O Come and Mourn with Me

Yesterday was a day of remembrance for the death of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. Today is a day of remembering that death and mourning. As a thought on the crucifixion John Calvin wrote in this Institutes of the Christian Religion:

In order to remove our condemnation it was not enough for him to endure just any kind of death. To obtain our ransom, it was essential to choose a type of death in which he could deliver us, both by giving himself up to condemnation and also undertaking our expiation. If he had been mown down by assassins or killed in a rebellion, there could have been no satisfaction. But when he stands as a criminal at the bar and witnesses are brought to give evidence against him and the judge condemns him to death, we see him taking on the character of an offender. Here we must refer to two things which had been foretold by the prophets, and serve admirably to confirm our faith. When we read that Christ was led away from the judgment seat to execution, and was crucified between thieves, we have a fulfilment of the prophecy '[he] was numbered with the transgressors' (Isa. 53:12; Mark 15:20,27). Why did it have to be? So that he might bear the character of a sinner, not of a just or innocent person, in that he died on account of sin. On the other hand, we read that he was acquitted by the same lips that condemned him, because Pilate was forced to bear public testimony to his innocence. This reminds us of the Psalmist: 'I am forced to restore what I did not steal' (Ps. 69:4). So we see Christ taking on the character of a sinner and a criminal, while at the same time his innocence shines out, and it becomes obvious that he is suffering for another's crime and not his own. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, being ranked among criminals by the formal sentence of the judge, when he affirms that he can find no cause of death in him (John 18:38). Our acquittal lies in this: that the guilt which made us liable to punishment was transferred to the head of the Son of God. It is really important to remember that he has taken our place, so that we may not spend all our lives in trepidation and anxiety, as if the punishment we deserve, but which the Son of God took to himself, was still hanging over us.

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O Come and Mourn with Me

by Frederick Faber (1849)

O come and mourn with me awhile;

And tarry here the cross beside;

O come, together let us mourn;

Jesus, our Lord, is crucified.

Have we no tears to shed for Him,

While soldiers scoff and foes deride?

Ah! look how patiently He hangs;

Jesus, our Lord, is crucified.

How fast His hands and feet are nailed;

His blessed tongue with thirst is tied,

His failing eyes are blind with blood:

Jesus, our Lord, is crucified.

His mother cannot reach His face;

She stands in helplessness beside;

Her heart is martyred with her Son’s:

Jesus, our Lord, is Crucified.

Seven times He spoke, seven words of love;

And all three hours His silence cried

For mercy on the souls of men;

Jesus, our Lord, is crucified.

Come, let us stand beneath the cross;

So may the blood from out His side

Fall gently on us drop by drop;

Jesus, our Lord, is crucified.

O break, O break, hard heart of mine!

Thy weak self-love and guilty pride

His Pilate and His Judas were:

Jesus, our Lord, is crucified.

A broken heart, a fount of tears,

Ask, and they will not be denied;

A broken heart love’s cradle is:

Jesus, our Lord, is crucified.

O love of God! O sin of man!

In this dread act Your strength is tried;

And victory remains with love;

For Thou our Lord, art crucified!

John Calvin on 1 Corinthians 4:20

1 Corinthians 4:20

"For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power."

John Calvin:

"20. For the kingdom of God is not in word As the Lord governs the Church by his word, as with a scepter, the administration of the gospel is often called the kingdom of God Here, then, we are to understand by the kingdom of God whatever tends in this direction, and is appointed for this purpose — that God may reign among us. He says that this kingdom does not consist in word, for how small an affair is it for anyone to have skill to prate eloquently, while he has nothing but empty tinkling. Let us know, then, a mere outward gracefulness and dexterity in teaching is like a body that is elegant and of a beautiful color, while the power of which Paul here speaks is like the soul. We have already seen that the preaching of the gospel is of such a nature, that it is inwardly replete with a kind of solid majesty. This majesty shows itself, when a minister strives by means of power rather than of speech — that is, when he does not place confidence in his own intellect, or eloquence, but, furnished with spiritual armor, consisting of zeal for maintaining the Lord’s honor — eagerness for the raising up of Christ’s kingdom — a desire to edify — the fear of the Lord — an invincible constancy — purity of conscience, and other necessary endowments, he applies himself diligently to the Lord’s work. Without this, preaching is dead, and has no strength, with whatever beauty it may be adorned. Hence in his second epistle, he says, that in Christ nothing avails but a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17) — a statement which is to the same purpose. For he would have us not rest in outward masks, but depend solely on the internal power of the Holy Spirit. But while in these words he represses the ambition of the false apostles, he at the same time reproves the Corinthians for their perverted judgment, in measuring the servants of Christ by what holds the lowest place among their excellences. Here we have a remarkable statement, and one that is not less applicable to us than to them. As to our gospel, of
which we are proud, — “Of which we boast and glory so much.” where is it in most persons except in the tongue? Where is newness of life? Where is spiritual efficacy? Nor is it so among the people merely. “And it is not among the people merely that this defect exists.” On the contrary, how many there are, who, while endeavoring to procure favor and applause from the gospel, as though it were some profane science, aim at nothing else than to speak with elegance and refinement! I do not approve of restricting the term power to miracles, for from the contrast we may readily gather that it has a more extensive import." 1

May God give us power and not let us try to rely on our selves.

1 From John Calvin's commentary on 1 Corinthians 4:20 found at Christian Classics Ethereal Library: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom39.xi.iv.html