HYMN FOR GOOD FRIDAY O Sacred Head Now Wounded

Isenheim Altarpiece Matthias Gr ü newald Text: Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676) Tune: Johan Crüger (1598-1665)   1. O sacred head, now wounded, With grief and shame weighed down, Now scornfully surrounded With thorns, Thine only crown; O sacred head, what glory! What bliss, till now was Thine! Yet, though despised and gory, I joy to call Thee mine.   2. What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered, Was all for sinners’ gain; Mine, mine was the transgression, But Thine the deadly pain. Lo, here I fall, my Savior! ’Tis I deserve Thy place; Look on me with Thy favor, Vouchsafe to me Thy grace. 3. What language shall I borrow, To thank Thee, dearest friend, For this, Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end? Oh! make me Thine forever, And should I fainting be, Lord, let me never, never Outlive my love to Thee.   4. Be near me when I am dying, Oh! show Thy cross to me; And for my succor flying, Come, Lord, and set me free! These eyes new faith receiving, From Jesus shall not move, For he who dies believing, Dies safely through Thy love. Tr. James Alexander 1830   REFLECTION The most horrible day in all of history: when human beings, unknowingly, killed their God. Every Good Friday since I was a kid I feel a tremor in the earth at about noon. That day the sun ceased shining for a bit, the horror of this moment cosmic. The temple curtain was torn open and the death of Jesus broke through the veil there and into the world. Of course, we know that this death turned out to be a victory of cosmic proportions as well. Now death had been defeated. Everything has been changed, but for now we see the dregs of human existence. All the evil there is enters Jesus and he becomes sin for all the world. Even his father shrinks from him and the sin he has become. The Veronica napkin from the stations of the cross, said to be what Gerhardt saw on the altar every day in his church in Mittenwald and a source of his hymn O Sacred Head He had prayed that he would not have to go through this, but he obediently went to the cross for our sakes and in obedience to his Father. Many struggle to understand why this had to happen and are offended by the brutal killing of Jesus. Could not have God done it another way?   Over the years I have come to see both how corrupted each of us is by sin, and also that God who is love and holiness itself cannot become what he is not. His holiness demands that we become holy in order to be in relationship with him. The only way that can happen is through the sacrifice of his Son. As Leviticus says, there can be no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. That is the origin of the sacrificial system in the temple which happened many times a year as faithful Israelites brought pigeons, lambs, cattle to be sacrificed in the temple. Now, Jesus through his sacrifice has ended that practice once and for all. He is killed just as the Passover lamb is sacrificed and he becomes the one who makes things right between us and God by making us holy. Thus, we are able to live in communion with God and others. Words fail us. Gerhardt says it best in his third stanza: What language shall I borrow?   At once simple, and yet an unfathomable mystery that drives us to our knees.   Paul Gerhardt HYMN INFO Johan Sebastian Bach used this chorale several times in his cantatas and especially the St. Matthew Passion. As John Gardiner says in his wonderful book on Bach's cantatas, “in the passions we become participants in the re-enactment of a story which, however familiar, is told in ways calculated to bring us up short, to jolt us out of our complacency, while throwing us a lifeline of remorse, faith, and ultimately a path to salvation.” There is a helpful website with a translation and comments on the music and the texts below—all of the Matthew account with reflections on it, from arias to chorales. Very edifying! LINKS Choral version https://youtu.be/p5hjdz4xZF4 St. Matthew Passion conducted by Gardiner (the whole thing!) https://youtu.be/eU6QEklM4SA A libretto and an excellent guide and commentary on the entire passion http://music.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/0104_passion/index.shtml Icelandic jazz version/sax and organ https://youtu.be/8pLh6JTZRHY _________________________________________________ For your devotions "With these 366 sonnets, remarkable in artistry and number, Gracia Grindal has made literary history. The scriptural and theological knowledge that supports these poems is vast, but it is the imagination infused with the holy in poem after poem that reveals the poet's grace and skill and the astonishing work of the Spirit." -- Jill Baumgartner , Poetry Editor, Christian Century , and professor of English emerita, Wheaton College https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Harmony-Gospel-Sonnets-Days-ebook/dp/B08L9S4Z1T/ref=sr_1_3_nodl?dchild=1&keywords=Grindal&qid=16145