Mortality: the essence of the human condition?

Great Quote Relating to this Sunday's Upcoming Sermon on Psalm 6

Mortality is of the essence of the human condition. In a life filled with uncertainty and an unknown future, there remains always one certainty, that one day we shall die. But whereas the healthy person knows this, yet learns to live with an awareness of mortality, the sick person may find that equanimity dissolves and the awareness of death becomes more vivid. Health is normal and it may result in praise, but sickness is a reminder and an anticipation of death. Life itself is no longer so good, for it is marred with pain, and the experience of imperfection in living evokes awareness of that ultimate enemy, death. In sickness, the body does not function properly; in death it ceases to function altogether. Thus it is that the psalms conceived on the sickbed are marked by a profound pathos, for though they contain the words of the living, they are haunted by the shadow of dying.

The sense of anguish and trouble which permeates this psalmist’s words was experienced by Jesus, and indeed influenced his words (v 4; cf. John 12:27); we perceive the pathos of the psalm most clearly when it is read in the context of the Passion.


SOURCE: P.C. Craigie, (2004). Vol. 19: Word biblical commentary (2nd ed.). Word Biblical Commentary (89–96). Nashville, Tenn.: Nelson.