My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.  Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises.  In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the Lord ,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.” Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. – Psalm 22:1-15

This passage begins with a statement perhaps better known coming from the mouth of Jesus…”Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani”…”My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Truly a reflection of Him across some 1,000 years from when this Psalm was written.

Reflections, especially in water, are very interesting things. A reflection on a lake on a windless morning can provide an almost perfect likeness, yet it takes but a pebble to turn the reflection into an unrecognizable riot of ripples. Is the first line a prophetic utterance?  Was Jesus on the cross reflecting back on this Psalm? I am not sure it matters. Either way it represents a certain folding of time, forward or backward.

Humans are good at disturbing reflections…tossing pebbles in the pond.  We are not so good at creating them or being them.  I am an imperfect reflection of Him who I follow…not because I do not want to be a good reflection, but rather because the medium in which I am trying to create the reflection seems so easily disturbed by emotions and those who would mock such efforts at imitation.

There are plenty of people in the world who would like to see Christians fail in their efforts to be reflections of Him….”He trusts in the Lord ,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”  Job faced this type of mocking even from his friends and Jesus was abandoned by His most trusted followers, but not by God.

Jesus was “poured out like water” on the cross for us and three days later Jesus was “unpoured”, resurrected so that He could join the Great Cistern and help us to find the way.

Prayer: God thank You for sending Your son to be poured out for us, and showing us the way.