Issac Watts very effectively depicts the suffering that Jesus endured on the cross especially in the third stanza of his great hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross":
See, from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down:
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
The powerful phrase "sorrow and love flow mingled down" is referred back to in a fourth stanza that is omitted from most American hymnals:
"His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o'er His body on the tree."
The images found here are at the same time beautiful, but horrific. And, these words sung in worship have brought tears to the eyes of committed Christians for hundreds of years. But, was Watts' real reasons for composing the hymn to stir our emotions? I believe that Watts reveals his real purpose in the final stanza:
"Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all."
In another one of Watts' hymns, "Alas and Did My Savior Bleed", he re-emphasizes what he is communicating through these hymns:
"But drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give myself away - "Tis all that I can do."
Maybe Watt's is right and God never really intended for us to just cry over Christ's suffering. Thousands of people came out of the movie theaters weeping after Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ" yet thousands never acknowledged Him as Savior and Lord. As we worship focusing on the cross in this special season, may we not just be moved, but may we be changed. May we not be sorrowful but repentant. If His sacrifice doesn't drive us to repentance and obedience, then it has not really affected us, no matter how many tears we shed.
The word "survey" means "to view in detail," - may we do just that as we worship surveying the "cross on which the Prince of Glory died."
"My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride." So be it. mjm
