Psalm 31

I like to skip tough bible verses; especially when I'm sipping hot coffee and I want to feel good about the world. I thought I shouldn't skip this one: "Into your hands I commend your spirit..." It's one of Jesus' famous dying words. It's also buried in David's Psalm 31. Like Jesus' "Why have you forsaken me," this declaration has a rich context in the psalm that gives deep insight into his passion. Whenever Jesus makes these punctuated utterances from the cross, he's quoting from a well-known source. In modern times, if you walked by Jesus and he muttered, "you gotta serve somebody," you'd catch the Dylan reference and know what he's talking about.

I'm not sure if he means to quote the whole of Psalm 31. It would make sense: a cry for help from a man surrounded by foes. But it bothers me that history (the passion) seems much bleaker that poetry (the psalm). Let me explain. David goes on to say, "you have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place." ...see I've always loved that "spacious place" imagery. It tells me that someday, I won't be in debt, I won't struggle to love my wife, and I'll find rich meaning and purpose in all I do. I won't to worry about my enemy. I'll live... well... the good life.

The cross doesn't seem like the good life. It doesn't seem like much of a spacious place. And yes, it certainly appears that God DID hand him over to his enemies. Maybe Jesus thought the deliverance was still coming, that a thousand angels would sweep him off the cross. But no... he was predicting his death and resurrection all along. Maybe when he realized Psalm 31 wasn't the best Psalm to quote, he flipped through his mental itunes library and found that one about "forsaking". I don't know.

I'm late for work so I'll cut to the chase:
1. The psalm says "enemy" (singular). In a sense Jesus was delivered from and thwarted the great enemy the Devil and Death, the toughest tool in his tool bag. Through a clever espionage Jesus slipped right out of Satan's trap and realized a richer, more spacious existence through resurrection.
2. The cross can embody the promise. The mission won't always feel like a "spacious place". This is where finally I take issue with my well-meaning friend's declaration that "God's plan is good and we will like it!" Maybe Jesus was committed to the ultimate beauty and healing of the cross. But there is no way in hell that he liked it. So I'll need to just get over some things because the joy and beauty of God is better than my dreamy definitions of the good life... Let me just chew on that for a bit.