HYMN FOR EASTER 2 O Sons and Daughters of the King
- Gracia Grindal
- 12 hours ago
- 3 min read
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
O sons and daughters, let us sing!
The King of heaven, the glorious King,
Over death today rose triumphing.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
That Easter morn, at break of day,
The faithful women went their way
To seek the tomb where Jesus lay.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
An angel clad in white they see,
Who sat, and spake unto the three,
“Your Lord doth go to Galilee.”
Alleluia! Alleluia!
That night th’apostles met in fear;
Amidst them came their Lord most dear,
And said, “My peace be on all here.”
Alleluia! Alleluia!
When Thomas first the tidings heard,
How they had seen the risen Lord,
He doubted the disciples’ word.
Alleluia! Alleluia!“
My piercèd side, O Thomas, see;
My hands, My feet, I show to thee;
Not faithless but believing be.”
Alleluia! Alleluia!
No longer Thomas then denied;
He saw the feet, the hands, the side;
“Thou art my Lord and God,” he cried.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
How blessed are they who have not seen,
And yet whose faith has constant been;
For they eternal life shall win.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
On this most holy day of days
Our hearts and voices, Lord, we raise
To Thee, in jubilee and praise.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
REFLECTION
Today doubt, if not plain disbelief is chic.. So many will hear of the example of Thomas as a doubter, and hear doubt commended. While of course, all of us are doubters at the same time as believers, doubt should not be something the church should encourage. It should be something the church wants to assuage as Jesus does so beautifully in this passage. Thomas has stated emphatically that he cannot believe unless he has seen and touched Jesus’ wounds. Jesus appears and invites him to do just that. We have no record that he did actually touch the wounds, but we do have the record of him kneeling and confessing that Jesus is not only his Lord, but his God. This is the first such confession about Jesus that he is God. So this is as much a believer’s story as it is a doubter’s.
It is then Jesus looks down the halls of history and blesses those who have not seen but believe, his final beatitude. And it is to us. It is a wonderful blessing that we should treasure. At this meeting, Jesus also breathes the Holy Spirit upon his disciples and gives them the power to pronounce the forgiveness of sins to others. It is an awesome thing, and a wonderful way for him to get his work done on earth—to give his disciples the power to do his work on earth. Through the power of the Holy Spirit which gives us the faith and power to speak Jesus to the world, he extends himself to all the world. To be a disciple is to follow, one who gets the message of the Lord to all the ends of the earth, as we see when we read the Acts of the Apostles, and the work of missionaries down through the millennia. Jesus is in charge and sending us everywhere with his word. Remember you have now the responsibility and the joy to share him with others. It is Great commission to all his followers.
HYMN INFO
Jean Tissarand (d. 1494) was a Franciscan monk about whom we know little except that he died in Paris. It is thought he founded an order for repentant women and wrote a service to remember the martyrdom of fellow monks that were killed in Morocco. The translator, John Mason Neale, became one of the leaders in bringing ancient Greek and Latin hymn texts into the life of the English church. Ill health prevented him from serving out his call as a priest in the Anglican Church, but he worked tirelessly as a theologian and translator of early Christian texts. Without his work we would not have had as many hymns for Advent, or less celebrated festivals of the church. Lutherans took many of his translations into their hymnals at the end of the 19th century and they have become necessary to the hymnody of the church year, as this one has.
LINKS
From Notre Dame before the fire
Richard Proulx
A hymn from the point of view of a doubter like Thomas
