The triumph of the last words of Christ
One principle of literary criticism is that a writer can expect the reader to bring the same level of understanding to the creative work that the author brings. Thus, a reader of Mark or Matthew’s version of the crucifixion should know King David’s Psalm 22.
Presbyterian missionary John Ross first put me in touch with the cry and the triumph of the words of Jesus, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Many understand the agonizing cry, but few know of the triumphant declaration: It is finished!
Ross points out what many do not know, that when a Rabbi quoted the first line of a psalm, he was invoking the entire psalm. A scholar standing at Golgotha would have known that these words of Jesus were not a cry of defeat but a proclamation of victory. It is finished!
Amazement besets us as we look at Psalm 22, written more than a thousand years before Christ. Written before the Romans had invented crucifixion. “They pierced my hands and feet… I can count all my bones,” refers to the weight of Jesus’ body pulling his skeleton apart making bones visible beneath the skin.
Other prophetic lines in the gospels are reflected in Psalm 22. "They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing."
The Roman soldiers gambled for the robe of a dying man.
In another example we see the Hebrew word for worm. Psalm 22:6, "I am a worm and not a man," refers to the tola worm. When it dies, it climbs onto a tree; its body breaks open, and it releases a scarlet dye that stains everything beneath it. After three days, the crimson residue turns white.
Did you know that when Jesus said, "It is finished," the Greek word tetelestai was the same word stamped on receipts in the Roman Empire to mean "paid in full"?
Ross spent three months preparing a presentation on the books of the bible, on what was happening in the ancient world at the time. He condensed this to sixty-six pages and had his study group read it before their discussion. Then they looked at Psalm 22.
One woman had tears running down her face. She said, "I have heard those words every single Easter of my life. And tonight is the first time I understood that Jesus was not crying out in despair. He was quoting a prophecy that ends in victory. He knew how it ended. He always knew."
Another man across the room said quietly, "David described crucifixion a thousand years before it existed. That has been in my Bible my whole life. And nobody ever told me."
A woman said, "I always thought the cross was the darkest moment in Scripture. But Psalm 22 ends with every nation turning to God. Jesus was not announcing His death, He was announcing His victory."
How many Good Fridays have we heard the words “My God. My God, why have you forsaken me” and felt the sorrow without ever feeling the victory hidden inside it? Psalm 22 ends in exaltation:
The whole earth, from end to end, will remember and come back to Yahweh; all the families of nations will bow down before Him. For Yahweh reigns, the ruler of nations… All this He has done!”
(558 words)
