Friday's Good, 'Cause Sunday's Coming

On Good Friday, Christians around the world reflect on the solemn yet profound events of Jesus Christ's crucifixion. As He hung on the cross, bearing the weight of humanity's sins, Jesus uttered several statements that directly echoed the prayers and prophecies of the Old Testament. These words were not random cries of despair but deliberate fulfillments of Scripture, revealing the Messiah's deep identification with the suffering described centuries earlier in the Bible. In that dark moment of apparent abandonment and agony, the ancient words of the Psalms came alive, pointing to the redemptive purpose unfolding before the eyes of those who witnessed it.

The most direct Old Testament reference tied to one of Christ’s comments on the cross is Psalm 22:1, which Jesus quoted as one of His "seven last words":

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34).

This opens Psalm 22, a Messianic psalm of David written centuries earlier. It vividly describes suffering that aligns with the crucifixion, including:

• Mocking and insults from onlookers (Psalm 22:6-8; fulfilled in Matthew 27:39-43).

• Pierced hands and feet (Psalm 22:16).

• Bones visible and out of joint (Psalm 22:14, 17).

• Garments divided and lots cast for clothing (Psalm 22:18; fulfilled in John 19:23-24 and Matthew 27:35).

• Thirst and a dry mouth (Psalm 22:15; linked to Jesus saying “I thirst” in John 19:28).

The psalm shifts from anguish to trust and triumph, ending with declarations like “He has done it!” (Psalm 22:31), which echoes Jesus’ “It is finished” (John 19:30).

Jesus’ other statements on the cross also draw from the Psalms:

• “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46) quotes Psalm 31:5 (“Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God”).

• The offer of sour wine/vinegar to drink (after “I thirst”) fulfills Psalm 69:21 (“for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink”).

A striking detail in the account of Jesus’ thirst is the use of hyssop to lift the sour wine (vinegar) to His lips (John 19:29). In the Old Testament, hyssop, a humble plant, was central to rituals of purification and sacrifice. During the first Passover, it was dipped in the blood of the lamb and used to mark the doorposts of Israelite homes, so that God’s judgment would pass over them (Exodus 12:22). Hyssop also featured in cleansing ceremonies for leprosy and other impurities (Leviticus 14; Numbers 19), and David cried out, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7). At the cross, this same plant, soaked in sour wine and raised to the lips of the true Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7), carries profound symbolism: Jesus, offering Himself as the ultimate sacrifice, becomes the means of our cleansing. The vinegar, a cheap and bitter drink often associated with the poor or with gall, was lifted not merely to quench thirst but to fulfill Scripture and mark the transition from the old sacrificial system to the new covenant. Through His blood, applied as it were, by the hyssop of the cross, believers receive purification from sin, deliverance from death, and the passing over of divine wrath.

These connections show Jesus deliberately identifying with Old Testament prophecies and prayers of suffering and trust during his crucifixion. Psalm 22 stands out as the primary and most comprehensive reference, as Jesus began his cry with its opening line, inviting listeners familiar with the Scriptures to see the full picture of the psalm unfolding before them.

Friday is Good precisely because Sunday is coming. The resurrection transforms the horror of Good Friday into the hope of Easter, fulfilling the Old Testament’s promises of life after suffering. Passages like Psalm 16:10 (“You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption”) were applied by the apostles to Christ’s rising (Acts 2:25-32; 13:35-37), while Isaiah 53:10-11 speaks of the Suffering Servant seeing offspring and prolonging His days after being cut off. The shift in Psalm 22 from desperate prayer to global praise and proclamation to future generations likewise implies deliverance and resurrection victory. As the early church proclaimed, Christ’s rising was “according to the Scriptures,” turning apparent defeat into the foundation of salvation and eternal life for all who believe.

This interplay of Old Testament prophecy, crucifixion, and resurrection reminds us that the story does not end in darkness. God’s redemptive plan, woven through the Scriptures, brings light, hope, and new life.