The First Christmas Musical

Another Look at Luke 2:14

I hope this image doesn't resonate with you at all. I mean, you may like it, but I hope that it doesn't strike a chord in your understanding of what happened on the night Jesus of Nazareth was born. Look at Luke 2:14 again, including a couple of extra verses:

8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

So, first off, angels are scary. One angel shows up in front of these shepherds, and they're terrified. Then, after the angel speaks to these men, a "multitude of the heavenly host" appears. So, before we imagine little girls with wings an halos singing a lullaby, let's stop to think about what it would mean to see "the host of heaven" and perhaps feel some of the dread excitement of these poor shepherds.

The word "host" has some difficulties, so let's use a better word, "brigade." That's right. Suddenly a regiment of heaven's brigade appeared. A section of God's army showed up and said something (once again, potential bladder issues here). Now, why are these angels usually depicted as singing? It could be that there's a decent reason. The text of Luke 2:14 reads like poetry. It has nice parallels and rhythm in the original language. So, it's possible it was sung (more likely chanted). But what kind of song is this? Please don't imagine that it was anything like children singing.

These are soldiers in God's army singing. And what kind of song does an army sing? A song of war. A battle cry. And THAT is the beautiful irony of this moment. This is the real crux of this passage.

Glory to God
in the highest,
And on earth
peace,
goodwill
toward men.

It's a song of war that talks of peace, that proposes something utterly bold - almost preposterous. God will get the glory of battle in his domain (the heavens) by bringing peace, from his own goodwill, to the domain of men (the earth).

How is this possible? How does it even make sense?

Go find the child in the manger.