Out of the Depths
For since it was not enough that the Lord of heaven and earth hung on your every word, his Word was made flesh and prayed among us, a priest in the order of Melchizedek, “offering up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save Him from death,” (Heb 5:7).
Out of the depths have we cried unto Thee, O Lord. Out of the rubble of our shattered lives, our unfound children, our fiery tears and lacerated hearts. Out of the grave into which we have plummeted, alive yet dead, the dirt of a thousand decimated hopes spilling down into that black, hopeless pit. Out of these depths have we cried unto Thee, O Lord. Lord, hear our voice. Let Thine ears be attentive to the voice our supplications. Yet though attentive he be, though every petition lofted heavenward land within our Lord’s open ears, alas, that is not enough. It is not enough to have a God way-up-there who hangs on our every word. It is not enough that he hears or even that he pities our predicament. We need something more.
Out of the depths have we cried unto Thee, O Lord. And below us a Voice resounds, “Out of the depths have I answered thee, my child. Hear my voice. Out of the depths of Joseph’s pit, cast there for you by my brothers in the flesh. Out of the depths of Jonah’s fish, cast there for you by the hands of Gentile men. Out of the depths of the mocking and stripping, the whipping and nailing, the bleeding and dying – out of the depths of the grave, have I cried unto thee. Hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of My love.”
For since it was not enough that the Lord of heaven and earth hung on your every word, his Word was made flesh and prayed among us, a priest in the order of Melchizedek, “offering up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save Him from death,” (Heb 5:7). Out of the depths of his humiliation, out of the depths of his suffering, out of the fathomless depths of his love for you, he cries: “I am enough.”
Where is God in tragedy? Where he always is: in the crucified Christ, where he displays his cosmic love that enfolds all humanity; makes their griefs and sorrows and sins his own; and brings them through death to resurrection.
For no matter how deep you go, out of the farther depths the crucified God of love speaks forth a word of life and hope and healing for you.
