One of the great Christmas hymns is Joseph's Mohr's "Stille Nacht" (Silent Night). Many know the story about how the hymn was written and first sung on Christmas Eve in 1818 with guitar accompaniment because the church pipe organ broke down. The hymn wonderfully retells the Christmas story in beautiful verse and melody. Each stanza begins with the familiar words, "silent night, holy night." Is this one of the "traditional trappings?" Was Jesus born during the night? Was the night silent? Why should it be considered holy? Luke chapter two can help us answer these questions. Join me in pondering Jesus' birth. We just might discover more than answers to these questions.
The biblical text does not specifically tell us that Jesus was born at night. It does record that Joseph and Mary had traveled to Bethlehem to register as decree mandated; a stable was the only room available in the city when they arrived; it was upon their arrival that Mary went into labor and delivered her first-born son; and that angels appeared to shepherds to announce the Savior's birth while they "watched their flocks at night." Travelers arriving in a city and finding no rooms available suggests that the young couple had arrived late in the day. The angels appeared to the shepherds at night. There is no reason to assume that the angelic message arrived much later than did Jesus. From these we can safely surmise that Jesus was probably born at night.
Wait! There is more! Regardless of the physical reality, Jesus came into the world at night. John tells us in chapter one of his gospel; "In Him [the Word - Jesus] was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness..." Jesus came into man's darkness - into our night. There is no more vivid analogy of humanity's state when away from God in sin. Darkness is often used in Scripture to depict our sinful plight. Darkness, without light. But just as in the beginning when the Spirit of God moved over the surface of the "formless, empty, dark surface" and said, "Let there be light!", so He came into our valueless, empty, dark, sinfulness saying, "let there be light!" And Jesus was born. The light came. We need not live in darkness any longer. We can "walk in the light as He is in the light," having fellowship with God and His people.
The busy city was bulging at its seems. All the descendants of David were either already there or arriving there to register. All the inns were at capacity. The sheer number of people would suggest that it was far from a quiet night in the city. But, silence speaks more about the arrival of the Savior than about the noise in the city. Jesus did not come with fanfare. He came in the quietness of childbirth in a stable. The announcement of His arrival was the infant cry as He gasped for His first breath outside the womb. The angel's pronouncement was to a select few. Even when the "great company of the heavenly hosts" joined the angel, only the shepherds heard and saw. The shepherds were in the quiet fields when they received the angelic announcement. We will not find Jesus if we look for Him amid the noise and glitter of our world. We will find only false gods. False gods are often more to our liking, but they are false nonetheless. It is when we quiet ourselves before God that we will hear His voice. He does not use loud shouts to get our attention. He quietly calls us by name.
No night is holy in and of itself. Something can be made holy, but only God is holy on His own accord. The "fullness of time" had come and God set that night apart - sanctified it, made it holy - for His exclusive use. He was accomplishing His holy purposes. He made that night holy. That's the only way anything or anyone can be holy. Just as He made that night holy, so God calls us to Himself to make us holy - "Be holy for I am holy." He cleanses and sets us apart for His exclusive holy use to accomplish His holy purposes. This night was holy because God used it to come into our world and make us holy through the death and resurrection of His Son.
You see, there is good reason to sing "silent night, holy night." But, our most "reasonable worship" is to "present our bodies as living sacrifices holy and acceptable unto Him," so that we will no longer be shaped by the world and living in darkness, but transformed by God - taken out of our sinful night, brought into the Light and made holy. Beloved, this is far from being traditional trappings. This is what Christmas is all about!
Keep Close To Jesus
Pastor Gerry