Thursday, March 12, 2009

Cross of Jesus, Cross of Sorrow

Cross of Jesus, cross of sorrow,
Where the blood of Christ was shed.
Perfect man on thee did suffer,
Perfect God on thee has bled!

Here the King of all the ages,
Throned in light ere worlds could be,
Robed in mortal flesh is dying,
Crucified by sin for me.

O mysterious condescending!
O abandonment sublime!
Very God Himself is bearing
All the sufferings of time!

Cross of Jesus, cross of sorrow,
Where the blood of Christ was shed,
Perfect man on thee did suffer,
Perfect God on thee has bled!

LSB 428

photo credit: Lawrence OP

1 comment:

Rev. Luke T. Zimmerman said...

Scott:

The hymn is even greater when sung with all the stanzas from John Stainer's oratorio "The Crucifixion" are sung. Unfortunately, the LSB editors didn't include all of them.

The work is entitled "The Mystery of the Divine Humiliation" in Stainer's oratorio, a fine title indeed. Here are the original stanzas, as written by Rev. J. Sparrow-Simpson.

Cross of Jesus, Cross of sorrow,
Where the blood of Christ was shed,
Perfect man on thee was tortured,
Perfect God on thee has bled!

Here the King of all the ages,
Throned in light ere worlds could be,
Robed in mortal flesh is dying,
Crucified by sin for me.

O mysterious condescending!
O abandonment sublime!
Very God himself is bearing
All the sufferings of time!

Evermore for human failure
By his Passion we can plead;
God has borne all mortal anguish,
Surely he will know our need.

Who shall fathom that descending,
From the rainbow-circled throne,
Down to earth's most base profaning,
Dying desolate alone.

From the "Holy, Holy, Holy,
We adore thee, O most high,"
Down to earth's blaspheming voices
And the shout of "Crucify!"

Cross of Jesus, Cross of sorrow,
Where the blood of Christ was shed
Perfect man on thee was tortured,
Perfect God on thee has bled.


LTZ+