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Holy Week · Palm Sunday (Sunday of the Passion) · Year A

Psalm 31:9-16

Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit

Jesus Mocked by the Soldiers, Édouard Manet
Jesus Mocked by the Soldiers, Édouard Manet, 1865The Art Institute of Chicago
Manet painted religious subjects twice and was savaged for both. The soldiers are Paris models in costume and Christ is unmistakably a man sitting on a stool.I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors … terror all around! … But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hand.The Art Institute of ChicagoFounded in 1879 as both a museum and a school, and the home of American Gothic and of a famous Impressionist collection.The Art Institute of Chicago

Overview & Insights

“Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.” (Psalm 31:5)

Psalm 31 is an individual lament.[1] The lament proper is found in 31:10–13, where the psalmist complains about his crisis, which, judging from the anatomical language of 31:9–10, was an illness, interpreted by his enemies as God’s ill favor. In view of the declaration of trust in the Lord (31:6, 14), the attestation of his deliverance (31:7–8, 21–22), and the affirmation of God’s goodness as the basis of his trust (31:19), it could be considered an individual psalm of trust.[2] Yet, it is not unusual that trust is an integral part of lament. The unity of the psalm has been disputed because of the repetitious nature of the content and the awkward transition between 31:18 and 19.

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