God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen

Merry Christmas! After four weeks of preparation, it is now time to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ according to the flesh. The season of Christmas traditionally lasts until the Feast of the Purification, Candlemas, on February 2nd. But in this weary age, we struggle to rejoice for even one day, much less 40. But struggle we must, lest we fail in our duty to rejoice at that which should bring joy, which is the very definition of the vice of sloth.

But with anything we struggle with, we must use all natural tools at our disposal, as well as beseeching the help of divine grace. Luckily for us, there exists a ready tool to do both things at the same time, namely the singing of hymns. Christmas carols lift our spirits, and also lift our hearts and minds to God in prayer. So, then, let us examine another carol, this time God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen.

God rest you merry, gentlemen,

let nothing you dismay,

remember Christ our Savior

was born on Christmas Day

to save us all from Satan’s pow’r

when we were gone astray.

Note that it is “God rest you merry, gentlemen,” as opposed to “God rest you, merry gentlemen.” The gentlemen are not yet merry, and it is only by the grace of God that they can become merry. The source of their merriment is not drunkenness or other base physical pleasure, but the knowledge and firm faith in the birth of their Savior. This merriment is not possible unless the gentlemen are aware of their need for a savior. Belief in the devil, and in that human depravity called original sin, is not optional, if you wish to be merry. We need to be saved from something, and it is the knowledge that we have been/are being/will be saved from that thing that is for us:

O tidings of comfort and joy, 

comfort and joy;

O tidings of comfort and joy.

From God our heav’nly Father

a blessed angel came

and unto certain shepherds

brought tidings of the same;

how that in Bethlehem was born

the Son of God by name.

The knowledge that makes us merry does not come from our own efforts. We cannot know who the Savior is except through faith in the messages of His coming. These messages are not given to the wise in their towers (the wise must come by another way, and there is another Christmas Carol about that), or the rich in their palaces, but to shepherds in their fields, closely in touch with reality at the most basic and physical level. These messages do not simply share the information that we are saved, but direct us to the Savior, the Son of God by name. It is only through the name of Jesus that we can be saved, and this is for us:

O tidings of comfort and joy, 

comfort and joy;

O tidings of comfort and joy.

“Fear not,” then said the angel,

“Let nothing you affright;

this day is born a Savior

of a pure virgin bright,

to free all those who trust in Him

from Satan’s pow’r and might.”

Angels always say “fear not,” usually because they need to get us to stop screaming long enough to get their message across. But here the angel gives the reason why all the other angels could say “fear not.” It is not only because the angel was not threatening to destroy you imminently, but that the angel is a messenger from a God who does not desire our destruction at all, but our good, and now He has finally executed His plan to save us from the destruction which we all know we have merited by our sins once and for all. For this reason, not only should we not be afraid of the angel, but we should be afraid of nothing, for the Savior has come, and this is for us:

O tidings of comfort and joy, 

comfort and joy;

O tidings of comfort and joy.

The shepherds at those tidings

rejoiced much in mind,

and left their flocks afeeding,

in tempest, storm, and wind,

and went to Bethlehem straightway,

this blessed Babe to find.

These tidings should give us joy. Before them, all else is vain and purposeless. With the promise of salvation, we should abandon all else to pursue it. This is the pearl of great price. This is the treasure hidden in a field, which we cannot help but rejoice in. But it is not easy to pursue, and the angel will not always be with us to show us the way, or to keep the joy in mind. We must, therefore, go straightaway and accept the storms that may come as we go to pay our homage to the newborn King.

This applies not only to the Lord’s coming in time, but to His coming into our soul. Do we stop and adore Him when He comes? Do we perceive the motions in our soul that indicate His coming and drop everything to adore Him, if only for a moment? Do we truly perceive His coming for us as:

O tidings of comfort and joy, 

comfort and joy;

O tidings of comfort and joy.

Now to the Lord sing praises

all you within this place,

and with true love and brotherhood

each other now embrace;

this holy tide of Christmas

all other doth deface.

The shepherds are for us a witness of what we should do. Just as they returned praise for the tidings of the angel, so too must we return praise. This is the source of our merriment, and it must overflow into love of our neighbor, for the message of salvation is not for one or two only, but for all. Death came through one man to all, and now salvation has come through one man to all. And this is for us:

O tidings of comfort and joy, 

comfort and joy;

O tidings of comfort and joy.

So rejoice this Christmastide, and be glad. For God has come to save us.