282. St. Matthew Passion Hymn

Here's the last of a quartet of hymns to accompany a Lenten sermon series based on each of the four evangelists' account of Christ's Passion. As usual, the idea is to break up this long hymn into installments, always opening and closing with the first and last stanza and inserting one or two middle verses appropriate to each service's selection from Matthew's Passion history. To distinguish this hymn from the Mark, Luke and John ones, I made an effort here to focus on the application of all that Jesus suffered to our needs, and our response of faith.

The "installments" roughly break down as follows: (1) Bethany (Matthew 26:1-16), (2) The Passover (26:17-30), (3) Gethsemane (26:36-56), (4) Peter's denial (26:31-35,69-74), (5) The Sanhedrin (26:57-67), (6) Judas' death (27:3-10), (7) Pilate (27:1-2,11-26) and the soldiers' mockery (27:27-31), (8) The cross (27:32-56) and (9) Jesus' burial and the watch on the tomb (27:57-66). Finally, I noticed that the first line resembles that of the St. John Passion hymn, but when you're writing four hymns about basically the same story, that kind of thing can happen. So, with no apologies for that:

Hymn on the Lord's Passion according to St. Matthew

Lord, knowing that the hour was nigh
That paschal blood be offered,
For mankind's sake You dared to die,
Yourself as Victim proffered.
Grant us to see God's grace thereby,
To treasure what You suffered!

At Simon's house, a woman poured
On You oil richly scented.
Her unction touched Your inmost chord,
Your death rites represented.
Oh, that such love we might afford
The Lamb, for us tormented!

The festal bread You took and broke,
The cup of blessing sharing.
Of body offered up You spoke,
On blood shed for us swearing:
When we this food and drink invoke,
God answers, sinners sparing.

In garden gloom Your watchers slept
While You alone lay grieving,
Till Satan's pet his tryst had kept,
Your last help swiftly leaving.
But now we love the tears You wept:
Christ, strengthen our believing!

Your flock was scattered from Your side,
All in a moment routed;
Soon even Peter had denied
With strong oaths well-nigh shouted.
But You, Lord, still with us abide;
Your truth shall not be doubted.

The council sought men to denounce
The teachings uttered by You;
But only You, Lord, could pronounce
The grounds to crucify You.
May we, too, worldly gain renounce
And live to glorify You!

In Judas' hands, the price of blood
Weighed heavy, past repaying;
To his own place he went, all good,
All hope of mercy slaying.
Lord, who such darkness understood,
Keep us from likewise straying!

The Roman ruler washed his hands,
Disturbed by what now stained them;
His soldiers laid on cruel bands,
As if no qualm restrained them.
Yet You, Lord, guided all their plans:
Your prophecy ordained them.

With wagging heads and spiteful grins
The crowd looked on Your dying
As You hung, even for their sins,
God's justice satisfying.
Look on us, as each day begins,
Your cross to us applying.

As each day, too, sinks down to rest,
Of Your hewn grave remind us:
Where, having passed the dreadful test,
Your dead clay redesigned us.
Now shall our graves as well be blest,
Till You from death unbind us.

Lord, help us watch for Your great day,
Your swift redemption craving;
For all things in Your name to pray,
All trials and dangers braving;
Your will to do, and when we stray,
To trust Your mercy saving.

UPDATE: I went through my master metrical index of hymn tunes and was surprised to find absolutely nothing that will fit this hymn. Apparently, in my effort to write something that would go with a truncated version of DURCH ADAMS FALL (8787 D iambic), only two lines shorter per stanza, I strayed into a pattern nobody has written for; all the 878787-ish tunes I could find are in a trochaic meter. So, once again, I fall back on my own ability to turn an original tune, such as it is. The following melody is titled PASCHAL BLOOD and was born the day after I wrote the above hymn.