“But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.”
John 19:34, King James Version
———
O Lord, I praise You,
Lord my God,
for You sought me
in my façade.
You broke down walls
of pretending
that I might find
a better end.
My body wrought
with sinful lust,
my mind destroyed
under the rust—
You thought me not
a case too lost
nor faltered at
the painful cost.
Yet gladly bearing
shameful loss,
You thought my life
was worth the Cross.
And while You suffered
in the flesh,
Your lungs took in
a final breath.
You breathed Your last
before my first,
taking my place
‘neath certain dirt.
This not before
Your skin was torn—
blood poured forth from
brow-beaten thorn.
Even Your beard
upon Your chin,
ripped from Your face,
like me from sin.
A pointed spear
found fleshy ribs
and undid what
Nature’d forbid.
And blood poured forth
now from Your side,
where Eve again
can cheer reside.
We, Your Bride,
Your Church, Your Love,
forever sealed
within Your Dove.
So come on, Death!,
come do your worst.
My tortured King
tortured your curse.
His body took
your punishment;
His blood was drained
and fully spent—
that you might now
be fable’s tale,
your own side pierced
where Grace impaled.
That you might now
be just a flash
of something like
a past’s passed past.
“A garden now,”
as Herbert said,
“is what becomes
of Gospel dead.”
And even you,
most dreadful Death,
can come and live
and take first breath.
Come breathe in life
that Jesus bought
and put to death
your deathly wrought.
O Lord, I praise You,
Lord my King.
You sought me in
my suffering.
You opened tombs
of ones dying,
that we’d find Life
everlasting.
(Taylor Armstrong has not failed to provide the soundtrack to my entire summer.)
Words of Life 