Yesterday, our ward sang Jesus, Once of Humble Birth for our Sacrament Hymn.
Generally, I really try to pay attention to pay attention to the words we sing, so I can get something personal out of the hymn. I often fail at it though. Yesterday, IÂ succeeded.
I really like the contrast used throughout the hymn (e.g. humility vs glorification), but there were a couple of instances that impressed me for some reason.
For example,
Once rejected by his own—Now their king he shall become.
Isn’t it ironic that the very people who rejected Jesus as their King will one day be his subjects?
Another line:
Once forsaken, left alone
This line really struck me. His apostles abandoned him; his father forsook him. Perhaps this one struck me as it did because of parallels to my own experience.
Finally, the last two lines of the hymn:
Once all things he meekly bore—
But he now will bear no more
What a fitting end to this hymn. The hymn is all about Jesus’s triumph over mortality, over grief, pain, blood, tears, crucifixion, and rejection. These last two lines enapsulate that entire idea.
And the hymn gives us hope that one day we too will triumph all.
It’s a great poem and a great hymn, but I’ve often wondered why it’s viewed as a sacrament hymn. It doesn’t have much to do with the sacrament, certainly not more than just about any other hymn regarding Christ. It’s about the second coming of Christ, so I’ve long thought it was a little weird to classify it as a sacrament hymn.