5. Can You Look?
For dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encompassed me; they pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me. (Psalm 22:16-17)
For dogs have surrounded me. The meanings behind the word dog are quite potent. Besides the actual animal, it can refer to base and contemptuous men, pagan sacrifices, and male prostitutes. Here it has to do with base and contemptuous men. Paul associates other types of men with dogs: Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision. (Phil 3:2) Who are those of the false circumcision? That would be the Pharisees and Sadducees. They were so wrapped up in their ritual and their status, they not only missed Messiah, but they put Him to death. Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified. (Acts 2:36) Now, when you think of the crowd that surrounded the cross of our Savior, and many of them were from the religious community, let us be mindful that it is not a difficult thing to be so distracted with rules, or with minutiae, or with self and our own righteousness, we can lose sight of the Savior, and our lives and expectations become base and contemptuous.
They pierced my hands and my feet. Whereas this was a prayer and song of David, and many of these circumstances took place within his own life, there is no doubt that he is looking through the lens of divine revelation when he speaks of his hands and feet being pierced. For indeed, he speaks not of himself, but of the suffering Christ.
They look, they stare at me. We return to the crowd that surrounded our Lord. Can you identify with any of them?
Are you like Mary whose eyes were filled with tears, whose body was wracked with sorrow, making it nearly impossible to see her Son clearly?
Are you like the disciples who could not look up, because they were overwhelmed by their shame?
Do you turn away in abhorrence and disgust, unable to look upon One so tortured, so maimed, so disfigured, that you are physically and emotionally ill?
Maybe you’re a crowd watcher. You’re consumed by the surrounding drama and distracted from what is really going on. Did you miss the point?
Or are you like the religious folk, observers who watched from a distance, who stared, who gazed, who nodded in approval, and looked to one another; who inspect and gave close attention to each “deserved” laceration and wound, the flow of blood, the thorns and the nails that pierced Him?
Are you willing to look upon the sorrow, the pain, the suffering and anguish of the Savior? Can you look past the brokenness and wounds, torture and ruin, and gaze a little deeper to see the disfigurement and deformity caused by the sins laid upon Him? Your sins and the sins of the world?
Finally, what can you do to get those around you, to look at the Savior? That they may see their guilt and sin He took upon Himself so they might be saved? And then to look a bit further and see the love that held Him there, the love that would not let Him stay in the grave, and the love which purchased your forgiveness and salvation. Will you look? Do you understand? Will you help others see?