Above all, Christmas is a season of music.
Even our supermarkets sing the much-loved carols as they take in our cash. For even as commercialism and contrived merriment threaten to overwhelm this season of Jesus’ birth, our traditional carols represent one powerful redoubt against the onslaught.
Phillips Brooks, the lanky Bishop of Massachusetts who gave us “O little town of Bethlehem”, once commented: “The earth has grown old with its burden of care, but at Christmas it always is young, the heart of the jewel burns lustrous and fair, and its soul full of music breaks the air, when the song of angels is sung.”
In fact, even from the earliest times music has been at the very heart of the Christmas story, as the angels sang:
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.”
(Luke 2:14)
Here we have Luke in his prologue telling the story of the heavenly host singing God’s praises to the terrified shepherds. It’s a time of celebration, of “good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” (Luke 2:10). And what happens when you hear good news? You sing!
There’s something about music, about song, which touches those parts of our personality which words alone cannot reach. Luke, in writing his gospel, understood this and that is why, uniquely for the New Testament (with the possible exception of Philippians 2:6-11) he includes no less than four songs in his opening two chapters:
Mary’s song of joy, aka the Magnificat
Zechariah’s prophetic song, the Benedictus
Song of the angels, the Gloria
Simeon’s song of release, the Nunc Dimittis
Our Hebraist daughter has just confirmed by WhatsApp that there is no Hebrew word for poetry. To quote her directly: “Modern Hebrew uses the word for song. So like in the book Song of songs.” Which is interesting because what we now read as poems in Luke’s account are, in fact, songs which have lost their music.
These songs come to us in Greek but Hebrew in ethos, drawing in images and words from the Hebrew scriptures. It is as if Mary typed in her ChatGPT: “Give me a song celebrating the birth of a wonderful child, a gift from God, using only phrases from the Old Testament.”
For Mary’s song of joy draws inspiration from the song of Hannah, as she celebrates the remarkable gift of a son, Samuel:
My heart rejoices in the Lord;
in the Lord my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.
(I Samuel 2:1)
In fact, some of the very earliest songs in the Old Testament are sung by women, giving us a rare insight into the heart of female characters.
So Miriam, the sister of Moses leads the women as they celebrate their deliverance through the Red Sea:
“Sing to the Lord,
for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver
he has hurled into the sea.”
(Exodus 15:20)
Then there’s Deborah rejoicing in God’s deliverance against the Canaanite army:
“Hear this, you kings! Listen, you rulers!
I, even I, will sing to the Lord;
I will praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song.
(Judges 5:3)
These songs, along with those in Luke’s gospel, speak of a release of emotion. So Mary responds to her kinswoman’s affirmation as she arrives at Elizabeth’s house following an urgent trek from Galilee. So Zechariah finds that his speech has been restored as his son John is circumcised. So the elderly Simeon after years of waiting experiences God’s faithfulness as he takes the baby Jesus into his arms.
There are times in our lives when only music will do.
Above all, these songs celebrate God’s faithfulness:
“He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”
(Luke 1:54)
So Zechariah celebrates God’s gift
to show mercy to our ancestors
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to rescue us from the hand of our enemies.
(Luke 1:72f)
And Simeon:
Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
(Luke 2:29).
Our whole status in Christ, even our very existence, relies on God keeping his promises, his enduring faithfulness. One of my Victorian heroes, Hudson Taylor, observed: “All God's giants have been weak men and women who have gotten hold of God's faithfulness.”
And as we prepare to celebrate the gift of Jesus, God giving of his very self, may we join with the angels and archangels and George Frideric Handel:
The kingdom of the world has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
and he will reign for ever and ever.”
(Revelation 11:15)
Merry Christmas!
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