CW 767 – Lord of Glory, You Have Bought Us
This week’s Gospel lesson mentions an argument Jesus’ disciples were having among themselves. What were they arguing about? Sheepishly they told Jesus that their argument was about who the greatest was among the Twelve.
Whatever they were arguing about, one thing was clear. Their pride and selfishness were clouding their understanding of what true greatness is all about. This hymn reminds us that the accolades belong to the Lord of Glory. We in turn, want to reflect his tremendous sacrificial attitude and action toward us.
Stanza 1: Lord of glory, you have bought us with your lifeblood as the price, never grudging for the lost ones that tremendous sacrifice; and with that have freely given blessings countless as the sand to th’‿unthankful and the evil with your own unsparing hand.
When Jesus came to earth, many people wanted to prop him up as an earthly king. But Jesus’ glory was in his suffering. Jesus came to earth not be served, but rather to serve and to give up his life as a ransom for many. His own blood was the cost he paid to redeem us. To buy us back from certain death and destruction and instead to make us his own, giving us countless blessings.
What makes this so eye-opening? The Apostle Paul wrote: “It is rare indeed that someone will die for a righteous person. Perhaps someone might actually go so far as to die for a person who has been good to him.” (Romans 5:7) What makes Jesus’ sacrifice so tremendous is that he died for people who either regularly forget to thank him or who will never thank him. He died for the worst of the worst. And he didn’t need to be coerced. He did it 100% willingly.
Stanza 2: Grant us hearts, dear Lord, to give you gladly, freely, of your own. With the sunshine of your goodness melt our thankless hearts of stone till our cold and selfish natures, warmed by you, at length believe that more happy and more blessèd ’tis to give than to receive.
Do you like to give? By nature, aren’t we all like the selfish toddler who screams “That’s mine!” Each Christian is God’s workmanship. We are his pet project which he continues to work on. In this verse we recognize that fact and we pray that the Lord would work on our hearts to lead us to willingly give back some of that which he gave us.
It has happened on occasion that my wife will hand me something and say: “Here, you can give this to me for Christmas.” When Christmas comes, I wrap it up and give it to her. Isn’t that really what the Lord is doing for us? He hands us a load of gifts and he says: “Now remember to give some of this back to me.” Not all of it, but some of it. Our prayer is that God turns our selfish attitudes into hearts that understand that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Stanza 3: Wondrous honor you have given to our humblest charity in your own mysterious sentence, “You have done it all for me.” Can it be, O gracious Master, that you need what we can do, saying by your poor and needy, “Give as I have giv’n to you”?
Have you ever found yourself lacking something and too proud to ask someone for help? “I don’t want to be a charity case” you say. And yet, we are all charity cases in one sense. Jesus did it all for me. He lived for us. He died for us. He makes us alive in him. He gives us spiritual riches beyond compare. And he gives us money and material possessions.
In response to our giving God, we are to look out for the needs of others. The writer to the Hebrews reminds us: “And do not forget to do good and share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Keep your eyes open to those around you. Who is it that needs your help?
Stanza 4: Lord of glory, you have bought us with your lifeblood as the price, never grudging for the lost ones that tremendous sacrifice. Give us faith to trust you boldly, hope, to stay our souls on you; but, oh, best of all your graces, with your love our love renew.
The author of this hymn, Eliza S. Alderson asked her brother, John Bacchus Dykes, to compose the music for these stanzas. He agreed to it and then added this stanza. It is interesting that the first half is simply a repetition of the opening lines of the hymn. Those lines are pure gospel and they are worth repeating!
Dykes then concludes this stanza with petitions based on 1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” May we be continually filled with the love of Jesus so that we are moved to express that love toward others.
When the Twelve were arguing about who the greatest among them was, Jesus responded by putting a child in front of them and embraced that child, saying: “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me, welcomes not just me but also him who sent me.” In response to Jesus’ love, there is no service that is beneath us. May we freely give of ourselves and of what we in service to others and in honor of the Lord of glory.