A Christmas Gift to the American Home and the Youth of America. N. P. Gravengaard
of peace, and visit only those who have room for Jesus.
And here we behold first of all the shepherds on the field near Bethlehem. In their hearts there was room for Jesus; the sweet music from Heaven above found the way open to these men.
They had been sitting out there watching how old and young flocked to the City of David to register on the tax list. It must have been a sore trial for them to think how God's people had come under a foreign yoke: Wasn't, then, all hope dead? Were not the living conditions of Israel so desperate; the people themselves so harassed that it must needs be impossible for God to fulfill His promises from the ancient days of yore? They bent their heads, sighing heavily.
But the sigh soared upward.
Thus they sat in the stillness of the night, bent under the sufferings of the age, as in former days Israel sat at the rivers of Babylon: Nobody dared play the harp! Nay—who would really be able to let the harp chords burst out in a song of joy—under such conditions? That would have been almost levity.
But the sigh had ascended up high, and the Angel stood before them saying: I can! I can make the harp play a song of joy. I come from the mansions of Heaven with a cheering message: "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the City of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord——"
And then the first of all jubilant Christmas hymns was borne upon the pure lips of angels and carried all over the earth. That was the sweet music from Heaven which shall never die.
It shall sound for all those who sit in misery, or who sigh because of their poverty—for those who think that their life has become so turned upside down that nothing can ever be righted again—for those who sigh: No, under such circumstances we cannot sing the cheery songs. To all these it shall be said: It is not impossible, at all! It doesn't matter so much how your living conditions are, difficult or easy, dark or bright, nor how disrupted your life may be. What does matter, is whether or not you have room for Jesus.
You say: Alas—if He only would, but——
Remember, my dear, that at one time He was satisfied with a manger and with a cross. While on the cross He said to a miserable malefactor: "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." And on another occasion He said to a woman taken in adultery: "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more!"
Fear not!
That was the first tone in the music from Heaven, and it was meant for you, also. Indeed, He will abide with you, too, when you will give Him room in your heart. Also you He will save into His heavenly realm. But, then tell me: Isn't there, even considering your wants and circumstances, every reason why you should sing a Christmas hymn with joy in your heart?
It was not levity that made the angels sing jubilantly that Christmas Eve: They had beheld that which had been prepared for mankind through the love of God our Father. Therefore, they could sing the jubilant songs.
So, try then to look beyond all the despair down here. Try to raise your eyes to the bright Heavens—to that which has been prepared for you through the love of God our Father. If it does happen, nevertheless, that once in a while you bend your head downward, then let the sigh soar upward—for it may thus happen that angels will visit you.
Therefore it shall be proclaimed loudly by the church of Jesus Christ—from the city on the mountain throughout all the lands of the earth—to all those who have room for Jesus: Fear not! It is never so dark in your life that there is no room for the joyful songs of Christmas!
3. Well-Springs of Joy
Well-springs of joy!
It does sound a bit strange that a babe on the knee of a virgin might be the well-spring of joy. Ordinarily, it is a well-spring of worry and tears when a virgin sits with her babe on her knee—worry and tears for herself and for those who are related to her. But here we behold a virgin who herself has sung the joyful hymn of praise because she had been found deserving of such grace.
Well-springs of joy it was to Mary and to the aged Elizabeth from the very beginning—and now the Christmas Angel announces that it is "for all the people."
But, someone may say to us: Yes, we know that the shepherds were happy and that joy reigned in the inn, and we also realize that you speak of Christmas joy, etc., but when you say that this story about the Child in the Manger is a well-spring of joy—then, really, you go a little bit too far, and such exaggerations hurt your own cause. It isn't sensible to make it out quite as strong as that. Behold that highly praised Child Jesus nailed to the cross as a condemned criminal, His mother standing at the foot of the cross—and then tell us: Isn't it true that this Child, like so many, many others, made joy change into sorrow? Wouldn't any mother's heart break when she had to witness her son die the death of a condemned criminal? Even though no sin was found in Him, then you must admit that in this position he was a well of sorrow and weeping rather than of joy.
We answer: We know very well that His mother and His disciples mourned and wept—they could not do otherwise in that hour. But the well-spring of this sorrow and weeping was not in the crucified Christ. Even in this hour He is the well-spring of joy, for then He nailed our debt of sin to the cross. Then He redeemed us from the power of sin and death and the devil. It was for our sake that He allowed Himself to be nailed fast onto the cross. It was thus magnificently revealed here that the Child praised while sitting on the virgin's knee, had proved to be our faithful friend in life and death, when He became a man. Therefore, He is, also, in this the darkest hour of His earthly life, a well-spring of joy, and if we are to weep when we gather about the Christmas Child as the Crucified One in the church of the Lord—then it shall be out of the joy of our hearts.
The Christmas Child is the only one, born of woman, of whom it can be said that He has been a well-spring of joy. And that He has been throughout the life of mankind—from that very moment when in the Garden of Eden He was spoken of as the conqueror of the serpent. But He is also the only one who
"makes all earth feel joyful."
4. To Join in the Song
"The angels join the singing."
Well, it is easy enough for them to sing when we give the tone, for it is never too high for them. It is different when we are to join when they lead the singing. Sometimes it is a little bit hard for us children of dust—but we must learn it.
They sang that Christmas Eve: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!"
The first part of it is easy for you to sing, for "the glory of Christmas is God's above the highest sky." That's quite simple.
But when the angels then sing: "On earth peace, good will toward men!" you stop short; you cannot sing that. The tone is too high for you. When you look at your own life, it seems to be burdened much more with strife and worry and trouble than lightened by peace. And what do the heavenly hosts mean when they sing about good will toward yourself—O, well, it isn't much!
Then if you look beyond the narrow confines of your own life and behold the church of the Lord, where peace should be far more firmly rooted, then—what then? "The eye sees strife and only strife," and the people speak about peace and tremble in the thunder of cannon. They bleed and scream pitifully on the battlefield because of their wounds—and at home under the pressure of military budgets.
No, you cannot join in the singing!
But how, then, could the angels sing as they did that Christmas night? Was not the world filled with war and disturbances in those days, too? Was not the world full of souls in quest of lost peace? Yes, even so! And the angels saw it. But they saw something more.
Amidst all the restlessness of a disturbed world they saw a little Child on His mother's knee. In this child's eyes the sacred peace of Heaven was reflected. So that was at least one human soul in all the millions of mankind where perfect peace reigned on