Sermon Recap
The Bulls of Bashan
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Brian Hunter · March 29, 2026
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?”
Scripture Referenced
Recap
Heading into Holy Week, Brian had the room read all of Psalm 22 together out loud: a psalm written roughly a thousand years before the crucifixion, full of images that land as unmistakable prophecy once you know the ending: hands and feet described as pierced, bones out of joint, enemies casting lots for clothing, and the psalm’s title image, “strong bulls of Bashan” surrounding and gaping at the sufferer like roaring lions.
The room made the connection almost immediately: this is Jesus on the cross, centuries in advance. Brian pointed out something easy to miss about how Jesus actually quotes this psalm from the cross: “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me” is only the first line, but in the rabbinic teaching tradition of the day, quoting a passage’s opening words was a way of invoking the entire passage, not just that one line. Jesus wasn’t only voicing despair; he was pointing to all of Psalm 22, including its turn from abandonment to trust and eventual deliverance later in the same psalm.
That reframes the cross itself: even in his most forsaken moment, Jesus was quoting Scripture that both named his suffering precisely and pointed toward the resolution still ahead of it.
Touch Points
- Reading Psalm 22 knowing it was written centuries before Jesus, what stands out to you most?
- Have you ever quoted just the beginning of something (a verse, a promise) and meant to invoke more than just those words?
- Jesus experienced real abandonment on the cross while still pointing toward the psalm’s eventual hope. Where do you need to hold both truths at once right now?
- Heading into Easter, what does it mean to you that this suffering was foretold and not a surprise to God?