An Easter Nobody Will Ever Forget! Series

Scripture

Psalm 22 is a fitting psalm for our meditations on Good Friday and Easter Sunday because the first part of the psalm (verses 1-21) focuses on the experience of suffering on a cross, while the second part of the psalm (verses 22-31) announces the resurrection and expresses praise to God for the expanding proclamation of the good news of victory over death.

We noted when we examined the first part of the psalm (verses 1-21) that we don’t know when David wrote this psalm. There are things written in the psalm that don’t seem to fit events in David’s life. This leads one to believe that David was writing prophetically of Christ. We also noted that Jesus was meditating on this psalm as he was hanging on the cross.

Please follow along as I read Psalm 22:22-31:

22 I will tell of your name to my brothers;

in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!

All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,

and stand in awe of him,

all you offspring of Israel!

24 For he has not despised or abhorred

the affliction of the afflicted,

and he has not hidden his face from him,

but has heard, when he cried to him.

25 From you comes my praise

in the great congregation;

my vows I will perform before those who fear him.

26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;

those who seek him shall praise the Lord!

May your hearts live forever!

27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord,

and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.

28 For kingship belongs to the Lord,

and he rules over the nations.

29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;

before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,

even the one who could not keep himself alive.

30 Posterity shall serve him;

it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;

31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness

to a people yet unborn, that he has done it. (Psalm 22:22-31)

Introduction

The title for this message is “An Easter Nobody Will Ever Forget!” I got the title from Pastor Raymond McHenry.

I like the title because I am sure that nobody will ever forget Easter Sunday in 2020.

I suppose that there have been times when a service on Easter Sunday was cancelled, perhaps because of a snowstorm, or flooding, or something like that. But that would have been restricted to a region. Perhaps during the world wars, Easter Sunday services were cancelled because of the war, but I am not sure about that. Even so, there would have been lots of places around the world where people could meet for worship.

What makes this year’s Easter so different is that it is affecting people in every country of the world. There are some places in the world where the restrictions on staying home because of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic are even more severe than what we have in the United States.

But, while nobody will ever forget Easter this year, the Easter that nobody will ever forget is that very first Easter. It is because of that first Easter that we are trying to figure out how to celebrate this year’s Easter when we cannot meet together in person. That first Easter is the reason the Church exists. That first Easter is the one we will be talking about for all eternity.

As Jesus was hanging on the cross, he was anticipating his resurrection on that first Easter Sunday morning.

Lesson

Psalm 22:22-31 expresses praise to God for the expanding proclamation of the good news of victory over death.

Let’s use the following outline:

1. To the Congregation (22:22-26)

2. To the Ends of the Earth (22:27-29)

3. To the Coming Generation (22:30-31)

I. To the Congregation (22:22-26)

First, the good news of victory over death is proclaimed to the congregation.

Verse 22 says, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.” Hebrews 2:12 quotes this verse. One commentator said, “The quotation tells us how to interpret the psalm. It tells us that Jesus is the speaker, not just in this verse but throughout. And it tells us that the ‘brothers’ (and sisters) of the psalm’s second half are those for whom he died and rose again.”

On that first Easter Sunday, Jesus did indeed show himself to his “brothers.” I think especially of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth” (Luke 24:15–19a), and went on to say that Jesus had been crucified, and how they had hoped that Jesus would be the one to redeem Israel.