“Silent Night, Holy Night”
Christmas Caroling In The Word – Message 2
Rev. Todd G. Leupold, Perth Bible Church, 12/7/2008 AM
INTRODUCTION:
Europe in the early 1800s was a place of great war, turmoil and upheaval. Even after the Napoleonic Wars officially ended in 1815, it’s effects continued to take their toll. The year 1816 was one in which national and municipal borders were divided, changed and reset. Areas, such as the Principality of Salzburg, which had long been ecclesiastical provinces of the Church were put under national authority and secularized. Many industries and trades that certain communities depended upon were decimated by the wars and never recovered – spinning the economies into economic depression.
At this time and in one of these communities, a small-town (Maria Pfarr) assistant pastor and Austrian Catholic Priest, penned the words to a poem that would one day echo through time and space. The words laid dormant, however, for another two years.
Shortly before Christmas in 1818, the organ in Joseph Mohr’s church broke and could not be repaired in time for Christmas. On December 24, Joseph Mohr went to the home of his friend, the musician-schoolteacher Franz Gruber, and asked Franz to write a melody and guitar accompaniment to his earlier poem so that it could be sung at the Midnight Mass. Set to a guitar accompaniment with two solo voices and a chorus, “Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!” was performed for the first time in St. Nicholas Church, Oberdorf, Austria – because of a broken organ.
Since then, the song we know as “Silent Night, Holy Night” is largely considered the most translated and sung song in human history. It has been referred to by some as, “The Song Heard ’Round The World.” On Christmas Eve, 1944, on various fronts of World War II it has been reported that Allied and Axis soldiers alike stopped their fighting and sung together “Silent Night, Holy Night.”
Although it was written and composed by Catholics for a Catholic Eve mass, the song proved to be much more popular in Protestant than Catholic churches because of the meaning of its lyrics. This morning, let us revisit these lyrics through the lens of Scripture.
SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 9:1-7; John 1:1-5
PRAYER
While the original composition contained six verses, most common renditions include only three of these, which is what we have sung and will focus on this morning.
PRELUDE: SILENT NIGHT? HOLY NIGHT?
The Setting: The jam-packed small town of Bethlehem, outside Jerusalem. Caravans of extended families from all over the Near East are stopping and/or staying here together for the Roman-declared and required census. It is a time of great celebration in family reunions and a return to the town of their forefather – King David. It is also a time of great distress and troubling over the continued Roman rule and oppression and what this census may ultimately mean for them all.
Was this really a silent night? A holy night?
What may have made it so?
For whom might it apply? For whom might it not?
A.) THE SILENCE OF THE MASSES
One form of silence that may have been evident this night would have been the troubled silence of the masses.
A silence of fretful reflection upon the Jewish nation that was and is no more, upon life under an oppression that just seems to increase each day, upon the hopelessness from giving up belief in a Savior and Deliverer who for so long has never appeared, and upon already greatly-stressed family finances that promise to get squeezed beyond breaking after this new census.
B.) THE SILENCE OF THE FAITHFUL
Another, very different form of silence this night, would have been that of the faithful who continue to quietly cry out to the LORD for His strength, wisdom and salvation!
C.) THE NOISE OF THE INDIFFERENT
For many others, I imagine there was no silence at all. “Party Like There’s No Tomorrow” may have been their theme.
Those among the masses who concluded that there is no going back in the past, nor counting on anything for tomorrow. There is only today, so let’s make the fleshly best of it!
SCENE 1: HEAVENLY PEACE HAS ARRIVED
Into this very environment (not entirely unlike our own today), Jesus – the Christ Child – was born and with Him heavenly peace arrived in the most unlikely of places and means.
Silent Night, Holy Night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and Child.
Holy Infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace.
Specifically, as emphasized by the hymn, there was:
A.) A VIRGIN’S PEACE
Not just any mother, but a “virgin mother.”
Young virgin Mary had given birth. The one-time-only rendering of her hymen came not as the result of even a loving and committed intercourse with her husband, but in the process of delivering God-in-the-flesh into this needy and desperate world!
Even amidst all the pain and confusion of child birth in a stable, the uncertainties of the future, and the controversies and whispers of disdain about her pregnancy and child, this teenage mother was afforded a peace that surpasses understanding!
