Death and Resurrection - A Holy Week Reflection from Jess Kim

Psalm 22 is a lament, perhaps one of the best-known laments amongst Christians. The psalmist’s opening cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” in verse 1 was repeated by Jesus during his crucifixion, as recorded in the gospels of Matthew and Mark. It’s a question we don’t get an answer to, but faith isn’t about having all the answers. The Christian path, after all, is a journey not a destination.  

For many of us, our journeys may look like the suffering psalmist in Psalm 22. Throughout life, we will move back and forth between death and resurrection. This isn’t because suffering is salvific or ordained by God. Suffering, to borrow the words of German theologian Martin Luther, is the reality of the world. And as Christians, I think we engage in suffering to learn where God is being revealed and what it can tell us about God’s nature. 

The first 20 verses in Psalm 22 are a prayer for help. The psalmist cries out to a God that they say does not answer and is far from helping: “Do not be far from me, for trouble is near, and there is no one to help” (v.11). But we learn about the nature of this God, as one who is holy and trustworthy, for God delivered for their ancestors. This pattern continues: a lament is offered, and we learn more about the nature of this God until almost abruptly, God’s help arrives. God has answered and the distress and pain gives way to rejoicing, amazement, and celebration. The psalmist offers more characteristics about God’s nature: God does not abandon, God does not despise those who suffer, God listens when we cry out, and God is not hidden in suffering. 

From the brink of death, the psalmist is restored and experiences resurrection, and they lavish praise for God. The gratitude extends not just to the people of Israel but to the ends of the earth, and the psalmist envisions that families everywhere will worship this God. There is hope that others will experience this divine intervention of restoration.   

I find profound comfort in this psalm, and psalms of lament in general. The Book of Psalms contains a diverse and rich range of human emotions, but the most numerous is the lament (or complaint), which constitutes nearly half of the Psalter. These days, religion emphasizes the good things – the goodness of God – without giving an honest expression of how hard and messy life can be. There is so much grief and suffering that shapes us, and there is an authenticity of spirituality that comes out of these experiences.

On this Good Friday, and in this season of walking through the wilderness, we know we do not walk this path alone. As Psalm 22 reminds us, God does not abandon and is not hidden in our suffering. God also listens when we cry out. As Christians, we must engage in a spiritual practice that allows us to cry out to God. Like the psalmist in Psalm 22, the Bible is full of stories of people doing just that. And by doing so, we are continuing the rich tradition of lamenting and taking our transgressions to God, knowing that God listened to our faith ancestors as God listens to us today.

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Jess Kim is a DSF/CST graduate (M.Div./2021) and serves as the Managing Director of DSF.