There is profound theology involved in the Crucifixion of Jesus. It is here that we understand so much more about the incarnation of Jesus, the basis for our justification, the cost of our redemption, and the nature of the atonement. But there is also profound emotion. It is here that we are moved to tears by how deeply Jesus loves us, how awful was His anguish, how He sweat great drops of blood, and the joy set before Him as He went to Calvary.
It is with all of that on our minds and hearts that we come to observances on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday to sing passion hymns of the suffering that won our salvation. Our hymnals rightly have many hymns about Jesus’ birth, and also many hymns about Jesus’ death. Think of “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted,” “Ah, Holy Jesus, How Hast Thou Offended,” and “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.”
Jesus’ crucifixion is told with little elaboration in the New Testament. The Gospels simply tell us, “They crucified Him.” Mercifully, we have never witnessed a crucifixion, but to the first century witnesses and readers, this somber report would have been very painful in their imaginations. Many of them had witnessed this brutal form of execution, one of the most horrible, torturous forms of capital punishment every invented. It originated with the Assyrians and Babylonians in the 6th century B.C. The Romans used it only for the most serious crimes, such as insurrection.
It wasn’t just the pain of the spikes (not nails!) through the wrists and feet. It was happening to every part of the body during the time the victim hung on the cross, which could be up to 3 days! Every breath was excruciating as it was necessary to push against the feet and to contract the arm muscles to draw in a breath, all the while having the raw flesh rubbing against the splinters of the cross from the back and shoulders down to the hips and thighs. Sleep and rest were impossible, so exhaustion became gargantuan until it was impossible to draw another breath, and death from asphyxiation followed that final weak breath.
And why was all this suffering necessary for Jesus? It had to happen in fulfillment of the Deuteronomy 21:22-23 prophecy that whoever hangs on a tree is cursed by God. Jesus couldn’t have saved us by drowning, or from cancer, or from falling off a cliff. He repeatedly told the disciples beforehand that it was necessary that He go to Jerusalem to be crucified. More than that, the extreme suffering that accompanied crucifixion drove home the reality of the seriousness of our sin. It wouldn’t have been enough for Jesus have died quickly and painlessly. So offensive to the holiness and majesty of God was our sin that it required a death that was this overwhelming.
Among our passion hymns that convey these realities in Frederick Faber’s hymn, “O, Come and Mourn with Me Awhile,” especially fitting for Good Friday. Frederick William Faber (1814-1863) was born in Yorkshire, England, as a descendant of Huguenots and strict Calvinist families. Educated at Balliol College, Oxford, he was ordained in the Church of England in 1839. After a few years as rector of an Anglican parish, he came under the influence of John Henry Newman and the Oxford Movement, and followed Newman into the Roman Catholic Church in 1845, serving under Newman’s supervision in the Oratory of St. Philip Neri.
He brought with him from his Anglican experience an appreciation of congregational hymnody, including such evangelical hymns as those by John Newton, William Cowper, and Charles Wesley. He wrote 150 hymns himself. One of his best-known, “Faith of Our Fathers,” originally had the words in the third stanza, “Faith of our fathers! Mary’s prayers shall win our country back to thee.” He published his hymns, several as devotional poems to Mary, in various volumes, and finally collected of them in one book of hymns in 1862. The hymn, “O Come and Mourn with Me Awhile,” was first published in his collection “Jesus and Mary” in 1849. It had 12 stanzas, and was titled “Jesus Crucified.” It was included in the 1861 “Hymns Ancient and Modern” before he revised it in his 1862 compilation, “Hymns.”
Faber’s account of the origin of his hymn-writing is given in his Preface to that collection. After dwelling on the influence, respectively, of St. Theresa, of St. Ignatius, and of St. Philip Neri, on Catholicism; he wrote that “sanctity in the world, perfection at home, high attainments in common earthly callings … was the principal end of his apostolate. …. It was natural then that an English son of St. Philip should feel the want of a collection of English Catholic hymns fitted for singing. The few in the ‘Garden of the Soul’ were all that were at hand, and of course they were not numerous enough to furnish the requisite variety. As to translations they do not express Saxon thought and feelings, and consequently the poor do not seem to take to them. The domestic wants of the Oratory, too, keep alive the feeling that something of the sort was needed: though at the same time the author’s ignorance of music appeared in some measure to disqualify him for the work of supplying the defect. Eleven, however, of the hymns were written, most of them, for particular tunes and on particular occasions, and became very popular with a country congregation. They were afterwards printed for the Schools at St. Wilfrid’s, and the very numerous applications to the printer for them seemed to show that, in spite of very glaring literary defects, such as careless grammar and slipshod metre, people were anxious to have Catholic hymns of any sort. The manuscript of the present volume was submitted to a musical friend, who replied that certain verses of all or nearly all of the hymns would do for singing; and this encouragement has led to the publication of the volume.”
