Here Was A Man

(Joy to the world the Lord is come) 
Here was a man a man who was born in a small village the son of a peasant woman 
He grew up in another small village 
Until he reached the age of thirty he worked as a carpenter 
Then for three years he was a traveling minister 
But he never traveled more than two hundred miles from where he was born 
And where he did go he usually walked 
He never held political office he never wrote a book never bought a home 
Never had a family he never went to college and he never set foot inside a big city 
Yes here was a man 
Though he never did one on the things usually associated with greatness 
He had no credentials but himself he had nothing to do with this world 
Except through the devine purpose that brought him to this world 
While he was still a young man the tide of popular opinion turned against him 
Most of his friends ran away one of them denied him 
One of them betrayed him and turned him over to his enemies 
Then he went through the mockery of a trial 
And was nailed to a cross between two thieves 
And even while he was dying his executioners gambled 
For the only piece of property that he had in this world 
And that was his robe his purple robe 
When he was dead he was taken down from the cross 
And laid in a borrowed grave provided by compassionate friends 
More than nineteen centuries have come and gone 
And today he's a centerpiece of the human race 
Our leader in the column to human destiny 
I think I'm well within the mark when I say that all of the armies that ever marched All of the navies that ever sailed the seas 
All of the legislative bodies that ever sat and all of the kings that ever reigned 
All of them put together have not affected the life of man on this earth 
So powerfully as that one solitary life 
Here was a man (joy to the world the Lord is come)