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Holy Week · Maundy Thursday · Year C

Psalm 116:12-19

The Cup of Salvation

Chalice of Saint John the Evangelist, Hans Memling
Chalice of Saint John the Evangelist, Hans Memling, c. 1470–1475National Gallery of Art, Washington
A golden chalice stands alone in a painted stone niche, a small serpent rising out of the cup: the back of a panel of Saint John, recalling the poisoned cup he blessed and drank unharmed.I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.Hans MemlingA German-born painter who became the leading master of Bruges in the later 1400s, prized for calm, luminous detail.National Gallery of Art, WashingtonThe National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the nation’s art museum, free to all.National Gallery of Art, Washington

Overview & Insights

“I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.” (Psalm 116:13)

Psalm 116 is a thanksgiving psalm that celebrates deliverance from near-death distress (cf. esp. Ps. 30). It consists of a proclamation of praise and an introductory summary (vv. 1–2), as well as recollections of the distress (v. 3), of the cry to God (v. 4), and of Yahweh’s deliverance (vv. 8–11). Contained in this report is hymnic praise (vv. 5–6; so cf. 30:4–5, which also “interrupts” a report of deliverance) that confesses a general principle of praise exemplified in this testimony. The closing section narrates the thanksgiving rituals and ceremony that accompany the singing of this thanksgiving psalm (vv. 12–14, 17–19), along with more embedded hymnic praise and personal testimony (vv. 15–16).

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Commentary

Background & Word Study

The Church Fathers

Questions preachers ask

Why is Psalm 116 sung in Holy Week?

Delivered from the snares of death, the psalmist vows to lift the cup of salvation and pay his vows, words fitting for the night of the Last Supper.

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