalipa, cumfwa umwine (What hurts is felt only by the one in pain). And when the pain is overwhelming, from the deep of our souls and our bodies, a cry of anguish will come out. Most of the times, that cry does not mean lack of faith; it just means acute pain.
We must remember that the Psalm is a prayer addressed to God; and it is not a prayer of despair at all. In darkness, lost and confused, experiencing the silence of God, one cries out and brings his/ her pain into the open; and then one throws himself/ herself in the hands of God, being sure that he knows best, and that, in spite of his silence, he is present.
O Lord, do not leave me alone,
my strength, make haste to help me! (Ps 22:20)
No comments:
Post a Comment