My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? (Psalm 22:1)
As so many are, this is David's psalm. Not just because he wrote it, but more importantly he lived it. But this is not even just David's psalm. From the first verse on the New Testament comes crashing in.
The events of Good Friday echo all through this Psalm. The physical agony endured by Jesus on the cross (vv. 14-17) is graphically illustrated and the scorn of the soldiers as they cast lots for Jesus' clothes (v. 18) is starkly noted. More than this, the cry of abandonment stands uncensored; a cry that rails against the silence of heaven.
Good Friday is ugly in every way. From the physical deprivation and suffering Jesus endured, the murderous indifference of the crowd, the scorn of the authorities and the grief of Jesus' family - it is a day filled with horror. The greatest horror is the Jesus' cry of forsakenness of the cross. His cry is our cry; his separation from God is of our making - our sin held him there, our guilt drove in the nails that held him.
That Jesus willingly embraced this path transforms Good Friday from abject ugliness into wonderful, life-transforming news. As his arms were stretched out on the cross so God's arms were extended as an offer of loving embrace to a world alienated from him by sin.
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