Friday 07 April 2023

Psalm 22

 Background

Today, Good Friday, marks the day Jesus was crucified and died. It is a most holy day – a most difficult day. We cannot fully celebrate the joy of Easter Day if we have not moved through the agonies of Good Friday. Our passage for today is very well known to many Christians. Handel’s oratorio, 'Messiah', has fixed the words in the minds of so many people. These are difficult words for a difficult day – it is really only through this poetry and poetry sung as music that we can grapple with the profundity of this elusive passage.

Today's passage begins with a triumphant assertion but the bulk of the narrative is about a servant who is ‘despised and rejected'. Yet it is this servant who carries in his body the capacity to heal and restore. Verses 4-6 are remarkable – they assert that this ‘loser’ (the servant/Jesus) has embraced all that is wrong with us. His suffering has enabled humankind to be healed, forgiven and restored. This is the central mystery of the gospel and a miracle for which only poetic words can come close to doing justice. The transformation enabled by the servant as asserted in this passage defies conventional logic.

On Good Friday this poetic passage helps the Church to discern what Jesus has done and is doing for humankind and for the entire creation. It gives us the words to describe a mystery too deep for explanation or speculation.

To Ponder:

• How important do you believe it to be that churches hold a service on Good Friday? What has the pandemic taught us about how we may overcome some of the obstacles of scattered and remote congregation members and a lack of clergy on a day like this?
• What role do poetry and music play in your church worship?

Prayer

All-loving God, inspire us, we pray through art, music poetry and dance so that our senses as well as our reason may apprehend the wonder of creation and the mystery of salvation brought about in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.