A Universal Savior?

Hail, Thou Once Despised Jesus!

Hail, thou Galilean King!

Thou didst suffer to release us;

thou didst free salvation bring.

Hail, thou universal Savior,

who hast borne our sin and shame!

By thy merits we find favor;

life is given through thy name.

— verse 1 of Hail, Thou Once Despised Jesus

If you’re following along at home, this is our next Easter song it’s number 325 in your United Methodist Hymnal.

The 1989 edition.

I mention that date because of what’s tucked ever-so-subtly into this first verse: thou universal Savior.

Whoa.

Their strident, heart-felt voices still ring in my memory’s ear.  Though they never complained specifically about this song in particular, probably because we never sang it, I know what they’d say.  It would start , “What kind of liberal talk IS this?  A ‘universal Savior,’ huh?  What kind of Anti-Bible stuff you reading, anyway?”

In the lower left corner of the page in the hymnal, these lyrics are attributed to John Blakewell.  And dated 1757.

But wait!  There’s a co-writer, of more recent vintage, one !  Surely he’s to blame!  Oh.  Wait again.  Martin Madan’s contribution is dated 1760.

Where’d they get the idea to address The Resurrected Christ as thou universal Savior?

Looking again at the lower left corner of the page in the hymnal, the Scripture reference is Revelation 4:2-11.

Hmmmm.

Check out Revelation 4:2-11 and I’ll see you back here tomorrow.  Let’s spend some time with this song and its message.