This song is about Jesus Christ, which is no surprise considering Sufjan constantly uses Christian references in his songwriting.
Burden: This lyric refers to the great burden/task Jesus Christ had of coming to earth and sacrificing his life to save all mankind. It consists of his suffering in the garden of Gethsamane where he spilled his blood and took about him all the sins of the world, and then the cross where he died a painful death.
Paramour: Jesus was considered God's greatest and most obedient son in the preexistence (which is spoken of in the old and new testament). Not that God loved him more, only that Jesus loved God more, and was the most qualified to faithfully bring to pass this ultimate and everlasting atonement. For this, Sufjan refers to Jesus and God's great paramour and he is a feat or a great accomplishment of God's. I assume that is how he means it. And when he says sweet, well, if you have read the new testament you would know that Jesus lived a perfect life without sin, and he was indeed "sweet".
"keep your proverbs short and sweet": Jesus spoke and taught in parables when he was on the earth, it was his way of teaching the people that had "hard hearts" or "hearts of stone". And as you read the gospels of the new testament you definitely see how effective they were. Many people today confuse proverbs with parables, which is understandable. Surely Jesus also taught in Proverbs or a council sort of speak.
"life is anxious live is mean": Jesus was treated with contempt by the majority of the multitudes and we know how that ended up panning out. They expected a lot out of him, and they did not treat him kindly, on the cross and in the garden were not the first times he experienced physical pain for his goodness. And certainly the betrayal he faced daily and even by those closest to him caused him sorrow. Sufjan is saying he is sorry that life is anxious and mean to someone so good.
This is my interpretation and I feel fairly confident that it is accurate, but then again, who knows, I definitely feel like all these things just click when I listen to the song being sung, it isn't something I really analyzed, it just made sense.
This song is about Jesus Christ, which is no surprise considering Sufjan constantly uses Christian references in his songwriting.
Burden: This lyric refers to the great burden/task Jesus Christ had of coming to earth and sacrificing his life to save all mankind. It consists of his suffering in the garden of Gethsamane where he spilled his blood and took about him all the sins of the world, and then the cross where he died a painful death.
Paramour: Jesus was considered God's greatest and most obedient son in the preexistence (which is spoken of in the old and new testament). Not that God loved him more, only that Jesus loved God more, and was the most qualified to faithfully bring to pass this ultimate and everlasting atonement. For this, Sufjan refers to Jesus and God's great paramour and he is a feat or a great accomplishment of God's. I assume that is how he means it. And when he says sweet, well, if you have read the new testament you would know that Jesus lived a perfect life without sin, and he was indeed "sweet".
"keep your proverbs short and sweet": Jesus spoke and taught in parables when he was on the earth, it was his way of teaching the people that had "hard hearts" or "hearts of stone". And as you read the gospels of the new testament you definitely see how effective they were. Many people today confuse proverbs with parables, which is understandable. Surely Jesus also taught in Proverbs or a council sort of speak.
"life is anxious live is mean": Jesus was treated with contempt by the majority of the multitudes and we know how that ended up panning out. They expected a lot out of him, and they did not treat him kindly, on the cross and in the garden were not the first times he experienced physical pain for his goodness. And certainly the betrayal he faced daily and even by those closest to him caused him sorrow. Sufjan is saying he is sorry that life is anxious and mean to someone so good.
This is my interpretation and I feel fairly confident that it is accurate, but then again, who knows, I definitely feel like all these things just click when I listen to the song being sung, it isn't something I really analyzed, it just made sense.