Such extreme language of Marian devotion as was found in that collection was completely unacceptable to Protestant worship. There have been a number of 20th century revisions of the text, some of which appear in Protestant hymnals today. The text version that has become most popular in worship today in non-Catholic publications shifts the focus from Mary to Jesus, and from her mourning over the death of her Son to our mourning over our sin that caused His suffering.
Stanza 1 calls others to come, as it were, to actually stand with us at the foot of the cross, “to the Savior’s side,” as we mourn this literally earth-shaking event.
O come and mourn with me awhile; O come ye to the Savior’s side;
O come, together let us mourn: Jesus, our Lord, is crucified!
Stanza 2 remembers “the seven last words” Jesus spoke from the cross, all of them “words of love.” And the three hours of His mostly silent suffering were all “for mercy on the souls of men.”
Sev’n times He spake, sev’n words of love; and all three hours His silence cried
For mercy on the souls of men: Jesus, our Lord, is crucified!
Stanza 3 gives words for the singer to address his/her own heart. There is indeed a danger for us to have hard hearts that need to be broken. The stanza rightly say that it was our “weak love and guilty pride” that betrayed Him (Judas) and condemned Him (Pilate).
O break, O break hard heart of mine! Thy weak self-love and guilty pride
His Pilate and His Judas were; Jesus, our Lord, is crucified!
Stanza 4 contains the language of Psalm 51, that what God desires is a contrite and broken heart. The tears that flow from such hearts indicate a new spirit that cradles (supports) love for Jesus.
A broken heart, a fount of tears, ask, and they will not be denied:
A broken heart love’s cradle is; Jesus, our Lord, is crucified!
Stanza 5 combines the two biblical themes of God’s love and our sin. They are the reason for “this dread act” in which Jesus’ strength proved able to achieve victory.
O love of God! O sin of man! In this dread act your strength is tried
And victory remains with love; Jesus, our Lord is crucified!
As we conclude our singing, we realize that at the conclusion of every stanza, we have sung the same refrain: “Jesus, our Lord is crucified.” This is truly the heart of Christianity. Without the crucifixion, we would still be in our sin, hopeless and helpless, unable to do anything to achieve deliverance from the just sentence of eternal condemnation in hell. But thanks be to God, that this crucifixion has once and for all satisfied divine justice and won eternal life for all who have placed their trust in Jesus.
The music which we use for Faber’s hymn today is the tune ST CROSS, written in 1861 by John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876). Dykes studied piano and violin in his childhood, and by the age of ten became organist of the church where his grandfather was vicar. After receiving a classics degree from St. Catherine College, Cambridge, he was ordained in the Church of England in 1847. Two years later he became precentor and choir director as Durham Cathedral, where he introduced reforms in the choir by insisting on consistent attendance (!), increasing rehearsals, and initiating music festivals. He served the parish of St. Oswald in Durham from 1862 until the year of his death. To the chagrin of his bishop, Dykes favored the high church practices associated with the Oxford Movement, things such as choir robes, incense, etc. A number of his three hundred hymn tunes are still respected as durable example of Victorian hymnody. These include the tunes we use for “Holy, Holy, Holy,” “The King of Love My Shepherd Is,” “Ride On, Ride On in Majesty,” “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say,” “O for a Closer Walk with God,” “Take My Life and Let It Be,” “Eternal Father, Strong to Save,” and “Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee.”
Here is the hymn as sung from Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas. It uses several of the original stanzas along with those most often appearing in hymnals today.
Appendix:
Here are Faber’s original twelve stanzas, with their focus on Mary.
- O come and mourn with me awhile; See Mary calls us to her side;
O come, together let us mourn: Jesus, our Love, is crucified! - Have we no tears to shed for Him, While soldiers scoff and foes deride?
Ah! Look how patiently He hangs: Jesus, our Lord, is crucified! - How fast His feet and hands are nailed; His blessed tongue with thirst is tied;
His failing eyes are blind with blood. Jesus, our Love, is crucified. - His Mother cannot reach his Face; She stands in helplessness beside;
Her heart is martyred with her Son’s; Jesus, our Love, is crucified! - Seven times He spake seven words of love; And all three hours His silence cried
For mercy on the souls of men: Jesus, our Lord, is crucified! - What was Thy crime, my dearest Lord? By earth, by heaven, Thou hast been tried,
And guilty found of too much love; Jesus, our Love, is crucified! - Found guilty of excess of love, It was thine own sweet will that tied
Thee tighter far than helpless nails; Jesus, our Love, is crucified! - Death came, and Jesus meekly bowed; His falling eyes he strove to guide
With mindful love to Mary’s face; Jesus, our Love, is crucified! - O break, O break, hard heart of mine: Thy weak self-love and guilty pride
His Pilate and His Judas were: Jesus, our Lord, is crucified! - Come, take thy stand beneath the Cross, And let the Blood from out that Side
Fall gently on thee drop by drop; Jesus, our Love, is crucified! - A broken heart, a fount of tears, Ask, and they will not be denied;
A broken heart love’s cradle is, Jesus, our love is crucified. - O love of God! O sin of man! In this dread act your strength is tried;
And victory remains with love: Jesus, our Lord, is crucified!