O Holy Night, A Weary World Rejoices
Notes
Transcript
Our Scripture lesson this evening is taken from John’s Gospel:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
May God add His blessing to this, the reading of His holy and infallible Word.
On Christmas Eve 1906, all across the North Atlantic, weary and lonely sailors gathered around the newly invented AM radio. Three days earlier, Reginald Fessenden had notified ships of the U.S. Navy and the United Fruit Company that there would be a Christmas Eve broadcast of speech, music and singing. Fessenden introduced the program, then played some Handel on an Edipone phonograph, then performed O Holy Night himself on the violin, singing the last verse, though, he admitted afterwards, “the singing was not very good.” He ended with reading the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke, wishing everyone a “Merry Christmas” and a promised to broadcast again on New Year’s Eve. Thus ended the very first radio broadcast on live radio!
This evening, because of COVID-19, many of us feel like those lonely sailors on the dark North Atlantic. We are separated from our families and friends, but we have all gathered here in hope. Some of us are gathered here in person, some are gathered around their computer or tablet watching our live stream and still other are listening in as those sailors did years ago on a radio.
Perhaps, as I was, you heart was moved as we heard Bernie sing, “A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morning.”
It is this hope that I want to speak of tonight. My message is entitled, O Holy Night, a Weary World Rejoices, and it is in three parts:
A Weary World
A Wondrous Birth
A Welcome Relief
In the Gospel According to Saint John, we find that Jesus was born into...
A Weary World
A Weary World
In the opening verses of John’s Gospel, he compares Jesus to light and this world as darkness. The present darkness our world is dealing with is nothing new. John Sullivan Dwight, who paraphrased O Holy Night from the original French and as an abolitionist, he was battling the darkness of the human slave trade. We can see this reflected in verse three of our English version. Verse 3, in the original French spoke of “iron chains” binding people, but it is clear from the rest of the hymn that these chains are the chains of original sin. For example, in the original French version the first verse reads as follows:
Christians, it is midnight:
The solemn hour when the God-Man came down
To us to wipe away original sin and end His Father’s wrath.
The whole world trembles with hope on this night that gives us a Savior.
People, to your knees! Await your deliverance!
Noel, Noel! Behold, the Redeemer!
In our Scripture lesson tonight, we read of the effects of this original sin:
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
I do not know about you, but there is something about those words that make me pause everything I read or hear them read. Jesus was not killed or betrayed by strangers; it was His own people that did it! We pause, I think, because it shines light on the darkness of our own soul. If we are honest with ourselves, all of us have failed to “know him” and to “receive him”.
This ignoring and rejection of God is at the root of all other sin. It is what theologians call original sin. It is an anti-God disposition that every human being is born with. Contrary to popular opinion, people are not born innocent, they are born sinful. The darkness of original sin has overcome each and every human soul except one, is not able to overcome the light of Jesus’ soul!
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
This brings us to:
A Wondrous Birth
A Wondrous Birth
The wonder of Christmas is that Jesus is the Light of the World. He was no ordinary child; He was the God-Man as the original version of O Holy Night said. The opening verse of John’s Gospel, is perhaps the strongest statement concerning the deity of Christ.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
There is no way around it, Jesus, the Word, is God! The other Gospels tell us about Mary and Joseph, the Inn and the Manger, the sheep and the shepherds; John simply says, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. I am glad we have John’s Gospel. There are so many wondrous things about the Christmas story that it is easy to miss the most wondrous thing: that God the Son came and dwelt among us!
Whom do you see in the Manger, and who did you come to worship? If the Jesus you worship is not the “Word become flesh”, then you are not really worshiping Jesus. You are still in darkness. Again, I believe the hymn, O Holy Night is a good illustration of this, even with all the revisions, the words of our English version of O Holy Night are still theologically sound; sadly the same cannot be said of Its author; John S. Dwight was a Unitarian, he denied the deity of Christ. He said the right words, but Jesus was not the “Word” to him. He did not know Him nor did he receive Him, but to all who receive Jesus, things are different. There is...
A Welcome Relief
A Welcome Relief
After those shocking words of John 1:10-11, we read this:
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John goes on to say this:
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
Earlier in verse 4 we hear:
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
What does all this mean? It means that there is a cure to the weariness that weighs down your soul. The curse of original sin can be reversed!
As John’s gospel unfolds, he records for us the words of Jesus Himself:
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
Our nation and world are gripped in fear and panic, but over what, death?
Even before COVID-19, 7,800 people on average die in the United State per day. Death was a dark reality long before COVID came along, but hope and joy of Christmas is this: The true Light, which gives light to everyone, has come into the world! This is why we sing:
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;
Fall on your knees, Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!
Let us pray.