The day love triumphed
Good Friday
Friends, today is Good Friday. It is a special day for me—a day I want to consciously reflect on. Even though to many it seems like just another weekday. Everyone is going to work as usual; very few people have the day off. Everyone is looking forward to the weekend, because it promises to be a long weekend due to Easter. But for me, this day is more than that.
Good Friday is a day when I want to reflect on the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus. Not that I think about that every day—I can’t, life goes on. But on this special day, I want to say something about it.
Prefer an anchor
I read in the newspaper this week about a pastor who had replaced the cross he wore around his neck with an anchor. He explained: “A cross is a sign of faith, but I’d rather wear an anchor, because for me that’s a sign of trust. Not a sign of suffering, but a sign of faith and hope.”
And that is true. The message of Good Friday is not just about suffering—there is a deep and hopeful core to it. The words of the Lord Jesus on the cross are, of course, well-known: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” At first glance, this seems like a moment of utter abandonment, loneliness, and darkness. But there is much more behind these words.
Psalm 22
With this cry, Jesus is actually quoting a passage from Psalm 22 in the Old Testament. What sounds like an emotional outburst from a broken man is, in reality, an expression of faith and trust. They are the words of someone in distress—but Jesus is not merely expressing his own distress. He is, as it were, expressing the distress of all people.
That is why I also believe that the Lord Jesus was not a broken man on that cross. He was not defeated, not disappointed, not someone whose mission had failed. On the contrary—He knew: this is the ultimate purpose of my life. As John the Baptist already said: the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
And when Jesus quotes Psalm 22, it is important to know that in those days, when you spoke the first line of a psalm, you were thereby quoting the entire psalm. That single first line represented the complete text. And what begins as a cry of despair—“Why have You forsaken me?”—ends in a triumphant message. Psalm 22 concludes with the words: a new generation will serve Him, and tell the children of the Lord—to the people yet to be born—thus they will recount His righteousness. (Psalm 22:31-32)
My message of salvation
In other words: when Jesus says “My God, why have You forsaken me?”, you must read that in its full context. What He is actually saying is: this is not the end. This is not the final word of my message of salvation. Something else is coming—the resurrection—and far beyond that, God will gather a people for Himself who do not even exist yet, but who will ultimately experience His blessing as well.
And so that cry, however painful, is still an expression of hope.
I know these words are also the words of many people today. Of people who feel abandoned by God. Where is God now, in this time of war? Where is God in this famine? But God is always seeking people. Even if you feel that He has abandoned you—that is not the case.
Jesus does not abandon us. God does not abandon us. Romans 5:8 even says that He sought us out when we were still sinners—people who were not concerned with God at all. And so the cry of the Lord Jesus expresses the alienation that people experience—but that alienation is on our part, not on God’s part. For God is everywhere. Whether you are going to heaven or in the deepest darkness—God is everywhere.
The core message of the gospel is therefore simple: God is there. Even there, on the cross. Even when Jesus cried out, He knew—and I may know—that God was there and was united with Him.
God was near
You can also see this in how Jesus prayed on the cross. He addressed two prayers to the Father. First: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” They had no understanding of God’s plan of salvation. And at the end of His suffering, He prayed again: “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.” Right up to his last breath—a prayer. God was close by.
But when Jesus says, “My God, why have You forsaken me?”—is that perhaps your cry as well? Is that how you feel: that you don’t experience God in your life? Maybe you’re in the middle of a mess of a life. A lot of sorrow. No direction left. And you’re wondering where God is.
Then I want to tell you this: just as Jesus was not forsaken by God on the cross—for God was always with Him—so you too may know that God is with you and wants to seek you out.
I heard a beautiful analogy about this. It must have been something like this, someone said, that the Lord Jesus didn’t see God for a moment—but He was still there. Like a cloud passing in front of the sun. Then you don’t experience the sun. You don’t feel that warmth, you don’t see that light. But that cloud doesn’t change the sun. The sun hasn’t moved from its place. It’s always there.
A thick cloud
And so it is with God. Perhaps in your life, because of sins or things you’ve gone through, a thick cloud has come between you and God. But from God’s side, that cloud isn’t there. God always continues to shine—and He wants to seek you out, too.
That is why Good Friday is a special day. A day full of solemnity, yes—but also a day full of hope. And just as that pastor traded his cross for an anchor, I understand that. The Gospel is a message of hope that brings people to life. For you, too, there is an answer to your distress in this time.
So let that question, “Why have You forsaken me?” be transformed into: “Lord, thank You for being here—to save me as well.”
I wanted to share this with you on this Good Friday. I hope you have a wonderful day and a blessed Easter season.
God bless you.
@wimvanputten