A STRAIGHT LINE FROM CHRISTMAS TO EASTER

I write this devotional just a week shy of Christmas, so my mind is awash in thoughts of the birth of Jesus. And yet this is a Lenten devotional. As I listened to the carol “Hark The Herald Angels Sing” and pondered the words of the songwriter Charles Wesley, I was struck the opening few lines:

That’s very Easter-like. How so? Well, consider the setting: We “herald angels” – the dictionary gives one definition of herald as “ that gives a sign or indication of something to come; a harbinger” we are told by the songwriter to “Listen attentively” (that’s what “Hark” means). The songwriter is saying in his lyrics, “Listen very carefully to what the angels are singing.” What do the angels sing? They of the birth of birth of Jesus, to be sure. But they sing also of a reconciliation between God and a world of sinners.

But wait. Is that true? Were the sinners of this world reconciled with God upon the birth of Jesus? The answer is no; reconciliation between God and sinful man occurred on the cross, some 33 years down the road. Were the angels in this song wrong in using the past tense form of the verb?

Maybe not. The crucifixion of Jesus was part of God’s eternal subject to the perfect will of God, and therefore it was to happen. this song, the angels’ confidence in the ultimate completion of God’s will was well founded. After all, God Himself used the past tense form in reference to the future back in Genesis. The scene is Abram when he was 99 years old. God has appeared to him and is confirming his covenant with Abram. This is well before the birth of Isaac:

Long before Isaac was born, long before Jacob and Joseph, before Moses and David, God speaks of the newly renamed Abraham in the past tense as the father of many nations. “I have made you a father of many nations.” It was the will of the Almighty God that it be so; therefore, so it shall be.

So it is with the angels in the carol: They are singing not only of the birth of Jesus, but also of what Jesus would do for us nailed to a cross on a hill called Golgotha. For me, there’s great comfort in pondering the idea of God setting out from before time began to afford me a path to Him through Jesus Christ. John 3:16 takes on the breathtaking sweep of eternity.

The Lord has blessed me with a keen and inquisitive mind, tempered with a streak of stubbornness and pride. When God called me to inquire after Jesus – mind you, I was 40 at the time – I crossed my arms and set my jaw in opposition. Ultimately what broke me was having to face what Jesus claimed of Himself and confront the truth of his death and resurrection. Those are stark realities without middle ground. Yes, God blessed me with an able mind, but not able enough to escape what He had willed for me: that I would ultimately unfold my arms, unset my jaw, look up at the cross and call Him Savior, Lord and King.

This is the week of stark emotion -- from joy to despair to grief and finally to glory. Glory to the newborn King. Glory to the resurrected King. Glory to the eternal King.

— Don Bagwell

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist