Father forgive them,

for they know not

what they do.

Luke 23.34

This image of crucifixion is undeniably angular. Influenced in part by Cubism, the Iranian artist Houshang Pezeshknia (1917-1972) offers unyielding, geometric lines and jagged edges to convey the human cruelty behind the suspension of a body on wood by nails. Even the cliffs and clouds have sharp corners.

There is a similar jagged quality to the first of James MacMillan’s “Seven Last Words from the Cross” (music below, words here).  It is not easy listening. Above chords charged with cosmic lament, rising sopranos sing Jesus’ prayer above. Then, as the music swells, we hear the crowds taunting Jesus, using words with which, only a few days before, they’d fêted him.  An anguished violin becomes increasingly agitated, tortured. The sopranos continue as the voice of Jesus, ending the piece utterly alone.

The spiky torment of both music and painting underlines the astonishing nature of Jesus’ words inviting God’s forgiveness: something tender, holy, redeeming is held against the brutality. “Forgiveness is truly not the easy option,” writes Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani. “It is costly, messy and painful but it does open up the way of life.” And she should know. Soon after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, as part of the persecution waged there against the Anglican Church of which her father was Bishop, her brother Bahram was murdered. At his funeral, an extraordinary prayer written by Guli’s father was read in the original Persian. It has become known as The Forgiveness Prayer.