See the stone rolled away (Easter Hymn)

See the stone rolled away on Easter morn, 

That day when death was slain, and hope was born.

Three followers had come at dawn’s first light, 

And what they saw and heard set them to fright.

 

See the young man in white set to one side; 

He said, “You seek one who was crucified;

But Jesus is not here; he has been raised!” 

And so the three were frightened and amazed.

 

“He goes ahead of you to Galilee; 

He’s waiting there for you to come and see.

Tell his disciples all, and Peter too, 

To follow there and hear his call to you.”

 

This is the calling still for us today: 

To follow Jesus on his saving way.

He bids us come, that new life he may give; 

So will we follow Jesus Christ and live?

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, April 2021, rev. March 2023, 2024; after Mark 16:1-7

MUSIC: Tune TOULON, Genevan Psalter, 1551.

This text has been through a few revisions; in this case the adaptation to a somewhat more accessible hymn tune necessitated a few changes here and there. I don't know of a lot of Easter-event hymns that take Mark's highly abbreviated account as their starting, so here's one that does, complete with open-ended narrative.