Hymn Study - Were You There

1 Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they crucified my Lord? 2 Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? 3 Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? 4 Were you there when God raised him from the tomb? Were you there when God raised him from the tomb? Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when God raised him from the tomb?

People have a strange habit of putting themselves places they’ve never been. Perhaps it’s a historical event like our ancestors coming to Plymouth Rock or Ellis Island. A happy moment like remembering the screaming girls at the Ed Sullivan show during Beatle Mania. A tragic moment like New York City on September 11, 2001. It appears as the emotional connection to the event helps put us there.

Other times we have a little more trouble placing ourselves in these events. Perhaps we have an idea of what ancient Egypt looks like in our heads. We see that canon in a Civil War museum, but they’re just props that help us paint a picture of a time in history.

What about when you read your Bible? Often times in my own head, Bible stories can often look quite childish, even though they’re anything but. Take for example the story of Noah’s Ark. I picture a cute boat that’s undersized carrying a cute old man with a staff with little sets of animals poking their head out of windows.

What about the death of Christ? Don’t sometimes you look back on the cross as two pieces of wood sitting up on a hill with two likewise structures on either side. Maybe you think of a significant cross in your own life. Maybe it looks a lot like my childish Noah’s Ark depiction. I know what people look like, I know what natural devastation looks like and I know what animals look like. We know what death looks like, we know what blood looks like and we know suffering.

Every Good Friday I often find myself in a state of bitter sweet reflection. Often times I listen to this hymn to help me process my meditation and prayers. It can be quite overwhelming even. The authors of this hymn had no trouble putting themselves back into Jerusalem that Good Friday. It’s believed that this hymn was written by American slaves who probably wanted to be anywhere but their plantation. What a place to escape to.

The singer puts themselves at the foot of the cross, possibly one of the most unhappy moments you could put yourself in, especially if you were suffering yourself. They want to know if you are there as well? They want to know if you’re seeing what they’re seeing? What’s more is it has a huge toll on their emotions. It causes them to tremble.

But the death of the cross is not a lasting shadow that keeps the light from us. What about Easter? Were you there for the empty tomb? Were you there for eyes opening and first breaths taken? Were you there with Mary and the angels? What about that? Well it causes them to tremble. They are shaken to their very core. But tears of sorrow are replaced tears of joy! Overwhelming burden of responsibility for a savior from sin is replaced by an overwhelming joy of guilt lifted and new life!

Were you there when the Jews and Romans put Jesus to death, thus fulfilling what He came here to accomplish? Well no, we weren’t born yet, we can’t remember the actual event, there were no cameras rolling to show us. But were you there, yes, Jesus did this specifically for you, for me, for those Jews and Romans, for the slaves who wrote this song. He took into account every sin you have and will commit and made sure they were adequately punished and thus forgiven.