My Close Friend :: Psalm 41:9
David prayed in Psalm 41, Even my close friend whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me (v 9).
In the midweek preaching for Lent, I have emphasized two things: (1) First, the Psalms speak about Jesus (Jn 5:39). Therefore ... because the Psalms are about Jesus ... they also speak about you. In Baptism, you were, as Paul wrote first in 1 Corinthians and Ephesians, joined to the Lord (1 Cor 6:17) ... You have become one with him, by virtue of his sanctification of you (Eph 5:31-32). He has made you holy, because the Lord your God is holy (Lev 19:2). ... He lives in you and you in him. It is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me (Gal 2:20).
Therefore, we can think of Psalm 41 ... in part ... as a biographical sketch about you. Psalm 41 tells your story and mine ... just as surely as it tells the history of first King David, and more importantly, our Lord Jesus.
1.
We will start with David. He wrote, Even my close friend whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
David might have been talking about Absalom (cf. Ps 3:1), his most handsome and charming son. Absalom grew up on King David’s knee. Absalom ate his father’s bread at his father’s table. He enjoyed his father’s generosity and his father’s reconciling love. He received every comfort of his father’s house. But Absalom also harbored a temper and held a grudge that led him to conspire against his father and murder his own brother. Absalom then tried to overthrow his father and occupy the throne of Israel himself.
So we can see the figure of speech expressed by Psalm 41 that Absalom lifted his heel against David. And David was knocked hard by the blow.
Think of the various muscles in the human body. Hardly any physical blow can exert more impact than a raised heel. A closed fist can certainly do damage, especially when thrown by a strong man with an experienced arm and calloused knuckles. The jab of an elbow can drop an opponent larger than you, but only if it hits the right target. By comparison, it is very difficult for anyone to receive the uncoiled blow of a raised heel and still remain on his feet. Even a petite woman’s raised heel can “kick like a mule,” as the saying goes. The heel explodes like a cannonball.
Absalom lifted his heel against David, and he laid low the one who had lifted him up and had given him every good thing.
2.
Judas Iscariot did the same thing to Christ Jesus, our Lord. As it is written, One of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I deliver Him [the Christ] over to you?’ And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray Him (Mt 26:14-16)
Judas did that terrible thing just hours after breaking bread with the Lord ... of all times ... even though Jesus had given Judas every good thing. When traveling together with the disciples, Jesus entrusted to Judas all the finances of the entire group (Jn 13:29). When Jesus sent out his disciples and gave them his own divine power to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, [and] cast out demons (Mt 10:8), our Lord even blessed Judas, gently laying his gracious, ordaining hand upon the head of Judas. On the night Jesus was betrayed, Jesus even knelt before Judas and humbly washed his feet. Jesus then served Judas the Holy Supper of Christ’s body and blood, given and shed for the sins of Judas (Mt 26:20-28).
Our Lord knew beforehand that Judas would betray Him (Zec 11:13; Ps 69:25; 109:8; cf. Acts 1:20). And still Jesus faithfully loved his betrayer. It only reinforces that God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tm 2:4) ... that is, he desires to give all the forgiveness of sins to all.
But Judas fulfilled ... in the life of Christ ... what King David had earlier experienced and written in Psalm 41: Even my close friend whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. He sold his soul, so to speak, for thirty pieces of silver. Talk about lifting your heel against someone! Even his friend, in whom Jesus confided for years, betrayed him with a kiss.
David likewise wrote in another psalm concerning Jesus, I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother (Ps 35:14). And then again, in another psalm ... again speaking words concerning our Christ ...
It is NOT an enemy who taunts me; then I could bear it;
It is not a hater who magnifies himself against me, then I could hide from him.
But it is you, a man, as my equal, my friend, whom I know.
We used to take sweet counsel together;
within God’s house we walked in the throng [of worshipers].
... [My friend] stretched out his hand against his friends;
he profaned his covenant (Ps 55:12–14, 20)
3.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, because those words are about Jesus, they are also about you ... All of you who are the Baptized of Christ ... All of you who are one with Him (Rm 12:4-5). Because you are one with him, you are, therefore, one with each other. What God has joined together let no man put asunder (Mt 19:6).
Among the many emotions that betrayal can evoke, perhaps the strangest is loneliness. Betrayal can make you feel abandoned and alone. Betrayal can focus your thoughts upon only that one, lost friend, rather than ALL of the OTHER friends who have remained faithful and who continue seeking the gifts of the Lord, knowing he will always be faithful to you.
David wrote Psalm 41 about himself, and he wrote it about our Christ, in part, so that we would be able to draw comfort from the ancient fact that we are not alone. We are in good company when we are betrayed by those whom we have made our equal, our companion, our familiar friend (Ps 55:12-13).
Even my close friend whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. Many people can read those lonely words as a biographical sketch. Life in this dreary world assures us that we will each eventually get to a point where we can see ourselves in this story.
I know how my betrayers have made me desolate.
Who has betrayed you? Who is trying to lay you low?
Think of the muscles in the human body. Our betrayers have the power to kick like a mule, bowl us over, and lay us low. Both our Lord Jesus and our forefather David can help us with that threat. Absalom dealt his father, David, a harsh blow that laid him low, but David survived ... he rose to his feet by the power of God, and he sat down again on the throne that had been given and promised to him by his Maker and Redeemer. Judas Iscariot likewise dealt our Lord Jesus a mighty blow, laying Him low in the depths of the grave. Jesus rose again from the dead. God crowned Him with glory and honor because of the suffering of death (Hb 2:9), and because He loved NOT His life, even unto death (cf. Rv 12:11).
Thus, Jesus could say to his Father in heaven, in the words of His father David and in the closing words of Psalm 41, By this I know that You delight in me: My enemy will not shout in triumph over me. But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen. (Ps 41:11-13)
Those words are also your words. David said those words ... Jesus said those words ... And you have been given God’s Spirit that you might likewise say those words! I know that You delight in me: My enemy will NOT shout in triumph over me!
4.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, even when a close friend eats the Lord’s bread with you and then lifts his heel against you, remember that the Lord your God has gone to the cross to silence that enemy. Jesus gives us his body and blood to bring us together. Jesus died on the cross to defeat sin ... including the one of betrayal ... once for all. Your sin, my sin, the world’s sin, yesterday’s sin, today’s sin, tomorrow’s sin ... it all was crucified with Christ. On account of his perfect sacrifice, the Lord your God will therefore vindicate you and raise you up and set you above your enemies all around (Ps 27:6). It is his promise. The Resurrection of our Lord will inevitably make it so.
To this, we can say with David, in the final words of Psalm 41, Amen and Amen (v. 13).
By the power of the Holy Spirit and with confidence in the resurrection of our God, we add our Amen with certainty and without fear. We say it once because we mean it. ... We say it twice to intensify and emphasize our hope. This is in keeping with what we learned to say from the Small Catechism: Amen, Amen means ‘yes, yes, it shall be so’ (Conclusion to the Lord’s Prayer). ... In Jesus’ name.