Jeremy Serrano is currently the Pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Concord, CA. This is his third time here at C201. Click the title below to read this on his site.
Kyrie Eleison (Psalm 6)
“I am weary with moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with weeping. My eyes waste away because of grief they grow week because of my foes. Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord accepts my prayer” (Psalm 6:6-7a,8b-9 NRSV).
There are periods, sometimes long stretches, when all we can do is despair. We like the psalmist flood our bed with tears, drench our couches with weeping. We find ourselves in the mire of pain, hopelessness, and doubt about our current situation and we struggle with hope for the future. These low periods are not to be avoided. We need to enter into these places and deeply feel the pain of our circumstance. It is counterproductive to the well being our souls to cover over, push down, or ignore the darkness we’re in.
Jesus himself entered into despair before his crucifixion. He asked the Father, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matt 26:49). Jesus wanted out of his situation but in great strength acknowledged that God’s will comes first. But, his submission was not without pain. Scripture tells us, “In his anguish [Jesus] prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground” (Luke 22:44).
Let us never gloss over the fact that our Lord, God in flesh, was in anguish. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted” according to Isaiah 53:7.
But, we must not hold on there. It is not healthy for our soul, nor is it productive for the Kingdom to stay in the trenches of hurt, doubt, and despair. Jesus himself entered into the darkest of humanities terrors, but he didn’t stay. He moved from death to life. His way forward is now a marked path. But, it’s not of our own volition that we come out from the suffering. We cry Kyrie Eleison, Lord have mercy, and because the Lords accepts our prayers, he will lead us out of it.
The hope that Jesus offers is that it will not always be this way. There will be an end to sin and their will be an end to the pain that sin brings. In Jesus there is hope that we are not stuck but moving from death to life.
God, help me to look towards you in the midst of my pain. Pull me out of the depths, and lead me to the way of your Kingdom. Amen.
Go Deeper:
(Wikipedia) – Kyrie, a transliteration of Greek Κύριε, vocative case of Κύριος (Kyrios), is a common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy.
The prayer, “Kyrie, eleison,” “Lord, have mercy” derives from several New Testament verses, in particular:
- In Matthew 15:22, the Canaanite woman cries out to Jesus, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David.”
- In Development Matthew 20:30, 31, two unnamed blind men call out to Jesus, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David.”
- Finally, in Mark 10:46, Blind Bartimaeus cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”
Psalm 121:1 (CEB) I raise my eyes toward the mountains.
Where will my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.
Hebrews 12: 2-3 (Message) Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
Christianity 201 
Leave a comment