Psalm 22

As Though We Were Dreaming: A Commentary on the Songs of Ascents for Lent Foreword

Although the Songs of Ascents were originally anchored in the postexilic setting, how then can we as Christians apply them to Lent and our own deepest and most difficult hours? Bonhoeffer, who asks “how do the words of ordinary men and women become God’s word to me?”, illustrates this by how Jesus prays the Psalms with us. The Psalter does not preserve these prayers as isolated moments of antiquity, but transforms them to be read within the greater context of scripture. Therefore, within Christian scripture, the Psalter becomes the prayer book of Jesus Christ because these psalms are spoken by Jesus Christ, and the claim of the New Testament is that they are about Jesus Christ. Psalm 2:7, “You are my son; today I have begotten you,” is reiterated at Jesus’ Baptism. Within Christian Scripture, the Psalter, then, is the prayer book of Jesus Christ because Jesus prays through the Psalter. Bonhoeffer’s insight, identifies a new claim of Christianity that Jesus, the Messiah, prays these prayers with us, even the Songs of Ascents.

So when we as Christians pray the Psalter, we are not alone because Jesus Christ prays the Psalms with us. When Christ Jesus was on the cross, he prayed Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” but he was not alone because within the inter-testimony of the Psalter, Moses, David, and Solomon are praying with him. Through the cross of Christ, these Psalms have been bestowed to the Church as our old self dies at the cross. The Psalter is then the vicarious prayer of Christ for his Church and with his Church. As members of the body of Christ, we can pray these psalms through Jesus Christ, from the heart of Jesus Christ.