John 15:13

We may not know, we cannot tell.
What pain he had to bear
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.

He died that we might be forgiven
He died to make us good
That we might go at last to heaven,
Saved by his precious blood.

There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin
For only He could unlock the gates of Heaven
And let us in

He died for us.

Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895)

John 13:34

He came from his blest throne
Salvation to bestow;
But men made strange
And none the longed for Christ would know.
But O my friend, my friend indeed
Who at my need his life did spend.

Sometimes they strew His way
And his sweet praises sing,
Resounding all the day
Hosannas to their king.
Then crucify is all their breath
And for his death they thirst and cry.

Why what hath my Lord done
What makes this rage and spite
He made the lame to run,
He gave the blind their sight,
Sweet injuries
Yet they at these
Themselves displease and ‘gainst him rise.

Here might I stay and sing
No story so divine
Never was love dear King,
Never was grief like thine.
This is my friend in whose sweet praise
I all my days could gladly spend.

Samuel Crossman (1624-1684)

O quam tristis et afflicta
Fuit illa benedicta,
Mater unigeniti
Stabat mater lacrimosa

Quis est homo qui non fleret,
Matrem Christisi si videret
Dolentem cum Filio
Stabat mater lacrimosa

O how sad and afflicted
was that blessed Mother
of her Only-begotten Son
The Mother stood weeping

Where is the man who would not weep
to see the Mother of Christ
in such suffering?
The Mother stood weeping

Will Todd (b1970)

Will Todd (b1970)

Mary Elizabeth Frye (1905-2004)

Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Sometimes it causes me to tremble
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?

Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Sometimes it causes me to tremble
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?

Were you there when he rose out of the tomb?
Sometimes it causes me to tremble
Were you there when he rose out of the tomb?

We believe it was for us He rose from the dead.
We believe it was for us He died for us.

(reprise from movement 1)
Greater love has no man
No greater love than this
Than to lay down his life for his friends
There is no greater love than this.

American Spiritual