Tawa Baptist

Silent Night

Scriptures: Luke 2:1-20

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • History
  • Meaning
  • Conclusion

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.

Silent night, holy night, Shepherds quake at the sight. Glories stream from heaven afar, Heavenly hosts sing “Alleluia. Christ the Saviour is born; Christ the Saviour is born.”

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.

Introduction:

On Christmas morning 1914 British, Belgian, French and German soldiers put down their rifles, stepped out of their trenches and mingled in no-man’s land on the Western Front

  • About two thirds of the fighting forces, around 100,000 men, participated in the spontaneous ceasefire.
  • One Allied soldier had his hair cut by a German barber, other soldiers exchanged cigarettes and a few kicked a football around 
  • The truce started on Christmas Eve. Graham Williams of the Fifth London Rifle Brigade described the scene:

“First the Germans would sing one of their carols and then we would sing one of ours, until when we started up ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ the Germans immediately joined in singing the same hymn to the Latin words Adeste Fideles. And I thought, well, this is really a most extraordinary thing ­– two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war.” [1]

The truce didn’t last of course but it was a moment of peace and light when differences were put aside, the sounds of battle were silenced and humanity was shared

Today we continue our ‘Anthems’ series

  • In this series we are looking at the music & lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our thinking about God and how it connects with Scripture and the heritage of our faith. The song we are looking at this morning is Silent Night
  • Silent Night was probably one of the songs sung on Christmas Eve 1914.
  • Originally written in German, Silent Night has been translated into many other languages and has become part of our shared humanity

The history:

Like so many of the songs we sing in church Silent Night is the result of a collaboration between two people – the words were written by Father Joseph Mohr and the music composed by a school teacher, Franz Gruber

  • Both men’s back stories are fascinating, let’s start with the lyricist

Joseph Mohr was born in Salzburg, Austria, on the 11 December 1792, over 200 years ago

  • His mother, Anna, was an embroiderer and his father Franz was a mercenary soldier, who abandoned Anna before Joseph was born.
  • Joseph’s parents were not married, so Joseph was born out of wedlock at a time when that wasn’t socially accepted like it is today  

Joseph was baptised in the Catholic church as an infant.

  • His god father was recorded as Joseph Wohlmuth, the last official executioner of Salzburg  
  • So Joseph got his first name from the town executioner and his last name from a mercenary soldier who abandoned him and his mother

It wasn’t an ideal start to life.

  • I imagine Joseph suffered many snide remarks as a child growing up and was probably forced to wear shame through no fault of his own
  • One can’t help but notice the connection with Jesus’ experience in life
  • Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit but to most people it appeared that Jesus was born in dubious circumstances, as Mary became pregnant before she was married
  • I imagine Jesus suffered many snide remarks as a child growing up
  • We know Jesus wore shame through no fault of his own    

The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone [2]

  • That verse is talking about Jesus – it points to the way God operates
  • The Lord delights in taking the people we least expect and giving them a special place in His plan and purpose
  • It seems He did this with Joseph Mohr
  • Johann Hiernle, vicar and leader of music at Salzburg Cathedral, enabled Joseph to have an education and encouraged him in music.
  • As a boy, Joseph served as a singer and violinist in the choirs of the University Church and at the Benedictine monastery church of St. Peter.
  • Joseph entered the Catholic seminary in 1811 at the age of 18.
  • He needed a special dispensation to attend the seminary because of his illegitimate birth.
  • Four years later Mohr graduated and was ordained as a Catholic priest.
  • Joseph Mohr chose a completely different path in life to that of his father and god-father

Between 1815 and 1817 Joseph served as assistant priest in a town called Mariapfarr. During this time, in 1816 at the age of 23 or 24, Joseph wrote a poem in German called Silent Night – it was six verses long

  • He wrote it, I suppose, as a private act of worship and adoration to God for the gift of His Son Jesus
  • He had no idea how God would use that private act of devotion      

Not long after Joseph returned to Salzburg, for health reasons, where he became an assistant priest at St Nicholas in Oberndorf.

  • It was there that he met Franz Gruber

Franz Gruber was five years older than Joseph Mohr. Franz was a busy man.

