28/08/2025
My God, My God: The Prophetic Echo of Psalm 22 at the Cross
1. Call and Response as a Poetic Device in Psalm 22
Hebrew poetry often employs parallelism, repetition, and even a form of “call-and-response.” One line cries out, and another line or section answers.
In Psalm 22, the psalmist begins with raw anguish: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (v. 1). But if you read on, you notice how the psalm doesn’t remain in despair. It moves from lament (vv. 1-21) into praise and vindication (vv. 22-31).
This shows us that the opening cry is not the full message. It is the “call” that sets the stage for God’s response of deliverance.
2. Jesus on the Cross Quoting Psalm 22
When Jesus cried these words from the Cross (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34), He wasn’t simply voicing despair. He was quoting Psalm 22:1, pointing His hearers to the entire psalm as a prophetic witness to His suffering and His vindication.
The people standing by would have recognised this. It was not a random outburst but a deliberate scriptural reference.
And if you look closely, the psalm doesn’t end in abandonment; it ends in triumph: “They shall proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn, for He has done it!” (Psalm 22:31). Doesn’t that sound like the Cross itself, “It is finished”?
3. Does this Mean the Father Abandoned Him?
The “forsaking” here is best understood as experiential rather than absolute. Jesus carried the full weight of sin and entered into the depths of human alienation from God (2 Corinthians 5:21). But even then, there was no rupture in the divine fellowship. Scripture affirms: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19).
And He was never truly abandoned, neither on the Cross nor in the grave (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:27).
So, when Jesus quoted Psalm 22, He was identifying with the righteous sufferer. It may have looked like He was forsaken, but in reality, He was upheld and ultimately vindicated. His cry is therefore prophetic, not faithless.
4. Conclusion
Psalm 22 follows a divine pattern: the cry of abandonment is answered by the declaration of God’s faithfulness and triumph.
On the Cross, Jesus steps into this psalm. His cry fulfils the prophetic “call,” and His resurrection is God’s ultimate “response.” The psalm does not end in despair but in the proclamation of God’s righteousness to the nations and the assurance that “He has done it” (Psalm 22:31).
At Calvary, this was not the cry of defeat but the unveiling of God’s eternal purpose. In Christ’s suffering, God was glorified, His righteousness upheld, and His salvation declared to the world.
Glory to God!
