Today's main idea: Jesus understands our pain and gives his life to save us from sin. His suffering leads to life, forgiveness, and a place in God's family.
Read Slowly
Psalm 22 is David's prayer during terrible suffering. He feels abandoned, asks God for help, and eventually calls others to praise God. Isaiah describes a servant who suffers for other people's sins.
The New Testament connects these passages to Jesus. Together, they help us understand both his suffering and why he gave his life.
Jesus Understands the Prayer, “Where Are You, God?”
David asks why God seems so far away. Yet he keeps calling him “my God.” He is hurting, but he is still praying.
Jesus uses the opening words of this psalm while dying on the cross in Matthew 27:35–46. He knows what deep suffering feels like.
David also remembers how God helped people before him. God's past faithfulness gives him a reason to keep asking for help.
David's question is itself a prayer: he brings his sense of distance to the God he still calls his own. Jesus takes these words onto his lips at the cross. We can come to him with pain that has not yet become an explanation.
When I cannot describe my situation calmly, I can still pray honestly. Remembering God's faithfulness gives me somewhere to bring the questions that remain.
Remember: I can speak to God about feeling far from him.
Jesus Knows What Rejection Feels Like
Psalm 22:12–18; Isaiah 52:13–15; Isaiah 53:1–3
The person in the psalm is surrounded by enemies. His body is weak, and people divide his clothing.
The Gospel writers describe similar things happening to Jesus. John directly connects the soldiers dividing Jesus' clothes with Scripture in John 19:23–24.
Isaiah's servant is also rejected and treated as someone unimportant. Yet God says this servant will be honored.
People's rejection does not tell us the truth about Jesus' worth. He remains God's chosen servant even when others mock him.
The people looking at the servant dismiss him, while God announces his coming honor. Their judgment of him is deeply mistaken. Jesus' rejection helps us question how readily we confuse someone's reputation with their worth.
When I feel humiliated, I can bring that pain to Jesus. When someone else is being dismissed, I can pause before joining the crowd and give that person careful attention.
Remember: Other people's rejection is not the final word on a person's worth.
Jesus Carries Our Sin
Notice the difference between what belongs to us and what happens to the servant. We go our own way. He suffers for our wrongdoing.
Sin means turning away from God in what we think, want, or do. Isaiah says the servant bears the punishment that belongs to others. Christians recognize Jesus in this description.
Jesus does more than feel sorry for us. He takes our place and carries what we cannot remove for ourselves.
Isaiah's repeated movement from our wrongdoing to his suffering makes confession personal. The servant bears what the wandering people cannot remove. In Jesus, I meet a Savior to whom I can bring the truth about myself.
I can name the lie or selfish choice plainly. His costly mercy gives me reason to stop defending what has hurt others and ask for forgiveness.
Remember: I can stop excusing the sin Jesus gave himself to bear.
Jesus Gives Himself Willingly
The servant is treated unjustly and put to death. Isaiah compares him to a lamb that remains silent.
Notice how the sheep image changes. In Isaiah 53:4–6, we are sheep wandering onto our own paths. Here the servant is the sheep led to slaughter. Our wandering and his suffering belong to the same explanation: the innocent servant bears the sin of the people who went astray.1
This makes his willing obedience deeply personal. The one who stayed faithful gives himself for people who did not. We can bring our actual wrongdoing to Jesus and trust the sacrifice he made for us.
Read alongside the Gospel story, this helps us see Jesus' willing obedience. He continues toward the cross instead of fighting to save himself.
Isaiah also describes the servant being associated with a rich man in death, even though he was treated as wicked. His rejection does not erase his innocence.
The innocent servant gives himself for wandering people. In Jesus, we see love that takes responsibility for our rescue at great cost to himself. His willingness helps us understand the heart of the one we approach for forgiveness.
I can receive his mercy with gratitude, then ask how that love should change my next choice. Being loved so deeply gives obedience a personal reason.
Remember: Jesus' willing love gives me reason to turn back to him.
Death Does Not Have the Last Word
Psalm 22:19–21; Isaiah 53:10–12
The psalm turns from pleading for help to confidence that God has answered.
