Lenten Lyrics: Beautiful Scandalous Night
Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore
Be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified
Follow Christ to the holy mountain
Sinner sorry and wrecked by the fall
Cleanse your heart and your soul
In the fountain that flowed
For you and for me and for all
At the wonderful, tragic, mysterious tree
On that beautiful, scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful, scandalous night
On the hillside, you will be delivered
At the foot of the cross justified
And your spirit restored
By the river that poured
From our blessed Savior’s side
11 Responses to “Lenten Lyrics: Beautiful Scandalous Night”
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What truly beautiful words for a day that was good for us sinners. For without Jesus’ sacrifice and suffering, we would be forever lost. It is sad that God had to make such a horrific sacrifice for little ‘ole piddly humans. What a love!!
Serious question: Why would we be forever lost if Jesus had not sacrificed himself?
Well, it’s complicated, I suppose. Have you ever peeled an entire onion? http://www.theauteurs.com/films/3505
It is enough to bring someone to tears. How could someone love us so much that he would give something so precious, innocent, and pure for something broken,condemned, and unclean? Where would we be today without that single act of selflessness? What would our lives mean? Would we strive to be better people?
To Schluep:
Of course we would strive to be better people, even if it was for the simple fact that it is more socially productive. And you say that we (humans I am assuming) are condemned; how so? I do not understand your meaning here.
You imply that our lives would be different today if it were not for Christ. How is this? Many other religions have central characters that convey Christ’s teachings fairly accurately, so why would we not fair as well without Christ, or Christianity for that matter? Why would our lives need to mean less?
Finally, was Jesus (when described as the son of God) really all that sacrificial when he “sacrificed” himself? I ask this because (I assume) Jesus knew that he was the son of God and therefore knew (for a fact, not by faith alone)where he would end up upon his death. If I knew all these “facts” about myself (hypothetically) I would gladly face the beating that Jesus took on. My question is, wouldn’t it have been more sacrificial if Jesus was a normal man (not the son of God) and sacrificed himself for a cause, even though he had no factual knowledge of the afterlife?
I guess by condemned I mean that we were once captives of our sin but through the blood of Jesus Christ we were set free from that sin. We can go straight to the source for forgiveness and not have to do it through other means (i.e. sacrificing animals). No longer did God reside in the “Holy of Holies” were only the highest of the high could enter, but he now resides in our hearts, it became much more personal.
To the point that I “imply” that our lives would be different, are you saying that your life would not be different without this single act? Knowing what you know about Christ and trying to model your love after his would your life not be different if this single act of love never happened? What would you model your life after then?
Yes I do believe that Jesus was still sacrificial even though he may have known that he was the son of God. He was still fully human as well and had to accept and go through with his death. I believe that at anytime he could have called it quits and chose not to do it. Did he not ask for strength the night before his death? Does this not show his humanness and possibly doubtfulness on whether he would have the strength? Would it not be more difficult to embrace your destiny knowing what it holds (ultimately death in the most terrible sense)? Finally, if Jesus knew all of this then why did he say “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?”
How do you know that you would receive the same punishment he endured, “gladly?” Did Christ not have to endure hell after his death, before he conquered it? Are you saying that you would be happy try and conquer hell and death?
well, you know, reconciliation, atonement, and expiation stuff. you really have to understand Judaism before you can understand anything about Jesus. and really – it makes a helluva lot more sense to the oppressed, powerless, and dependent – in general. if you come at it from a top-down approach, it’s pretty much useless, unless used for political gain, which is, you know, heresy.
To Schleup: I am not a Christian… so any of the arguments about my life being different without Christ are fairly irrelevant. I am actually a Buddhist and; therefore, model my life after the Buddha (the answer to your question). I feel that nothing in that area would be different had Christ not existed. About your middle paragraph… we do not have direct quotes of Jesus’ speaking so I cannot really respond to you quoting what he “said.” However, I will say that I definitely would still gladly endure death and hell if I was positive (by facts, not faith alone) that the end result would be Christian heaven. I actually do not fear the existence of the common Christian idea of hell even without factual knowledge of the afterlife… but I suppose that would be for a different discussion.
I suppose it would be. I do appreciate your comments however and don’t want you to think that I was trying to slam you in anyway, I was just curious.
in the very least, I would highly recommend “living buddha, living christ” by thich nhat hanh. you maybe very interested in the relationship between thich nhat hanh and thomas merton during the vietnam war. fascinating. on another note, do you require the same factual knowledge of the buddha that you do of the christ?
I do own that book and love thich nhat hanh as well as thomas merton. I require no factual knowledge of the Buddha’s existence, because his teachings are all that matter (whether or not he existed is, then, irrelevant). However, even if I do require factual knowledge of his existence, he was only a normal man, making it entirely different than views of Christ. I do appreciate all of your comments though Tom and Schluep.