A Hymn for Lenten Meditation
(via lcms.org)
Among the many hymns for Lent and Holy Week, there are several significant ones that were written by Lutheran authors. Paul Gerhardt (1607–76), for example, wrote several very familiar hymns:
* O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
* A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth
* Upon the Cross Extended
Another author, Johann Rist (1607–67) wrote “O Darkest Woe,” a hymn for Good Friday that uses stark language to describe the sacrificial death of Jesus.
Another Lutheran hymn writer, who predates both Gerhardt and Rist, is Johann Heermann. Born in 1585 in Silesia (modern-day Poland), Heermann became a Lutheran pastor and served for more than two decades before illness forced him to retire. His pastorate was marked by much personal suffering, especially as a result of the violence and plagues that ravaged much of Europe during the Thirty Years’ War. He died in 1647, just as the bloodshed was drawing to a close.
Heermann wrote nearly 400 hymns. His texts exhibit a great sense of confidence in the promises of God. Heermann’s hymns were so well known in his day that the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II crowned him in 1608 as poet laureate.
The following hymn for Good Friday was published in 1630. For this collection, Heermann used a medieval compilation of devotional writings that were drawn from the early church fathers. Heermann thought that he was setting to verse the meditations of St. Augustine. It is more likely, however, that he based the hymn “O Dearest Jesus” on a meditation written by St. Anselm (1033–1109), archbishop of Canterbury (England) and an important theologian who contributed to the church’s understanding of the doctrine of the atonement.
This hymn appears in its complete form in The Lutheran Hymnal, #143, and in an abridged version in Lutheran Worship, #119. Because of space limitations, the latter version is used below. Following each stanza, several biblical quotations are provided for purposes of meditation and insight.
O dearest Jesus, what law have You broken
That such sharp sentence should on You be spoken?
Of what great crime have You to make confession,
What dark transgression?
Luke 23:20–24 • Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” A third time he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.” But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted.
They crown Your head with thorns, they smite, they scourge You;
With cruel mockings to the cross they urge You;
They give You gall to drink, they still decry You;
They crucify You.
John 19:2–3 • And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands.
Mark 15:19–20 • And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.
What is the source of all Your mortal anguish?
It is my sins for which You, Lord, must languish;
Yes, all the wrath, the woe that You inherit,
This I do merit.
Isaiah 53:4-5 • Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.
2 Corinthians 5:21 • For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
How strange is this great paradox to ponder:
The Shepherd dies for sheep who love to wander;
The master pays the debt His servants owe Him,
Who would not know Him.
Isaiah 53:6 • All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
John 10:11 • I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Revelation 7:17a • For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd.
The sinless Son of God must die in sadness;
The sinful child of man may live in gladness;
We forfeited our lives yet are acquitted;
God is committed!
Psalm 25:11 • For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.
2 Corinthians 5:17-19 • Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Romans 5:8 • God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
O wondrous love, whose depth no heart has sounded,
That brought You here, by foes and thieves surrounded,
Conquer my heart, make love its sole endeavor
Henceforth forever!
John 3:16 • For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
1 John 4:10 • In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
When, dearest Jesus, at Your throne in heaven
To me the crown of joy at last is given,
Where sweetest hymns Your saints forever raise You,
I too shall praise you!
Rev. 7:9 • After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
Rev. 2:10b • Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
James 1:12 • Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him
