The Gospel in Three Psalms

There is no doubt that Jesus was quite familiar with the Book of Psalms. He was raised in a good Jewish home, and according to custom, he would have thoroughly studied the scriptures in his schooling and worshiped in the synagogue each week, reciting the Psalms in worship and prayer. At the age of 12 he was able to hold his own with the teachers in the temple (Luke 2:41-48). So it is not surprising that Jesus frequently quotes the Psalms in life and ministry as recorded in the gospels. Nowhere is the use of the Psalms more prominent in the life of Jesus than in the last days of his life. He quotes several verses from Psalm 22 and Psalm 69 from the cross.  For the purpose of this study, we will focus on three psalms that are particularly striking in the way they correlate with the three days of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.

The gospel writers record the seven last words of Jesus spoken from the cross. They are actually phrases of course, and there is some inconsistency about their order. But the following chart provides a basic summary of the traditional interpretation:

The last four sayings are all found in the psalms as well, with three of them alluded to in Psalm 22 itself. As Jesus hung on the cross for six hours, it is highly likely that he sought relief from his pain and suffering the way the faithful had always sought relief -- by reciting the psalms as prayers. And although the gospel writers do not say that Jesus quoted the entire 22nd Psalm from the cross, the fact that it figures prominently in three of his last seven statements from the cross is telling. He may not have been quoting it aloud, but the details of Psalm 22 written some 1,000 years earlier by David bear such a striking resemblance to the crucifixion that it is highly likely that Jesus had the entire psalm in mind as he began to speak, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  It is also likely that the Jewish listeners who were nearby heard these words and their thoughts went to the very same psalm.

If Jesus was quoting the entire psalm from the cross, there is great significance in the fact that the mood of the psalm changes in verse 22. Jesus moved quickly from the request in verse 21, “Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen” to confidence in verse 22, “I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you.” The fact that the writer of Hebrews quotes verse 22 as on the lips of Jesus bolsters this interpretation as well (Hebrews 2:12).  This move to confidence suggests that as Jesus completed his work on the cross he could also look forward to his vindication as the last ten verses of Psalm 22 describe the victorious reign of God and the universal worship he will receive. He declares that God has not abandoned him (vs. 24) and that all nations will worship God because of this dramatic rescue by God (vs. 27).  In the final words of Psalm 22, Jesus declares, “He has done it”, (vs. 31) or as it is rendered in Greek, tetelestai, “It is completed.”

Following his death on the cross, Jesus’ body was removed and placed in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. This was done hastily before the Sabbath began at dusk on Friday evening. As Mary, the mother of Jesus, was wrapping his body for burial and placing it in the tomb, is it possible that she was thinking of the very next psalm in the Psalter?  Psalm 23 has long been a psalm associated with burial in both Jewish and Christian traditions.  It is a psalm about rest and trust -- a fitting psalm for the Sabbath. It is a psalm that speaks comfort to those that are journeying through the valley of the shadow of death as Mary was.  It is a psalm that points to a future after death, a dwelling in the house of the LORD forever. Could it be that the ordering of the psalms in this way was a fitting way to follow a psalm that speaks of the excruciating suffering of the messiah?  Jesus is the good shepherd, and the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (John 10). Did the words of Jesus and the familiar phrases of Psalm 23 come flooding into Mary’s mind as she buried her son?  We have no way of knowing for sure, but it seems likely.

The third psalm in this trilogy of “Jesus Psalms” is the 24th psalm. Psalm 24 begins with the declaration,

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;

for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. (NIV, 1984)

The first verses of this psalm remind us of creation. The LORD began creating on the first day of the week, on Sunday according to the Jewish reckoning of the week.  He created everything, finishing on the 6th day, Friday in the Jewish reckoning of the week. Recall that it was on a Friday afternoon when Jesus declared, “It is finished” (22:31), and the work of new creation was completed. It follows then that Saturday, the 7th day of the week was designated as the sabbath, a day of rest. It’s not too difficult to see that this day corresponds to the 23rd Psalm, one that promises that YHWH will make us lie down (23:2) and one that describes a meal in a home. It is notable then in Jewish liturgical tradition that Psalm 24 was assigned as the psalm for the first day of the week, Sunday. There were psalms assigned to each of the seven days of the week (see notes on Psalm 92, a song for the sabbath). In common practice, this meant that these seven psalms were prayed in a weekly cycle, with Psalm 24 being prayed by observant Jews each Sunday.

Using a sanctified imagination, is it possible then that as Mary and the women came to the tomb of Jesus early that Sunday morning after his burial, they were thinking of the words of Psalm 24?  Of course, there is no way to know for sure what they were thinking, but there is some evidence to suggest the connection of this psalm and the resurrection of Jesus. Is it possible that Mary had the words of this psalm in her mind when she thought about the huge stone that was rolled over the entrance to Jesus’ tomb? How would she be able to move that “ancient door” referenced in Psalm 24:7,8 -- “Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in?”

The term “ancient door” suggests several possible meanings. It may simply refer to the physical gate of Jerusalem, an ancient city even in David’s time, presided over a thousand years earlier by Melchizedek, priest and king of Salem during the days of Abraham. It may also refer to the doors of the temple, both the physical temple in Jerusalem and its counterpart in the heavens. But there is a third possibility as well. There is evidence of the use of the term in ancient literature in relationship to the “doors of death”. After all, death is ancient. It’s been a part of the human experience from the beginning, and no one can return once they pass through the doors of death. Passing back through those doors into life, let alone lifting off the header over the doors, is something that no human being was ever capable of. It was something that only the King of Glory could accomplish.

Thus, when Mary and the women came to the tomb that Sunday morning, they were surprised to see that the stone (the ancient door?) had been rolled away. And while they weren’t sure in that moment what had happened, it became clear in the days that followed that Jesus had entered and exited the doors of death that weekend. If the “ancient door” referenced in Psalm 24:7,9 is the door of death, the way both into and out of death, it is clear that Jesus passed through both doors. He died and was buried, entering death’s door, but he also “ascended on high and led captives in his train” (Ephesians 4:8 quoting Psalm 68:18). The gates of death cannot overcome the new life that is ushered in by the resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 16:18).  As the Hebrew writer said, “He destroyed him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and set free all those who were held captive by their fear of death.” (Hebrews 2:14)

Paul provides a summary of the core message of the gospel in his first letter to the Corinthians, when we writes,

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (I Corinthians 15:1-4, NIV 1984)

Could it be that the gospel message was preached unknowingly 1,000 years earlier by David when he composed Psalms 22, 23, and 24 and by the compiler who arranged them centuries later in such a way that these three psalms would point to Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection?  We have no way of knowing absolutely, but it is intriguing to consider. It’s also a great way to connect these three psalms in your memory as the three psalms that tell the gospel story.