Who Is This So Weak And Helpless?
Who Is This So Weak and Helpless?
Who is this so weak and helpless,
Child of lowly Hebrew maid,
Rudely in a stable sheltered,
Coldly in a manger laid?
’Tis the Lord of all creation,
Who this wondrous path hath trod;
He is God from everlasting,
And to everlasting God.
Who is this, a Man of Sorrows,
Walking sadly life’s hard way,
Homeless, weary, sighing, weeping
Over sin and Satan’s sway?
’Tis our God, our glorious Savior,
Who above the starry sky
Now for us a place prepareth,
Where no tear can dim the eye.
Who is this? Behold Him shedding
Drops of blood upon the ground!
Who is this, despised, rejected,
Mocked, insulted, beaten, bound?
’Tis our God, who gifts and graces
On His Church now poureth down;
Who shall smite in holy vengeance
All His foes beneath His throne.
Who is this that hangeth dying
While the rude world scoffs and scorns,
Numbered with the malefactors,
Torn with nails, and crowned with thorns?
’Tis the God who ever liveth
’Mid the shining ones on high,
In the glorious golden city,
Reigning everlastingly.
CHRISTIANITY is a faith of great irony. We honor our great Creator, Lord of heaven and earth, great Judge of all. But when He appears on earth, He is a baby in a borrowed bed, born among cattle. He grows up as a working man and wanders as a homeless preacher. He dies a criminal’s death, abandoned by His closest followers. William Walsham How’s hymn brilliantly displays this irony. The first four lines of each stanza ask for the identity of this poor, mistreated person. The final four lines always answer in the most glorious terms.
Even Christians get caught up in the world’s idea of greatness. We often seek the glamour of a glory-filled life. But that was not our Lord’s pattern, as How reminds us. Bishop How himself practiced what he preached: He was known for his ministry to the poor in some of England’s worst communities.
He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
John 1:10-14
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