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Cry out of the depths to the Lord!
(Psalm 130, Matthew 26:36-39)
Andy Nagahara
Next week is Easter, which commemorates the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Just one week earlier, on this Sunday, Jesus had come to Jerusalem riding on a colt. At that time, Gospel of John tells us that the people welcomed Jesus by waving palm leaves. That’s why this Sunday is called Palm Sunday. The prophet Zechariah had predicted this event 600 years ago:
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. （Zechariah 9:9）
Jesus, of course, knew this prophecy and, recognizing that he was the Messiah, borrowed a donkey and rode on it into Jerusalem. The Gospels dedicate many pages to recording the events of the week from this day until the crucifixion and resurrection. All of the Gospels, with the exception of the events of Christmas, record a period of about three years from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry to his resurrection, but they dedicate a third of their chapters to the final week, and in John’s case nearly half of the chapters, to the events of this week.
During this week called Passion Week, why not choose one of the Gospels and read a little bit every day?
Every year on Palm Sunday I take a break from my usual message series and speak from a text that is relevant to this time of year, but this time I decided to continue my series on the psalms. This is because Psalm 130 contains content that overlaps with Jesus’ suffering.
1. Cry to the Lord (1,2)
Let’s read the first two verses.
A song of ascents. Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD; O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
Have you ever been in a hopeless situation in your life? The psalmist cries, laments, and prays from the depths of the abyss. Even though he believes that his cries are being heard, he feels as if God is far away, high up, and that he has been abandoned in darkness.
In fact, our Lord Jesus was in a similar situation. It was on Thursday of this Passion Week. Matthew and Luke also record it, but let’s read Mark’s account.
They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:32-36)
What did Jesus suffer and be troubled about? Of course, it would have meant exposure to the deadly violence that was about to occur.
However, what must have tormented him even more was the state of human beings, far removed from God and existing at the bottom of a deep abyss. Jesus was about to be judged by God as their representative.
”Let this time pass; take this cup from me.” Like Jesus, we can cry out about anything. But if we want to walk through life with Jesus, we cannot ignore the last part of his prayer. “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” And so, even though Jesus had many opportunities to escape being crucified, he was crucified without resistance.
Crying out means refusing to give up on your relationship with God, no matter what the circumstances. Sadly, many people give up crying out and just let things take their course. This will only distance yourself further from the blessings God is trying to give you.
At the same time as crying out, it is important to be aware of, “Nevertheless not my will, but yours be done,” both as a concept and because it has a calming effect in practice. The main character of the Book of Job, whom Martin talked about last week, also cried out in the midst of unreasonable suffering and trouble, and in the end, like Jesus, came to entrust himself to God.
When we say that God answers our cries and prayers, it does not mean that He answers them at the timing we want or the way we want. It is never best for us to get our own way. For while we seek for what is good within us, what is good is not there within us. We know very well what happens when someone like Adolf Hitler gets power and gets his way. The Apostle Paul explains it this way in his letter to the Romans:
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. (Romans 7:18-20)
The psalmist speaks of this common human nature as follows:
2. Know your sinfulness (3,4)
If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.
A question Christians are often asked is, “If there is a God, why is the world in such a miserable state? If God really exists, he would have destroyed evil and made the world a better place.” How would you answer this question? Both Paul’s explanation and the psalmist’s words provide a great clue to answering this question.
Many people think of people like Hitler, whom I mentioned earlier, and think that God should be able to destroy evil people. In other words, they believe that they are the good people, the opposite of Hitler. But from God’s point of view, that is a big misunderstanding. No matter how good a person may seem to us, the evil within them can have a major impact on their life and control them, even though they are essentially trying to do good.
I’m sure many were surprised and disappointed by the news that broke last Thursday that Mizuhara, the interpreter for MLB player Shohei Ohtani, had been fired by the team. Even mere fans are shocked, so for those around them, it would feel like they have been thrown into the depths of the abyss. At the previous day’s game, the family was shown enjoying themselves watching the game together with Ohtani’s family, so the gap between that joy and their current state of despair is frightening.
Even with such rewarding and enjoyable work, good friends and family, and a strong desire to do good, people still succumb to temptation. This is not just someone else’s problem. We are all part of it.
Jesus went to the cross knowing that he would be betrayed by his disciples. If we had been there, we too would have betrayed Jesus.
But Jesus opened the way for us sinners to walk with God again, without being abandoned. That is the cross of Jesus. It was an event in which every single person, without exception, was a traitor to the God who created them, yet He forgave them. All we have to do is make the decision, “I will walk with you.
Now let’s read the second half of the psalm.
3. Wait for the Lord (5-8)
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.
If you wonder why the circumstances surrounding you are so harsh, you are feeling the same as Jesus in Gethsemane and the psalmist. And you can have the hope that Jesus and the psalmist offer.
The poet longs for the Lord to appear and for His word to be spoken. Needless to say, the psalmist lived hundreds of years before Jesus came to earth. The psalmist passed away with that hope in mind. That is not to say that his life ended in disappointment. This is because our essence or true nature is soul, not body. We continue to walk this earth with hope until our physical bodies perish. No matter what state the body is in, the soul can rejoice and enjoy being with God.
We are more convinced of this than the psalmist because we know about the cross and resurrection of Jesus and that the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, is with us and leading us when Jesus returns to heaven.
(Prayer) God, thank you for coming into this world as a person, Jesus, and becoming our salvation.
Thank you for loving each and every one of us and calling out to us without abandoning us, even though our sinfulness is hurting each other and devastating our society.
Thank you for teaching us that the sin in us is serious enough to crucify you, and for preparing the way for us to turn from it and walk with you.
Help us to continue to cry out to You, to find joy in following Your will, and to walk in anticipation of the completion of Your Kingdom forever.
We pray in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Summary
Just as the Lord Jesus prayed to his Heavenly Father to take away his affliction when his crucifixion was near, we can cry out to the Lord about anything.
And the Lord will not ignore that cry. This is not because we are superior and worthy of being saved, but because of God’s love and mercy. Just as babies cry out to their parents to express their needs, so we should ask God for help, which is the first step in building a close relationship with God.
For Discussion
- Share your experience of crying out to the Lord.
- When do you feel your sinfulness?