Tell Me the Story of Jesus

with STORY OF JESUS

I. Origins

This narrative hymn was written by prominent two gospel songwriters, lyricist Fanny Crosby (1820–1915) and composer John Sweney (1837–1899). According to Crosby, her friendship with Sweney was formed during summer revival meetings held annually at the Methodist campgrounds in Ocean Grove, NJ.[1] She recalled being there as early as 1877; Sweney was appointed as song leader there in 1878 and served in that role for twenty years until his declining health prevented him from continuing.[2] Crosby said it was “one of the saddest duties of my life to recite a tribute to his memory” upon Sweney’s death.[3]

One of their most enduring collaborations is the hymn “Tell me the story of Jesus,” which was first published in The Quiver of Sacred Song (Philadelphia: John J. Hood, 1880 | Fig. 1).

 

Fig. 1. The Quiver of Sacred Song (Philadelphia: John J. Hood, 1880).

 

II. Analysis

For over a decade, Sweney had been music director of the Sunday School program at Bethany Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, which at one time was described as “one of the largest Sunday-schools in the United States.”[4] Crosby was a longtime member at Old John Street Methodist Episcopal Church in New York City. Both had a special interest in creating music for Christian education. The didactic nature of this hymn—and its fitness for Christian education—is simple and clear: it tells the story of Jesus’ life on earth, starting with his incarnation, followed by his temptation in the desert, his earthly ministry, his crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. It does this in the context of a person desiring to hear the story told, a story described as “precious” and “sweetest that ever was heard,” one which ought to be written on the heart, containing a love “so tender, clearer than ever,” which “paid the ransom for me.”

Notable Scripture allusions include Luke 2:8–14 (the angelic proclamation); Luke 4:1–14 (temptation; also Matt. 4:1–11; Mark 1:12–13); Isaiah 53:3–4 (sorrows, despised, afflicted); and Matthew 8:20 (homeless; also Luke 9:58).

This earliest printing uses a visual solfege (Sol-Fa) system developed by the publisher, John J. Hood. Hood’s notation was intended as an alternative to the more prevalent shape-note system developed by William Little and William Smith in their Easy Instructor (1801), but Hood’s system was short lived and has not endured.

III. Legacy

Singer-evangelist Homer Rodeheaver (1880–1955) described his unique experience with this song during his service in World War I:

During the World War, I sang the song, “Tell me the story of Jesus” to many groups of soldiers in France—in the old, shell-torn barracks, in dugouts where there was only a little candle with which to see the words, or in the open as the line of soldiers, marching to the front, would stop for rest; and once, on October 4, 1918, in the Argonne Forest, just as a big drive had started. But no matter where I sang this song, the soldier boys would take off their dirty service caps or hang their trench helmets on their arms and remain perfectly quiet. There was no other song that I sang with this same effect. Many men have met me since the war and referred to the unusual situations in which it was sung and the impression the song made upon them at the time.[5]

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
21 November 2019

Footnotes:

  1. Fanny Crosby, Memories of Eighty Years (Boston: James H. Earle, 1906), p. 139: Archive.org

  2. Morris S. Daniels, The Story of Ocean Grove Related in the Year of Its Golden Jubilee (NY: Methodist Book Concern, 1919), p. 158: Google Books

  3. Fanny Crosby, Memories of Eighty Years (Boston: James H. Earle, 1906), p. 140: Archive.org

  4. J.H. Hall, “John R. Sweney,” Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers (NY: Fleming H. Revell, 1914), p. 151: Archive.org

  5. Homer A. Rodeheaver, “Tell me the story of Jesus,” Hymnal Handbook for Standard Hymns and Gospel Songs (Chicago: The Rodeheaver Co., 1931), pp. 159–160.

Related Resources:

Homer A. Rodeheaver, “Tell me the story of Jesus,” Hymnal Handbook for Standard Hymns and Gospel Songs (Chicago: The Rodeheaver Co., 1931), pp. 159–160.

Kerchal Armstrong, “Tell me the story of Jesus,” The Worshiping Church: Worship Leaders’ Edition (Carol Stream, IL: Hope, 1991), no. 199.

Scotty Wayne Gray, “Tell me the story of Jesus,” Handbook to the Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Convention Press, 1992), p. 242.