  • In 1807 he became a schoolteacher in Arnsdorf, while at the same time carrying out the duties of church caretaker and organist.
  • A year later he married a widow called Maria. They had two children, both of whom died young.  
  • It is difficult to imagine anything worse than losing a child
  • God knows what it is to lose a child though

In 1816 Franz took on the additional responsibilities of organist and choirmaster at St Nicholas Church in the neighboring village of Oberndorf – a year before Joseph Mohr arrived.

Before my time here the Church Secretary of Tawa Baptist had to keep a sermon in their back pocket in case the pastor became sick and couldn’t preach

  • We don’t really have a church secretary anymore so I’m not allowed to get sick – which suits me fine
  • Sometimes though things don’t go to plan and its handy to have a back-up just in cases

In winter of 1818 the river flooded and damaged the St Nicholas church organ in Oberndorf so it wouldn’t play. This was not ideal

  • Joseph Mohr, the assistant priest, needed a song for Christmas Eve – one that didn’t require an organ, one he could play on his guitar
  • He had the words for a song in his back pocket – the poem he had written two years earlier – all he needed was a tune to go with it
  • So Joseph walked three kilometers, in the snow, to his friend Franz Gruber to see if he could help.
  • Joseph asked Franz to set his poem to music
  • The story goes that Gruber composed the music for Silent Night in just a few hours. God’s hand seems to have been involved

The music for Silent Night sounds like a lullaby – something a parent might sing to put their child to sleep

  • I wonder how Franz Gruber felt writing that music after having buried two if his children

Silent Night was first performed at midnight mass on Christmas Eve 1818, with the priest Joseph Mohr, playing guitar, while Franz Gruber and a choir gave vocal support. People loved it. It caught on and spread around the world.

You may be wondering what happened to Joseph and Franz after that – after all they were both still relatively young.

  • Joseph Mohr was only 26 at the time and Franz Gruber just 31
  • Well, Joseph served as a priest in various places for the rest of his life
  • He was a generous man and gave away most of his income
  • He created a fund to allow children from poor families to attend school and he set up a system for the care of the elderly.
  • Joseph Mohr died at the age of 55 from respiratory problems

Franz Gruber’s first wife, Maria, died in 1825

  • He married another woman, also called Maria, and they had 10 children
  • Sadly, only four survived to adulthood
  • Franz’ second wife died in childbirth. They were tough times       
  • Franz Gruber lived with his losses until his 76th year when he passed too

The meaning:

Please turn with me to Luke 2, page 76 toward the back of your pew Bibles

  • Silent Night remembers the night of Jesus’ birth
  • Mary & Joseph were from Nazareth but had to travel to Bethlehem, their home town, for a Roman census. From Luke chapter 2, verse 4, we read:

4 Joseph went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to the town of Bethlehem in Judea, the birthplace of King David. Joseph went there because he was a descendant of David. 5 He went to register with Mary, who was promised in marriage to him. She was pregnant, 6 and while they were in Bethlehem, the time came for her to have her baby. 7 She gave birth to her first son, wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger—there was no room for them to stay in the inn. 

The scene we often see on Christmas cards is of Mary, Jesus & Joseph in a stable full of animals

  • But this is a bit misleading. Most probably Jesus was born in the home of a peasant.
  • In Jesus’ day the standard home usually had two rooms – one room for the family and a second room attached for guests
  • The main family room was designed on two levels, with the upper level being where people slept and the lower level being where the animals were kept. [3]
  • The animals were taken out during the day and brought in to the lower level at night.
  • Having the animals in the house at night provided heat for the family and safety for the animals.

The honour/shame hospitality culture of the Middle East would have required the village to take Mary and Joseph in, especially as Mary was pregnant.

  • The men would have been ushered outside while Mary gave birth in the main family area with the help of other women from Bethlehem

In verse 7 of Luke 2 we read there was no room for them to stay in the inn

  • An inn in this situation is not a commercial establishment like a hotel or motel – it simply refers to the guest quarters attached to the private house in which Mary & Joseph were staying
  • Mary, Jesus and Joseph would ordinarily have been given the guest quarters but, because this was already occupied by others, the holy family stayed with their host family in the main room, with the animals kept separate downstairs
  • The manger (or feeding trough) in which Jesus was laid would have been refreshed with clean straw and brought up to the main family area away from the animals – you don’t leave a baby beside an ox

So, Jesus wasn’t born in a stable, like Hallmark would have us believe.

