Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King:
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
with angelic hosts proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King”
During the darkest days of the year, Christmas carols shout cheer and goodwill throughout our world. Carolers storm snow- and ice-covered streets. Off-key tunes turn dogs’ heads. Yet even hardened atheists find their hearts lifted just a little at the most religious of tunes. Songs inject warmth into the wintry air, and goodwill worms its way into every crevice cracked by the cold temperatures.
“Peace on earth and mercy mild” embody the general atmosphere of cheer during the Christmas season that our commercialized bits and bobs project.
God’s Cheer and Goodwill
Think back to cozy Christmas movies like Hallmark rom-coms or The Polar Express. Snow covers everything everywhere, yet blushed faces spread much-needed generosity into the glistening night illuminated by cheap plastic lights. We want warmth during the coldest months of the year, and Christmas offers a full slate of relational heat through God’s benevolence to mankind.
In the person of Jesus, God aims to undo the cosmic, worldwide effects of evil and corruption on the earth. God wants to enact His will for the good of everyone; He wants the universe itself to turn good. On its face, who wouldn’t want everyone everywhere to be nice and kind again? Who wouldn’t want everyone to receive gifts according to their desires? That sounds like a pie-in-the-sky dream, but it’s a dream that appeals to many different kinds of people. God’s redemptive plan for the world, if we ignore the grittiness of personal sin, sounds wonderful to everyone. Health, provision, love, shelter, peace.
Sinners Reconciled
The offensive part of Christmas, though, comes in with the line “God and sinners reconciled.” We are fine with a religious person thronged by angels waving their wand to make all the world right. We are not fine if that cosmic plan involves our no longer harboring selfish desires and thoughts. We recoil at the notion that we are sinners.
Why do the angels cheer? Why is a King’s entrance glorious? How do peace and mercy come? Through the reconciliation of sinners to their Creator God. Only when sinners somehow lay down their sin can their relationship with God be made right. Only when we lay down our impatience in the Christmas parking lot and our hatred toward our relatives can we be reconciled to God. But how are able to do this, when these desires come back again and again?
That is the miracle of Christmas. The glory of Christmas is that God’s goodwill toward mankind is not just in gifts and pretty images. The glory of Christmas is that, through a baby in a feeding trough, God would change people to be able to lay down their cruelty in all the big ways and all the little ways. Through the baby King, Jesus, would God bring up His people from death to life that they might actually be reconciled to Him in thought, word, and deed.
And, understanding that these things still exist in our world after He came the first time, we look forward to the day when He will wipe away all these wicked things from us finally and forever when the King returns in full glory, with mighty angels herald His glorious second coming.
Think through your frustrations during the holiday season. Instead of peace, mercy, and gentleness, in what ways do you embody cruelty, evil, or oppression? How do you act impatiently or irreverently? And how might you look to the gentle King Jesus and turn your heart, by His grace, toward goodwill toward your fellow humans?