Cry for Vindication

Jerome Neyrey ( Honor and Shame in the Gospel of Matthew ) argues that Jesus’ cry from Psalm 22 on the cross is not a cry of despair or anguish.   It is a lament-complaint.  Jesus went to the cross trusting that His Father will honor His faithfulness and obedience.  The cry ” protests the apparent lack of honor shown to him on the part of his Patron.”  The prayer is not impious; it is instead Jesus’ protest that He has been pious.  The Father is put on the spot.  His own Son has been shamed and reproached, and that shame will damage the Father’s reputation.

In response, the Father demonstrates the piety of His Son: He shakes the earth, tears the temple veil, makes rocks break and tombs open, brings the dead up.  It doesn’t convince the Jews, but it’s enough to persuade a Roman centurion that Jesus was the Son of God.