She was at peace in her difficult circumstances; at peace that she yet remained a virgin; at peace about the futures of herself, her child, her people and her world! How?
Because she chose – amidst all the unanswered questions and all the outside pressures – to believe and accept the Words of the LORD!!!
Luke 1:28-38
From young Mary, we can all learn that the real source of peace in our hearts is not our external circumstances, but the natural outworking from lives of purity and faithfulness according to the Words of the LORD!
B.) A CHILD’S PEACE
Is there anything in all creation more wonderful than a child at peace?
Psalm 22:9-10
What is the key to a child’s peace? Absolute trust in the One who is above all!
C.) HUMANITY’S PEACE
Those comforting words “Sleep in heavenly peace” are most naturally and immediately applied to the Christ-baby in the manger.
Yet, they could just as well be God’s lullaby to each of us who would but believe!
Do you ever lay awake at night? Fearful and fretting? So many thoughts, so many worries, so much uncertainty and myriad possibilities racing and bumping through your mind?
May Christmas remind us all that, in Christ and because of Christ, we may ALL “sleep in heavenly peace” no matter the times, world, or circumstances in which we live. The world is absolutely in Christ’s Hands, “all power and authority” has been given unto Him, and He has already done all that is necessary to secure our present and future salvation!
The peace of all humanity, my friends, is NOT dependent on the present state of our world. Rather, it IS dependent upon in whom and what our faith truly lies!!!
SCENE 2: THE ANOINTED SAVIOR IS BORN
Silent Night, holy night,
Shepherds quake at the sight.
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing alleluia
Christ the Savior is born! Christ the Savior is born!
Even such a glorious silence as that of the faithful in awe-struck reflection must soon be broken! Why? Because the glorious news must be celebrated and spread!
A.) DARKNESS SURRENDERS TO LIGHT
Every night must soon end – even the darkness of a world cursed by the entropy of sin!
Since the Fall of mankind, the world has known only spiritual darkness.
But the birth of Jesus, the Anointed Savior of the world, produces a new dawn!
He was born in darkness, but the light soon followed Him.
B.) SILENCE FILLS WITH WORSHIP
Amidst such an incredible event and such a change in the history of Creation, silence could remain no longer.
The silent night quickly became a holy night. And a holy night is a worshiping night!
Even in the fields, where nightly quiet takes it’s greatest meaning, worship loudly erupted as the hosts of heaven proclaimed His glory!
The worship of heaven ended when the angels returned, but the worship of humanity unto the LORD was just beginning!
Whereas the angels worshiped in a chorus of song, the shepherd’s worship was through seeking personal experience with the Christ and then spreading the good news of great joy to all who have ears.
SCENE 3: THE DAWN OF GRACE HAS BEGUN
Silent night, holy night,
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth,
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth.
A.) A PURE & HOLY LIGHT
John 1:4-5
B.) THE GRACE OF REDEMPTION
- John 8:12
C.) A SPECIAL BIRTH
There was and is nothing about this birth or this child that is anything but unique and wonderful!
As Dr. Charles B. Hardwick points out (in his sermon “The Promise”, 2nd Presbyterian Church, 12/24/07):
“On that Silent Night, God kept His promise: the God of the universe became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood – moved into a stable, moved into a feeding trough.. . God is still keeping promises like this. Jesus still moves into neighborhoods.”
Friends, as true as those words are, the good news of great joy extends even further!
Jesus not only still moves into neighborhoods, but He moves into hearts. Further, He doesn’t just seek to move there, He seeks to replace it with something infinitely better and dwell there!
Now, I realize, some will naturally fear: “Not my heart! It is far too filthy, messy, smelly, crowded and unfit for the God and Creator of the Universe!” To you, may I reply: “Don’t you mean the same God, Creator and Savior of the Universe who was born in an early first century stable amidst an over-bursting town and then placed in a feeding trough as His first crib?”
There is no place Jesus will not go and bring His Light, so long as He is welcome!
CONCLUDING CHALLENGE:
ARE YOUR NIGHTS SILENT & HOLY?
Have you truly put your hope and faith for all things that matter in Jesus?
If you have, are you celebrating this new reality and running to gladly tell it to all others who will listen?
