Jesus Christ breaks the power of death

Psalm 18:2-7. March 31, 2023 - Friday, 5th Week of Lent

Psalm 18 is introduced with the following superscription: “A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who addressed the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul” (Ps 18:1). A nearly identical variant of this song appears in 2 Samuel 22 right after the proper burial of “the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan” (see 2 Samuel 21:12-14), victorious fights against the Philistines (see 2 Sam 21:15-21), and before the last words of David (see 2 Sam 23:1-7).

In this thanksgiving song, the king declares God’s help in the fight against his enemies. It was God who thwarted all Saul’s attempts to put David to death and it was God who made David victorious in all his battles. Thus, the psalm begins with a declaration of the king’s love for God, “I love you, O Lord, my strength” and ends with acknowledging God’s faithfulness to His covenant “with David and his offspring forever” (Ps 18:51; see 2 Sam 7:1-17).

In Christian reading, this psalm is applied to David’s offspring, Jesus Christ, who fought against the forces of evil and death. On Good Friday, “the breakers of death encompassed” Jesus, “the cords of the nether world encircled” him, and “the snares of death overtook” our Lord (see Ps 18:5-6). From the cross, Jesus cried out to God, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Ps 22:2; Matt 27:46) and “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Ps 31:6; Luke 23:46). Jesus cried to the Father who could save him from death and his cry reached the ears of the Father (see Heb. 5:7; Ps 18:7). On Easter morning, Jesus Christ came out of the tomb of death victorious and death has no more power over him (see Rom 6:9).

We can also apply this psalm to the mystery of Christ’s descent into the nether world to liberate Adam and all others from the snares of death. Saint Peter in his first letter alludes to that mystery (see 1 Peter 3:18-20), we proclaim it in the Apostles’ Creed and portray it through the icons of Christ’s descent to Hades. This mystery is known in English as “harrowing of hades”. Jesus Christ breaks through the gates of the nether world, extends his hand to Adam and Eve, and is supposed say: “Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person” (from an ancient homily for Holy Saturday).

Thus, Psalm 18 foretells the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection and the salvation of humankind. The letter to Hebrews captures this mystery in this way: “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, [Jesus Christ] himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Heb. 2:14-15).