“Singing the Faith: O Sacred
Head, Now Wounded”
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen. This morning we continue our Fall Sermon Series “Signing the Faith,”
looking at the background and meaning of some favorite hymns. We’ve
already considered what surveys show are the #1 and #2 favorite hymns for the
second half of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, “How Great Thou
Art” and “Amazing Grace.” They didn’t take such surveys of favorite hymns hundreds of years ago,
but, if they did, the hymn we continue with today would probably have been the
all-time favorite of the 18th, 19th and first half of the 20th centuries.
It still remains a favorite, and is always included in every hymnal of every
denomination. It’s probably the only hymn that is both the main theme of a
famous classical Bach Cantata, “St. Matthew’s Passion,” and was also a
best-selling recording by the pop singer Amy Grant. 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. This beautiful meditation on the suffering and death of Christ was
originally the last of a series of seven poems by an anonymous author from the
Middle Ages. These seven poems were written from the perspective of
someone bowed down at the foot of the cross, looking up at Christ. Each
poem is addressed to a different and successively higher part of our Lord’s
body: his feet, knees, hands, side, chest, heart, and, finally, his sacred head. Gazing upon Christ on the cross, you see both your sin and your
salvation. Your sin which caused his suffering, your sin for which he was
punished. As the hymn continues: 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, And grant to me Thy grace. The Good News is, you see in the suffering of cross of Christ on the
cross not only the consequences of your sin, but you also see in the cross of
Christ your salvation from sin. For, your Savior has had mercy upon you.
Because of his sacrifice on cross, your sins are all forgiven. Because of
his sacrifice on the cross, you have the promise and comfort and hope of eternal
life. That is the focus of the hymn “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded,” the
promise and comfort and hope of eternal life that you have on account of
Christ’s sacrifice for you upon the cross. The original Medieval Latin poems on which this beautiful hymn was
based were already widely beloved favorites in the 1600’s when the final poem,
addressed to the head of Christ, was translated and rewritten in German by the
man who next to Martin Luther himself is the most famous Lutheran hymn writer,
and next to Goethe the most famous German poet, Paul Gerhardt. O sacred Head, now wounded, With grief and shame weighed down, Now scornfully surrounded With thorns, Thine only crown. . . Men mock and taunt and jeer Thee . . . How art thou pale with anguish, With sore abuse and scorn! Paul Gerhardt himself in his own life endured much suffering, sadness
and sorrow. He was born in 1607 and his parents died when he was very
young. Growing up he had a miserable and deprived life, not only because
he was an orphan, but also because of the Thirty Year’s War, a civil war that
started when he was 12 and continued to wreak horrible destruction and
devastation upon the country for most of his life. Gerhardt studied to be a pastor and eventually became the most famous
preacher in Germany at a prestigious church in Berlin. But, he lost all of
that too, when the head of the government left the Lutheran Church, and then
forbid the Lutherans to preach certain doctrines, and instead required them to
accept a watered-down faith. Gerhardt courageously refused and so was
dismissed from office. About the same time that he lost his position as a
pastor, he also lost most of his family: four of his five children and his wife
all died. In order to secure another position as a pastor, Gerhardt had to
relocate from Berlin to a distant, rustic region. So, at age 63 he was not
retiring but starting over again. He labored faithfully until his death at
age 70 and was buried in the last church he served, which was later renamed Paul
Gerhardt Church in his honor. Over the years as he was serving as a pastor he was also writing hymns.
The Lutheran Hymnal of 1941 included 21 of his 133 hymns, and ALL of the hymns
in our worship service today were written by Paul Gerhardt. The handbook to the Methodist hymnal says, “Gerhardt’s hymns reflect a
deep and abiding TRUST in a providential and loving God.” That is the most
amazing thing about Paul Gerhardt, and many other writers of our favorite hymns.
In their own lives so many of them endured great suffering, sadness, and sorrow,
and yet they wrote so confidently and sweetly about God’s love. Joseph Scriven lost his fiancée in a boating accident just a few hours
before their wedding, and in response to that terrible tragedy he immediately
wrote, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” Pastor Martin Rinckart buried in
just a few days dozens of parishioners who died of the plague. After
conducting the funeral of his own wife, he went back home to the empty
parsonage, sat down at his desk, and wrote, “Now Thank We All Our God.” Where did they get such confidence in God’s love, despite their own
suffering, sadness and sorrow? What was their source of confidence and
hope? How can YOU have that same confidence and hope? Paul says in Romans, “[Christ] was delivered over to death for our sins
and was raised to life for our justification. Therefore, since we have
been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ . . . And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” You can have confidence and hope because “[Christ] was delivered over
to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” You
can have confidence and hope because you “have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ.” And because “he was put to death for our sins and raised to
life for our justification,” because “we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ,” you can have confidence and hope of eternal life. “And we
rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” From the cross of Christ you also have the assurance that, no matter
what happens, God is never angry with you or punishing you. Because, as
Isaiah says in today’s Old Testament Reading: “Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows. We observed him stricken by God, smitten by him,
and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for
our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his
wounds we are healed.” Paul Gerhardt’s hymn, “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded,” beautifully
portrays Christ’s suffering and death on the cross as the foundation of
confidence, hope, peace, and assurance. As another favorite hymn puts it: My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness . . . When every earthly prop gives way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ, the solid rock, I stand . . . That is the theme of Paul Gerhardt’s hymn, “O Sacred Head, Now
Wounded.” Confidence and hope, peace and assurance, that comes from
looking to the cross of Christ, and his sacrifice for your salvation, as the
sure and ultimate sign of God’s love, despite all losses. We have again seen dramatically in the recent hurricane and flooding
that followed how everything in this world that seems so permanent can all be
swept away in a moment. As Paul says in 1st Corinthians, “The world in its
present form is passing away.” Everything in our world—even our world
itself—is coming to an end. Everything that seems so permanent and
enduring is really only temporary and transitory. But, in Christ and his sacrifice on the cross, you have comfort and
hope and peace and assurance that endures, beyond this life this life and its
losses. O sacred Head, now wounded, With grief and shame weighed down . . . What language shall I borrow To thank Thee, dearest Friend, For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end? . . . Remind me of Thy passion When my last hour draws nigh. Mine eyes shall then behold Thee Upon Thy cross shall dwell . . . Who dieth thus dies well. Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office
|