A vast array of memorable lines are on offer for Good Friday. I am going for a line that, frankly, most people singing it probably do not grasp (here I am judging others by my own weaknesses, it is true).
The double agony in man, for Man. should undergo.
The line comes from 'Praise to the holiest in the height' by the Victorian Anglican-turned-Roman Catholic John Henry Newman. The line describes the extent of the generous love of God in Jesus who died for us.
The whole hymn is deep and dense, but here Newman uses the simplest of words - in man for Man - to describe the humiliation of God becoming human (Agony Number One) in order to save humans by his death (Agony Number Two).
Did you see what happened there? I took a long and complex sentence - Newman took four words totaling eleven letters.
These agonies are the agonies of this day, and our good salvation.
(To see the whole series click on the hymnline tag)
No comments:
Post a Comment