So I thought I would share a little reflection on the Christmas season now that it has passed. Every year I get struck by Christmas hymns. I love them. I love the theology behind them, I love the joy that they bring. And every year it seems that a different hymn really sticks out in my mind. This year, that hymn was "O Come O Come Emmanuel," especially the first verse. The first verse goes like this:
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to they, O Israel.
This chorus is just packed with things that just exploded all over the inside of my brain this year. You can feel the anguish of the first three lines and the joy of the last three. The author is pleading for Emmanuel, which means God with us, to come. But just appearing is not enough. There is a keen awareness of the captive state of the souls of men and this is what I spent a lot of time contemplating of late.
How do you convey the idea of captivity to a people who has never known anything except freedom. Freedom to do whatever they please. Want to drive from coast to coast, no problem. Want to start a business, go for it. Want to buy something, if you have the money, no one is stopping you. And that freedom has blinded us to the fact that we are not basically good people. We are not morally upright. We are rebels. We are captives, and more often than not willing captives, to sin and evil.
This is why the saints of old groaned for the coming of the Messiah. This is why Simeon waited in the temple to see the consolation of Israel, the Lord's salvation. This is why David, Isaiah, and the prophets yearned for more because they knew the Lord was sending his Holy Servant to make atonement, to set things right. This is the implication of Christmas. That God became flesh because we could not free ourselves.
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