The cross, a broken world, and I. Psalm 137

Good Friday 2025

By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there are captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy. How can we sing the songs of the Lord in a foreign land? A familiar psalm that expresses Israel’s deep sorrow and lament at losing the marks of national identity, land, temple, king, after the conquest of Judah and exile in 587 BCE. It was a terrible tragedy and an experience of loss that seared the national consciousness.

But can we imagine how God must have felt about it? How did God feel about Israel’s abandonment of him? The prophet Isaiah spoke God’s word this way: All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people who walk in ways not good, a people who continually provoke me to my very face. Do you not think this makes God weep – even over today’s world?

If psalm 137 cried lament to God over the disaster, I should think God cried lament towards Israel over that disaster. Perhaps it might be expressed this way: By the rivers of Babylon God sat down and wept when he remembered Zion. There on the cross he hung his harp, for there his executioners demanded a sign. They shook their heads in disbelief, he saved others but he can’t save himself.

Why was Jesus sent to the cross? Why did Judas betray him? Why did Pilate hand him over for execution? Why was Barabbas released in his place? Why is this broken world so hostile towards God? All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people who walk in ways not good, a people who continually provoke me to my very face.

And so they shook their heads in disbelief. But there was one who saw it differently: a common thief dying on a cross next to Jesus, and he said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And the Lord’s reply? Today, you will be with me in paradise.

So what is it about a dying Christ that impacts my life today? I look at the cross and see in perspective God’s sorrow and pain over a broken world that is hostile towards him. I see God’s sorrow and pain over my own sins, and I say to him, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Then I hear those wonderful pastoral words spoken in absolution of sins, pardon you and set you free from all your sins. Today, you will be with me in paradise.

Friends, if you leave your brokenness and hostility towards God at the foot of the cross and say, Lord remember me, you will have the rock-solid promise that today you will be with him. Yes, life with God begins now. How so? After all, we are still alive on this earth with its brokenness and hostility towards God. But remember what Jesus taught: in this world you will have trouble, but I have overcome the world. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the key. Jesus is the rock on which I stand, and it cannot be washed away or shaken. The cross has guaranteed it.

Philip Starks
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