Gentle Mary Laid Her Child
Scripture: Luke 2:1-38; John 1:12
Key Thought: Knowing Mary’s Child changes our lives.
Intro
The Christmas carols have been our theme
The messages in our Advent/Christmas series have focused on the Christmas
carols. There is so much of the gospel message that is condensed in them.
They capture not only the truths about Jesus birth, but the spirit of his coming
as well. Tonight I want us to focus on another Carol, one that is not quite as
familiar as some, but one that is very upbeat both in its tempo and its message.
The Carol is called, “Gentle Mary laid her Child.”
Story of the carol
The words of the first, second and last verses were written by Joseph Simpson
Cook. He was born December 4, 1859, Durham County, England and died May
27, 1933. He was educated at Wesleyan College and McGill University in
Montreal Canada. Though he began his career as a Methodist minister, he later
transferred to the United Church of Canada. I always loved the carol and
thought it needed more than 3 verses especially since the last is so similar to
the first. So I wrote verses 3, 4 you are singing today while serving in my first
church.
3. God-conceived and virgin-born in the royal bloodline;
Of salvation's day the morn, this the promised Son sign.
Mighty God but humbled low finding Himself human;
Depth of heaven's love to show, blameless, spotless, our Lamb.
4. He'd be in maturity model for mankind's race;
Speaking with authority all truth and divine grace.
Suffering, dying in our stead, sin's curse freely taking;
Rising firstborn from the dead, living hope creating.
The music, which is also associated with the song “Good King Wenceslas, dates
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back to 1582 and is from the Piae Cantiones. The Piae Cantiones is a collection
of medieval Latin songs which originate from Finland. The first English edition
was published in 1910 by G.R. Woodward.
He came as a stranger
Many ironies in the Christmas story
The Christmas Carol, Gentle Mary Laid her Child, notices the strong irony and
contrast that is present in the Christmas story.
Mary is gentle. But she appears all the more so because King Herod is so
ruthless and violent.
The baby that is born is heralded by the Angels as the coming Messiah, the
long-awaited ruler of Israel. He is sought for by kings from the East who ask for
the one who is born “King of the Jews”. Yet the irony is that he is laid in the
manger in a stable behind an inn, a place where cattle and goats are fed their
hay and grain.
He was, as the Carol notes, the one who was “undefiled.” Yet he was born as
one of our race, we, whom the psalmist described as “sinful from our birth” (Ps.
51:5).
The ultimate ironic twist
Certainly, as you can see, irony and contrast abound in the Christmas story.
That is part of the wonder of it. But perhaps the greatest contrast of all, the
greatest irony of all, is this. We are told in the Gospel of John that this one who
was born in the manger, who John calls “the Word of God,” was present at
creation. In fact, without him, John says, “Nothing was made that has been
made” (John 1:3). So you would think, that when this one who had spoken
into existence all that is humbled himself to enter the world that he had
created, at the least he would be recognized and honored as the one
responsible for it all. But alas, it was not so. His humility, his disguise, his selfemptying, his human form was so unlike expectations, so perplexing that he
entered the world that he had made as a stranger. That is the ultimate irony.
And so John in his gospel says, “He came to that which was his own but his own
did not receive him” (John 1:11). He was as the Carol says, “to this world a
stranger.”
It is even more ironic that he remains a stranger to many today
Polls taken by the Gallup organization from 2004-2006 indicate that on
average, 37% of Connecticut residents report themselves as regularly attending
church services. This is below the national average of 42% despite the fact that
Connecticut is a state with 46% Catholics. These figures are already 10 years
old, and I suspect that they have sunk lower in the 10 years since then.
So we can safely conclude that about 3/5 of the population of Connecticut are
choosing to remain ignorant about Jesus. Probably, for many of them, it is not
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so much a deliberate choosing against Jesus, as it is rather succumbing to the
problem that Jesus warned us about. He warned us that the busyness and
distractions of life would easily choke out the fragile plant of spiritual truth and
life in our hearts.
The key question is the same today
So the Carol, “Gentle Mary Laid her Child" with its haunting question remains as
relevant today as it ever was. This one, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas,
this little babe who was laid in a manger, "Can he be the Savior?" It is a question
that you must answer and I must answer too. And we are both here tonight to
confirm once again our answers to that question. To answer, “No,” is to
participate in the Christmas celebration as only an annual cultural phenomenon.
To answer, “Yes,” is to come once again to this season with awe, with wonder,
and most of all, with worship. These later three characteristics are celebrated
in the second verse of the Carol.
He was so much more than He appeared to be
Things you can think of where you find more than meets the eye
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Iceberg – most if it is below the surface
Fungi in the forest – Fungi have fibrous extensions called hyphae which
fill in empty spaces in decomposing material and break it down,
absorbing vital nutrients.
Buried boulders in your driveway – When you try to move it you discover
most of it is still buried.
A boss who is working undercover in their company.
His lineage was more than it seemed
So it was with Jesus – He was so much more than he appeared to be.