Isaiah describes something even more surprising. The servant dies, yet afterward he sees the results of his work and lives on. Christians read this in light of Jesus rising from the dead.
Isaiah calls the servant's life an offering for guilt. Through his sacrifice, many are counted righteous, received as right before God. God's saving purpose succeeds through the servant who bears their sin.
Isaiah carries the reader beyond the servant's death to the success of God's saving purpose. Read in light of Jesus' resurrection, this gives our hope a living Savior. The cross was a real death, and the grave did not end his work.
When loss makes the future feel closed, I can bring my grief to the risen Jesus. Hope begins with who he is, even when I cannot yet see what comes next.
Remember: I can face an uncertain future with a Savior who is alive.
Jesus Brings Us into a Family
Psalm 22:22–26; Hebrews 2:11–12
The rescued sufferer praises God among his people. Hebrews applies these words to Jesus and says he is not ashamed to call his people brothers and sisters.
Jesus brings us close to God and joins us to others who belong to him.
Hebrews says Jesus is not ashamed to call his people his family. That welcome gives us reason to approach him even when we feel unworthy of belonging. His rescue brings us into relationships where we can give and receive care.
For someone used to hiding pain, receiving help can be a step of trust. I can let another believer know what I am carrying and allow them to pray with me.
Remember: Jesus' welcome gives me room to receive help from his people.
The Story Keeps Reaching Others
Psalm 22:27–31; Philippians 2:8–11
The psalm ends with people across the earth worshiping God. Future generations will hear what he has done.
Follow how the circle grows in Psalm 22:22–31: the rescued sufferer praises among his brothers, then the congregation joins, then the nations, and finally people yet unborn. The opening cry came from someone who felt utterly alone. The ending reaches beyond his own lifetime.2
God's answer becomes something others can live by and pass on. When we tell someone what Jesus has done, we take part in that continuing praise.
Philippians describes Jesus humbling himself to death on a cross. Then God gives him the highest honor, and every knee bows before him.
The suffering we began with leads to praise. Jesus is the rejected servant who is also the victorious King.
As Christians, we can also hear a resonance between the psalm's final announcement that God has done it and Jesus' words in John 19:30 that his work is finished. Both direct our gratitude toward a work accomplished, giving us something to proclaim with confidence.
The psalm's widening praise helps us see that God's answer is meant to be heard beyond the first sufferer. In Jesus, we have good news that can reach people we will never meet.
I can begin with one conversation. Explaining what Jesus has done for us gives another person something to consider, remember, and perhaps pass on. A small act of witness can serve someone beyond my own lifetime.
Remember: What I tell one person about Jesus may reach farther than I can see.
What We Learn About Jesus
Jesus understands suffering from the inside. He willingly carries our sin and rises from the dead. He brings us into God's family and deserves our worship.
We can trust him with both the pain we feel and the wrong we have done.
How the Readings Fit Together
Psalm 22 gives words to the sufferer's pain and hope. Isaiah explains how the servant suffers for others. The New Testament shows us how these passages help us understand Jesus.
The cross leads to forgiveness, resurrection, and a growing family of people who praise God.
Take a Moment with Jesus
- What pain have I kept out of prayer because I thought I needed to understand it first?
- What sin am I still defending, and how does Jesus' willing sacrifice invite an honest confession?
- Whose help could I receive this week as someone Jesus welcomes into his family?
Prayer
Jesus, thank you for understanding suffering and carrying my sin. Help me stop hiding from you. Teach me to trust your forgiveness and receive the help of your people. Amen.
One Thing to Do
Take ten quiet minutes. Tell Jesus about one thing that hurts and one thing you need forgiveness for. Thank him that you can bring both to him.
Carry This with You
Jesus knows my pain, carries my sin, and brings me into God's family. Because he is alive, I can come to him with hope.
Sources Consulted
Source citations
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Anne Stewart, Commentary on the suffering servant, Working Preacher, Luther Seminary. On the paired sheep images and the servant bearing the sins of others. ↩
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Joel LeMon, Commentary on the psalm’s movement into praise, Working Preacher, Luther Seminary. On praise widening from the sufferer to the nations and future generations. ↩
What is one thing you want to remember?
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