Genesis 4:10-11, 13, 14b, 15b
“The Lord said, ‘What have you done?  Listen!  Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.  Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand…’  Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is more than I can bear…whoever finds me will kill me.’…Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.”

Luke 23:18, 20b, 24-25
“With one voice they cried out, ‘Away with this man!  Release Barabbas to us!…Crucify him!  Crucify him!’… So Pilate decided to grant their demand.  He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.”

Isaiah 53:5
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

Lord of all life, your mercy extends further than we are able to run from you.

You marked a guilty man to save his life.  You marked an innocent man to redeem the souls of all who sin.

When we have offended, set us free in the knowledge that Christ has taken the murderer’s place, and our hope is found in the nail marks of his hands.

In the name of the Son we ask this, who made blood payment to release the rebel and save the unworthy.

Listen to ‘O Sacred Head’ by Michael O’Brien