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Volume. XXXVIII, No. 91 Go to Dark Gethsemane Today opens the Passion Week, remembering Jesus’ trials and death on the cross. As we consider His agony and suffering, I would like to write about a hymn, “Go to Dark Gethsemane.” I wonder if we could think about any better hymn title than this. Regrettably, I cannot add the tunes to the words. I can write its lyrics but cannot give you the tune for singing. You could google it. Then, you will find that it is a familiar one. The poet behind this hymn is James Montgomery. Some of his sacred lyrics are found in nearly all the compilations of Hymns now used in Great Britain and America, and not a few of them have been translated into foreign tongues. His father was John Montgomery who became a Moravian preacher later. James was born on November 4, 1771, in Irvine, Ayrshire, on the Frith of Clyde, where his father and mother (Mary Blackley) ministered. He learnt German and French, as well as Latin and Greek, besides the ordinary studies of an English grammar school. He developed great poetic taste and began to write poems and hymns of considerable length. He published many poems and hymns and was an editor of many journals. In 1849, he published a new edition, thoroughly revised, of the Moravian Hymn-Book, containing 1,260 hymns. His last work was the publication, February 1, 1853, of his Original Hymns for Public, Social, and Private Devotion. He died in his eighty-third year, and was honoured with a public funeral, the whole town, as it were, taking part in the ceremonial, and testifying thus to the greatness of their loss. Like Watts and Cowper, both of whom he greatly admired as Christian lyricists, he never married. He wrote a hymn lyric, known as Go to Dark Gethsemane. Psalter Hymnal Handbook writes about the hymn as follows: “James Montgomery wrote two versions of ‘Go to Dark Gethsemane,’ the first of which appeared in Thomas Cotterill's Selection of Psalms and Hymnsin 1820. The second version, originally published in his Christian Psalmist (1825), is the more common one found in hymnals today. Small alterations have been made in the text, most notably the change from a command (‘learn of Jesus Christ to pray’) to a prayer of petition in the final phrase in each stanza. Many hymnals delete his original fourth stanza, which focuses on Christ’s resurrection. The text exhorts us to follow Christ as we meditate on his sorrow in the Garden of Gethsemane (stanza 1), on his suffering on the cross (stanza 2), and on his sacrificial death (stanza. 3); each stanza ends with a corresponding petition. The first stanza of Go to Dark Gethsemane is: Go to dark Gethsemane, Jesus is the One who took lowly humanity to Himself. Hebrews 4:15, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” It tells us of the depth of the doctrine of Christ’s humanity. He did not come as a noble and proud stoic but as a humble and compassionate high priest who was touched with the feeling of all our weaknesses. As we are tempted, so He was tempted. As we suffer, He also suffered. As we pray, He prayed in Gethsemane. But, in fact, we pray because He taught us to pray. He engaged the evil one in conflict for our salvation. The second stanza reads: Follow to the judgment hall; It shows the walk of Christ to His condemnation that we follow. The sinless Being submitted Himself to the corrupt court. The Lord of judgment was taken out to the judgment of sinful man. It was all motivated by political tactics and hatred. Psalm 69:21 says, “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” When Jesus cried, “I thirst” (John 19:28), someone gave Him sponge soaked with vinegar. The poet says in the first stanza, “turn not away” and “learn” and now in the second stanza, “shun not” and “learn.” Jesus did not shun suffering and shame. Nor should we. The third and last stanza continues the pattern as follows: Calvary’s mournful mountain climb We climb up the mournful mountain of Calvary, not just for mourning but worshipping Him, adoring Him at His feet. It is also to mark the miracle of time that flings wide the gates of eternity. On the mournful mountain, God’s own sacrifice is completed. It is a miracle. God became a man to be a sin offering. Thus, the Son of God is the sacrifice. He is God and priest and sacrifice all at once. “It is complete” and “it is finished” means its perfection. It has been fulfilled. Now we are exhorted once again to learn to die like Jesus. We must bear the cross and follow Jesus. The original hymn ends with one more stanza pointing to the resurrection of Jesus, which is the victory over death. Early hasten to the tomb |
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