- Feb 5, 2002
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For a time when my eldest son was in his preteen years, we took up the habit of reading portions of Scripture together on Sunday. As you might imagine, this was my idea rather than his. Our general practice was to select a small portion of text and read it a few times, while also looking at the annotations in the footer connecting our passage to other verses or portions of Scripture. A good deal of our time was thus spent flipping through the Bible as we read “across the text,” learning to see how the word of God unfolds as one broad and full voice.
For Lent one year, we decided to read the last words of Jesus from the cross. We kept to our familiar practice of reading each passage, then looking to the annotations directing us to other portions of Scripture. As we did this, we found ourselves flipping continually to the Book of Psalms.
Jesus’ “I thirst” of John 19:28 led us to Psalm 69, where we read the direct connection in verse 2, as the psalmist laments, “They gave me gall for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Reading around that psalm, we found the psalmist further expressing that “I am weary with crying; my throat is parched” (v. 3); “I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me” (v. 12); and “Insults have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none” (v. 20). Having read all this, I asked my son what he thought of Jesus’ thirst on the basis of this psalm. In the reading journal he was keeping, he wrote, “the one who is suffering wants mercy not too much wine, or any really.” Yes, Jesus’ throat was parched for water, but the psalm taught my son (and me!) that Jesus’ whole body and soul were thirsting for compassion.
Continued below.
www.oursundayvisitor.com
For Lent one year, we decided to read the last words of Jesus from the cross. We kept to our familiar practice of reading each passage, then looking to the annotations directing us to other portions of Scripture. As we did this, we found ourselves flipping continually to the Book of Psalms.
Jesus’ “I thirst” of John 19:28 led us to Psalm 69, where we read the direct connection in verse 2, as the psalmist laments, “They gave me gall for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Reading around that psalm, we found the psalmist further expressing that “I am weary with crying; my throat is parched” (v. 3); “I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me” (v. 12); and “Insults have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none” (v. 20). Having read all this, I asked my son what he thought of Jesus’ thirst on the basis of this psalm. In the reading journal he was keeping, he wrote, “the one who is suffering wants mercy not too much wine, or any really.” Yes, Jesus’ throat was parched for water, but the psalm taught my son (and me!) that Jesus’ whole body and soul were thirsting for compassion.
Continued below.
Why you should pray the psalms every day, and how to start
Praying the psalms unites us to Christ and to each other, forming hearts in humility, charity and the shared mystery of the Incarnation.
www.oursundayvisitor.com