Mary and Joseph were ordinary people – Joseph was a carpenter. Mary was
probably very young, many think she may have been still in her teens. But
when the later chroniclers reveal the lineages of Joseph and Mary, both are
found to be descendants of King David and Joseph is a direct descendant in the
kingly succession. This little baby has the birth credentials to be the “Branch of
David” of whom the prophets spoke. He was more than he seemed to be.
His hometown was more than it seemed
When Jesus began his ministry later in his life, he was known as hailing from
Nazareth. When did the record of his actual birthplace become known? To
the last week of his life, it was not yet generally known (John 7:41; Matt. 21:11).
People thought he was from Nazareth where he was brought up. But Luke’s
Gospel reveals that Jesus was indeed born in Bethlehem, the town of prophecy.
And he notes at the end of his birth narrative that Mary had kept these things
and pondered them in her heart. Was his place of birth one of those things she
had kept in her heart and pondered for many years until Luke or someone else
asked about it?
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His personhood was more than it seemed
To casual observers, this was just another baby. But the phrases of the
Christmas Carol tell another story. Verse two tells us that, “glory shown around
him.” The third verse reflects what the Scripture tells us. This babe in a manger
was the only person in history to have been born of a virgin, having been
conceived by the Holy Spirit. He was in a very unique way both God and
human. He was uniquely made to bridge the gap, to be a reconciler between a
holy God and a wandering race. We are told that he was “made like us in every
way” yet “without sin” (Heb. 2:17, 4:15). He was so much more than he
seemed.
His mission was more special than anyone before or after him
The third verse of the carol speaks of him as the morning of the day of
salvation. John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, prophesied about Jesus, saying,
“The rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in
the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” Luke 1:78-79
The aged Simeon, who saw the baby Jesus when he was brought to the Temple
of as at a few days old prophesied over him also.
“My eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” Luke 2:30-32
The gifts of the wise men have always been considered prophetic as well. Gold
is the only one of the three gifts that one would expect. Incense was used in
worship, a gift more appropriate for a priest. But Jesus would become our high
priest.
Myrrh was a spice used for perfume in bodies of the dead. Why was it
brought? Perhaps, it is a foreshadowing of the fact that Jesus would sacrifice
his life for us, and his body would be anointed with spices before burial. As verse
four of the Carol says he took sin’s curse upon himself, dying in our place.
He is still so much more than he appears to be
In our world today, it is popular to assume that one religion is as good as
another. Jesus, as the founder and guiding light of the Christian faith is looked
upon in many circles as just one of a group of religious leaders who have
become the leading symbols of the various faiths which looks back to them. In
this way, Jesus is made equal with men like Moses, Buddha, Mohammed, and
probably others as well. For example there is a group which started in Jamaica,
called Rastafarians, for whom the former Emperor of Ethiopia, Haley Selassie, is
worshipped as we worship Jesus. The religious pluralism of today is based
upon this pluralistic kind of thinking. So Jesus appears to many today to be
just one in the crowd of religious founders. He does not stand out for them.
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But the message of this carol is the message of the Bible. Jesus was and is
different. He is in a whole other class than all other fathers and founders of the
religions of today.
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Who else can say that the place of their birth was predicted 700 years
before?
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Who else can claim angel messengers to announce their coming into this
world?
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Who else could perform the kind of healing miracles and other signs that
Jesus did in his lifetime as recorded by the witnesses?
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Who else did not seek their own interest but was killed for us?
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Who else had the circumstances of their death and burial predicted 700
years before?
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Who else rose from the dead?
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Who else ascended into heaven as the disciples watched?
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Who else predicted the coming of a Holy Spirit after his ascension and
then sent Him in a mighty Pentecost outpouring that started the Christian
church?
He still is so much more than He appears to be!
If we follow His whole story, we will worship Him too.
The last verse answers our questions—Who is this Jesus?
Actually, that is the key question of the gospel records. Who is Jesus? But once
we begin to understand more about who he is. Once we begin to grasp a little
bit of what the Scripture teaches us, then were ready to respond. And the last
verse of the Christmas Carol gives us our response.
Gentle Mary laid her child lowly in a manger;
He is still the undefiled, but no more a stranger.
Son of God, of humble birth, beautiful the story;
Praise His name in all the earth; hail the King of glory!
So I ask you tonight, how are you answering the question, “Who is Jesus?”
Is he still a stranger to you? Have you been treating him like one of the crowd of
religious leaders? Perhaps you have not seen any reason why he should stand
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out from among the others. But I hope tonight your perspective has begun to
change.
I close with a story. (“Bethany’s Christmas Carol” by Mabel McKee – Christmas
in My Heart – a Fourth Treasury p. 41)
In the story, Carol’s living gift to Mrs. Cartwright was so much more than she
seemed to be.
On a much greater scale, God’s gift to us at Christmas continues to be
demonstrated to be so much more than he seemed to be. If we will receive
him, he will transform our lives too.
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