So this is the day when his God does not answer
1 So this is the day when his God does not answer;
how different this hour from the day of Christ's birth!
God spoke at his baptism and transfiguration,
but not when they lift up his Son from the earth.
2 No legions of angels, but devilish laughter;
no sound from the silence of heaven comes down,
no rescue from friends and no mercy from soldiers,
no last-minute sign and no hint of renown;
3 but only his thirst and the agonized crying;
yes, only the blood and the gasping for breath.
Completing his work that alone is sufficient;
the last dereliction, and darkness and death.
4 So this is the One whom his God has forsaken,
who takes all our sins in his flesh on the tree!
The Lord becomes sin, so that we may be holy;
he dies and he lives for the world, and for me.
Christopher Idle (b.1938)
© Christopher Idle / admin. The Jubilate Group
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