I was headed to bed late one evening not long before Good Friday. I had been thinking about the passion of Jesus. A melody began to play from somewhere within me. It was strong, well defined and complete. The refrain of the song had lyrics but nothing else did. I came back downstairs and sat at the piano. The song began to play itself. I soon discovered the words of the verses within passages from Isaiah 53 that were hidden somewhere in my heart. It’s one of the songs that often comes to me and speaks from a place beyond me. It may sound strange, but it’s my experience and that of other songwriters, poets and painters. These creations, though born through us, come not from within us but from somewhere beyond us. And so they can captivate and speak to our souls as freely as they captivate and speak to the souls of others. This song, in its mystery and melancholy, touches something deep in me. Michael Thompson’s beautiful orchestration captured the possibilities I’d only been able to imagine and completed the composition for me.
Spurned, rejected and despised
Shamed before your father’s eyes
Hideous abuse you bore
Deity concealed
Shepherd wounded for your sheep
Beaten that they might know peace
Broken that they might be whole
Perfect love revealed
Worthy is the Lamb!
Worthy is the Lamb!
Worthy is the Lamb for sinners slain!
Cursed and scorned upon death’s path
Focus of the Father’s wrath
Laying all your glory down
Tasting death and pain
Crushed beneath your father’s plan
Formed before the world began
Precious Son became our sin
All for heaven’s gain
words & music by Mark Beazley
© 2005 Mark Beazley