  • He was born in a regular peasant home with people on the upper level and animals on the lower level
  • While this was nothing flash, by our standards, it was the best the hosts could offer and quite acceptable for the time

In some ways the title of the song Silent Night seems almost ironic when compared with the Biblical account of Jesus’ birth

  • I expect it was noisy rather than quiet – a full house with people talking, animals bleating and the town teeming with people there for the census
  • What’s more giving birth isn’t usually a silent event – normally there is a fair bit of sound and commotion, sometimes screaming even
  • So why the repeated line of Silent night?

Well, I’m pretty sure Joseph Mohr wasn’t meaning to be ironic.

  • The night of Christ’s birth was a holy night and Christ is holy
  • To be holy is to be set apart as sacred or special
  • Holiness is an attribute of God
  • Keeping silent vigil is a form of worship, a sign of respect, a way of showing honour to that which is sacred
  • Spending the night in quiet contemplation of Christ’s birth is appropriate to the Christmas season
  • The kind of silence we are aiming for is inner silence – be still my soul

Of course, two years later (in 1818) when the organ wasn’t working, the words silent night took on a whole different meaning. The church organ was silent.

Verse 1 of the song reminds us that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus

  • The Scriptures tells us Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit and that her fiancé, Joseph, didn’t have sexual relations with her until sometime after Jesus was born.

The fourth line of verse 1, Holy Infant so tender and mild, reminds us of the vulnerability of God

  • Jesus didn’t come in a show of power or force – he came as a baby, tender & mild  
  • The vulnerability of a child usually brings out the best in people

Heavenly peace is different to earthly peace

  • Earthly peace is often fragile and easily disturbed but heavenly peace is more lasting, eternally resilient
  • Heavenly peace speaks of peace in our relationship with God and others
  • With Jesus’ birth the peace of heaven comes to earth

Please return with me to Luke chapter 2 – page 76

  • Verse 2 of the song is straight out of Luke 2 – it describes a choir of angels appearing to shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem
  • From Luke 2, verses 8-14 we read…

8 There were some shepherds in that part of the country who were spending the night in the fields, taking care of their flocks. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone over them. They were terribly afraid, 10 but the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid! I am here with good news for you, which will bring great joy to all the people. 11 This very day in David’s town your Saviour was born—Christ the Lord! 12 And this is what will prove it to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly a great army of heaven’s angels appeared with the angel, singing praises to God: 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom he is pleased!”  

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us

Shepherds, at the time of Jesus, were looked down on by most people

  • They were somewhere near the bottom of the social ladder, usually poor and uneducated
  • Given their lowly status it is significant that God chose to announce the birth of His Son to shepherds and invite them to go and visit
  • The shepherds were in no doubt of their humble status and needed some convincing they would be welcome if they did try to visit the Messiah
  • So the angels told the shepherds they would find the baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger
  • This gave the shepherds confidence they wouldn’t be turned away [4]
  • The Messiah was humble just like them
  • They too wrapped their babies in strips of cloth and they too lived in ordinary peasant homes with animals and mangers in the same room as the human occupants.
  • The point is: with Jesus’ birth, God shared in our humanity

Verse 3 of the song reads: 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!

This stanza continues the theme of light

  • Jesus is the light of the world
  • Light is silent – it makes no sound
  • Metaphorically speaking, Jesus enters the world as silently as light
  • As the light of the world Jesus shows humankind what God’s love is like

Radiant beams from Thy Holy Face (that is, from Jesus’ face) reminds us of Aaron’s priestly blessing to the people of Israel in Numbers 6…

  • The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.
  • ‘Countenance’ is word which here means ‘facial expression’
  • To have ‘the Lord shine His face upon you’ and ‘lift up His countenance on you’, is to have God turn toward you and smile on you, show you favour, kindness and peace
  • Jesus shows us God’s face – He shows us God’s presence and attitude
  • God’s face is not a face like thunder. It is not a hard or angry face 
  • God’s attitude toward humanity is revealed in the face of Jesus – a face of kindness, gentleness and compassion

Last week we heard how Jesus is the dayspring – with Jesus comes the dawn of redeeming grace

  • Redeeming grace has to do with setting us free from sin – whether that’s our own sin or the sin others have committed against us
  • Redeeming grace also has to do with the way God brings good out of a bad situation – as He did in Oberndorf in 1818
  • The church was flooded, the organ was caput and the Christmas Eve service looked like it might flop
  • But God, in His grace, redeemed the situation through a young priest and a grieving dad
  • Without that flood and broken organ we might not have Silent Night and humanity would be poorer for it

