Some of the most powerful poetic imagery in our hymns related to the crucifixion takes the singer right to the foot of the cross to behold with wonder what Jesus has done for us. That is certainly true of the hymn Beneath the Cross of Jesus. The opening words place us there on Calvary on that Good Friday to join others looking up at the suffering Savior, and marveling at the cost that was paid, and the love that was demonstrated, for our redemption. And in this hymn, the eyes are led beyond the scene 200 years ago to consider its benefits.
We all grew up singing this hymn by Elizabeth Clephane during Passion season. It continues to be found in virtually every hymnal today. And now we have another version available to us as it has been recast in 2005 with fresh words by Keith and Kristyn Getty. It was on their first album just as their music was growing in popularity. We’ll consider both of these versions in this study.
Elizabeth Cecelia Douglas Clephane (1830-1869) loved poetry from the time of her childhood in Scotland. She was the third daughter of the sheriff of Fife and lived most of her brief life near Edinburgh, dying at the age of only 38. She suffered from frail health for most of her life, but was deeply concerned about the poor and sick in her town. She and her sister gave everything that they could to charity, at one point even selling their horse and carriage. The townspeople of Melrose nicknamed her “the Sunbeam.”
Beneath the Cross of Jesus was first published three years after her death under the title “Breathings on the Border,” perhaps a double reference not only to the geographical location of Melrose near the Scottish border, but also drawing near to the cross as one approaches the border between life and death. She wrote the words during the last year of her earthly life. She also composed the hymn There Were Ninety and Nine shortly before her death. Both songs were published in the same collection with tunes by Dwight Moody’s song-leader, Ira Sankey (1840-1908), who wrote the music for them. Sankey’s tune for The Ninety and Nine continues to be sung today, but most now sing Beneath the Cross of Jesus to a tune composed by Frederick Maker (1844-1927).
But the text of this hymn is not just a meditation on the death of Christ. It focuses on the singer and the need for the comfort and protection afforded to us as a result of the atoning work on the cross. The cross is also a rock, a home, and a shelter for those who take refuge in the Lord. That becomes evident with a closer look at the text.
In stanza 1, the cross is the place where we find relief in this wilderness, a mighty rock whose shadow protects us from the oppressive heat at noon as we carry such heavy burdens. The images are clearly based on the parallel between the Exodus and the Christian life, as we are moving toward the promised land of heaven.
Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat and the burden of the day.
In stanza 2, the cross is at the center of our redemption as Jesus suffered the payment we owed for our sin. We marvel at two wonders: first, His redeeming love, and second our own unworthiness, an improvement over the original phrase that Elizabeth wrote: “my worthlessness.”
Upon the cross of Jesus mine eye at times can see
The very dying form of One who suffered there for me:
And from my stricken heart with tears two wonders I confess,
The wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.
In stanza 3, the cross is the basis for our present satisfaction. It is not only a shadow that shields us, it also leads us to the sunshine of Jesus’ face. Despite the author’s frail health, she knew, as all believers should, that we happily turn away from the world’s trinkets to find in Jesus our full joy. And what a wonderful contrast in the final phrase: ashamed of our sinful hearts, but glorying in the cross of Jesus!
I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss;
My sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.
Elizabeth included two additional stanzas which are seldom found in hymnals today. This one gives more attention to the theology of the cross. It includes an unfamiliar word, “trysting,” an older word to describe a place where lovers would meet. It points to the wonderful combination of both love and justice at the cross.
O safe and happy shelter, O refuge tried and sweet,
O trysting place where heaven’s love and heaven’s justice meet!
As to the exiled patriarch that wondrous dream was given,
So seems my Savior’s Cross to me – a ladder up to heaven.
And this one seems more autobiographical as she was anticipating her own death. For the Christian, we are not unwilling to face the reality of death. She has written in this stanza that while we are near an open grave – probably meaning our own – we have no fear because Jesus stands there at the cross, arms outstretched to carry across to the other side, as a watchman appointed to make sure we make it to our heavenly home.
There lies beneath its shadow, but on the further side,
the darkness of an open grave that gapes both deep and wide;
and there between us stands the cross, two arms outstretched to save,
like watchman set to guard the way from that eternal grave.
As they were just beginning to advance their music career, Irish husband/wife artists Keith and Kristyn Getty took Elizabeth Clephane’s words and used them as the basis of what has become one of their best-loved compositions. It was in 2005 when their church was studying the book of James that they were looking for a hymn on the content of the Body of Christ and how believers relate to each other. That led them to write this hymn, which was included in their 2007 album, along with In Christ Alone, The Power of the Cross, and Speak O Lord.
Stanza 1 expresses the humility and repentance in which we approach the cross, meditating not just on the suffering Jesus endured, but also the amazing realization that it was for such sinful people as us. It’s not just that His hands were pierced, but that those are “hands that should discard me.” And yet, amazingly, those very hands invite us to come to Him!
Beneath the cross of Jesus I find a place to stand,
And wonder at such mercy that calls me as I am.
For hands that should discard me hold wounds which tell me come.
Beneath the cross of Jesus my unworthy soul is won.
Stanza 2 calls us to think about our brothers and sisters in Christ, our spiritual family. The cross changes the way we look at them. We were all “once strangers chasing selfish dreams.” But His saving grace has now radically changed us. And so, “how could I now dishonor the ones that You have loved?” Here is the solution to racial reconciliation: finding true harmony as we are all blood-bought sinners, belonging also to one another.
Beneath the cross of Jesus, His family is my own.
Once strangers chasing selfish dreams; Now, one through grace alone.
How could I now dishonor the ones that You have loved?
Beneath the cross of Jesus, see the children called by God.
Stanza 3 reminds us that to follow Jesus is to move toward a crown and a time when the hope that He has promised us will be fully realized: the hope of being free from all the effects of sin and enjoying his immediate presence as His perfect bride. Knowing that enables us to “gladly live our lives.”
Beneath the cross of Jesus, the path before the crown,
We follow in His footsteps where promised hope is found.
How great the joy before us to be His perfect bride.
Beneath the cross of Jesus, we will gladly live our lives.
Beneath the Cross, © 2005 by Thankyou Music.
Here are recordings of both hymns, first by Elizabeth Clephane (it includes all 5 stanzas)
and second by Keith and Kristyn Getty.