About the Hymn
We Christians sometimes speak of the Great Exchange: Christ takes our sin upon himself and gives us his righteousness. He dies the death we deserve, and gives us the eternal life he won.
The apostle Paul speaks of this in today’s epistle lesson: “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God.” (Ash Wednesday’s epistle, 2 Corinthians 5:21, contains the same thought: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”)
This hymn text illuminates that exchange through sensory images:
Stanza 2: Christ was bound (and beaten and scourged and crucified . . .) so that we could be unbound from the curse of death.
Stanza 3: Christ proclaimed the end of his life—“It’s finished!”—so that we could proclaim the beginning of ours: “Now life begins! In Christ we are redeemed!”
Stanza 4: Christ passed through the door to death at ugly Golgotha, so that we could pass through the door to life, a life that will be both eternal and beautiful.
This is the poignant message of Lent, one that elicits sorrow and joy, one that leads us to repentance for the gravity of our sins and gratitude for the gift of our redemption.
The hymn should be performed at a solemn♩= ca. 63.
Text
1. The One who walked in righteousness,
the sinless Son of God,
becomes the One condemned to die;
for us he spills his blood.
2. The court where he was beat and bound
and lashed with biting scourge
becomes the court where we are freed
from Eden’s binding curse.
3. The words he spoke: “It’s finished now!
My suff’ring is complete!”
become the words, “Now life begins!
In Christ we are redeemed!”
4. The door to death called Golgotha,
the mountain of the skull,
becomes the door to life for us,
eternal, beautiful.
© 2018 Laurie F. Gauger
Lectionary Reading
Year A, Sixth Sunday of Easter: 1 Peter 3:13–22
Year B, First Sunday in Lent: 1 Peter 3:18–22
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