Jesus, Lord at Thy birth speaks of the inherent authority of Jesus

  • Jesus was born with a God given status – he didn’t have to prove himself
  • To call Jesus ‘Lord’ is to say that we will obey what he says

So they are the first three verses of Silent Night – they are the verses we are most familiar with. But Joseph Mohr wrote another three verses that we don’t sing very often. Verse 4 reads…

  • Silent Night, Holy Night. Here at last. Healing light from the heavenly kingdom sent, abundant grace for our intent. Jesus, salvation for all…

Some stains, like tomato sauce, only come out in sunshine

  • You can put your white T-shirt through the wash and it will fade the red sauce stain but to remove the stain completely you have to expose it to sunlight
  • Jesus is the healing, purifying light that gets the stain out of our soul

Abundant grace for our intent invites multiple interpretations

  • Grace means favour or gift – something good, given for free
  • God’s grace is abundant – there is plenty of it – or as the Lord said to the apostle Paul, ‘My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness.’     
  • ‘Our intent’ could mean our good intentions, which sometimes make things worse, or it could mean our evil intentions
  • Either way, ‘God is able to work all things for good for those who love him and are called according to His purpose.’ 

The refrain: Jesus, salvation for all, is poignant given Joseph Mohr’s history

  • There were some in Joseph’s day who might have excluded him because his parents weren’t married (he needed special dispensation to become a priest)
  • But the church did not exclude Joseph – they included him and encouraged his gifts and service 
  • There is no such thing as an illegitimate child as far as God is concerned
  • Jesus said, ‘Let the children come to me for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these’.  
  • In any case, God is not going to hold a child responsible for the choices their parents make  
  • Jesus offers God’s salvation to all, but not everyone accepts it

Verse 5 reads: Silent Night! Holy Night. Sleeps the world in peace tonight. God sends his Son to earth below, a Child from whom all blessings flow. Jesus, embraces mankind…

In Genesis 12, God called Abraham and promised to bless all nations through him

  • Jesus is the Child from whom all blessings flow, meaning he is the descendant of Abraham who fulfils God’s promise to bless all people

Jesus embraces mankind. These days we would say ‘humankind’

  • Either way it’s a lovely image. An embrace says you are not alone, you are accepted. Through Jesus, God gives humanity a hug

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to perform a dedication ceremony for Natalie and her parents

  • When I took Natalie in my arms to give her a blessing she embraced me
  • It was unexpected and it touched my heart
  • Through Jesus, God embraces humankind like Natalie embraced me – in a way that is unexpected and touches our heart

Conclusion:

Our song ends on a note of hope: Silent Night, Holy Night. Mindful of mankind’s plight. The Lord in Heaven on high decreed from earthly woes we would be freed. Jesus, God’s promise for peace. Jesus, God’s promise for peace.

This verse talks about how life is difficult – we are subject to suffering and woe and grief now but, through faith in Jesus, we can look forward to a better future

  • In Revelation 21, verses 3 & 4 we read about that future…

“Now the dwelling of God is with humankind, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”   

The circumstances in which the song Silent Night came into being were less than ideal, in many ways, but that is fitting for the Christmas story really

  • The circumstances into which Jesus was born were less than ideal too
  • And yet that seems to be when God does His best work.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. Listen to (or sing) the song, ‘Silent Night’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does it evoke for you?) 
  2. How does Joseph Mohr’s story connect with Jesus’ story? Does Joseph’s story connect with your story in any way?
  3. How does Franz Gruber’s story connect with Jesus’ story? Does Franz’ story connect with your story in any way?
  4. In what ways does the tradition surrounding the story of Jesus’ birth differ from the probable historical reality?   
  5. Why do you think Joseph Mohr used the line ‘silent night’ to refer to the night of Jesus’ birth?  What does it mean to be silent?
  6. Why do you think God chose to announce Jesus’ birth to shepherds?
  7. Can you think of a time in your own life when you have experienced God’s redeeming grace? What happened?
  8. Which verse (or line) of the song do you identify with most?  Why?

[1] https://time.com/3643889/christmas-truce-1914/

[2] 1 Peter 2:7b

[3] Refer Kenneth Bailey, ‘Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes’, pages 28-36.

[4] Ibid.