PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: “So hallowed and gracious is the time”
By: Ron Woodrum
“So hallowed and gracious is the time”-those are words from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. They should be read in context.
Some say that ever ‘gainst the season comes
Wherein our Savior’s birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
No fairy tales, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallowed and so gracious is the time.
These lines from the first scene of Hamlet in a sense say it all. We tend to think of time as a progression, as moment following moment, day following day, in a relentless flow, the kind of time a clock or a calendar can measure. But we experience time also as depth, as having quality as well as quantity-a good time, a dangerous time, an auspicious time, a time we mark not by its duration but by its content. The New Testament speaks of both of these kinds of time by the use of different words. Time measured by the clock was identified by the Greek word “Chronos”- (from which we get our word chronology). But there were times of special significance-noted for the quality of the event occurring-identified by the word “Kairos”. The latter is time marked by its content, not its duration.
On the dark battlements of Elsinore, Marcellus speaks to his companions of the time of Jesus’ birth. It is a “hallowed” time he says, a holy time, a time in which life grows still like the surface of a river so that we can look down into it and see glimmering there in its depths something timeless, precious, other. It is also a “gracious” time, Marcellus says-a time we cannot bring about as we bring about a happy time or a sad time but a time that comes upon us as grace, as a free and unbidden gift. Marcellus explains that Christmas is a time of such holiness that the cock crows the whole night through as though it is perpetually dawn and thus for once even the powers of darkness are powerless.
Horatio’s answer is instructive-“So I have heard, and do partially believe”, he says to Marcellus. Christmas time is a holy and gracious time that reminds us that God has reached out for a relationship with fallen man, through the incarnation of His Son. Even though not everyone opens their heart to the full revelation and salvation that this season brings, there is the initial desire to “partially believe”. The glaring truth of this season is “that this is of all things the thing most worth believing!”
As we experience the holiness and grace of the advent of our Lord we dare not miss out on the full impact of what happened then. The Divine Son of God became the Incarnate Son of Man. The Infinite became an Infant. The Divine second person of the God-head took on humanity. God entered human history with the mission of “reconciling the lost and dying world unto Himself”. The heavenly son of His heavenly Father became the earthly son of his earthly Mother. The unique theanthropic person-fully God and fully man, at the same time came into eternal existence! What we celebrate at this time of the season is “hallowed and gracious” but is also beyond our comprehension. When Isaiah predicted that his name shall be called “Wonderful” we often miss the import of that prophecy. The Hebrew word “pela means “something uncommon or out of the ordinary”. It reflects “a phenomenon lying outside the realm of human explanation; that which is separated from the normal course of events; something that cannot be explained”. That is the reality of the event we celebrate each year at Christmas. Jesus was God’s expression of love and salvation that goes beyond all of our comprehension. We should never get over the wonder of the Christmas story. We should relive it each year in all its glorious truth and excitement. We need to put exclamation points on the virgin birth; the miraculous star; the angelic choirs visiting the shepherds; the wise men journey and worship. These truths should be reaffirmed and experienced with reverence and worship. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Light came into darkness as never before in human history. The hopes and dreams of all the years were fulfilled on this glorious night. But it is to be celebrated not only with reverence but also with reality.
Musician and Theologian Michael Card talks about the Scandal of Christmas. He insists that we have created a pretty significant “myth” about Christmas. Our tradition and celebration of the Christ event has transformed it into something that is a twisted version of the reality of that first Holy night. He says, “That night a homeless king was born in a barn, wrapped in rags, and laid to sleep in an animal feeding trough…we tend to turn the barn into a palace, etc. But I think it’s important for people to get the feel for the degree of sacrifice that began with the birth of Jesus”. Jesus came into a world dominated by an evil world system where Caesar was Lord. Caesar’s taxation was used of a Sovereign God to bring about the fulfillment of His Son’s birth to be in Bethlehem, not Nazareth. But Jesus had to survive the long arduous trip inside the womb of his mother riding donkey-back from Nazareth to Bethlehem. When they arrived they received no welcome. He was born in a barn with no room in the inn. John would later see the significance of his first welcome by saying, “he came unto his own but his own welcomed him not” (John 1:11). Then don’t forget that when he was born that another King, Jesus’ evil counterpart sought to kill Him, by killing all the males born in Bethlehem twp years old and younger! Things are not too different today. Muslims recently sanctified a new Muslim holiday and have demanded its recognition on December 24th. Christmas Eve is the new designated time to celebrate the birthday of Mohammed! Just a reminder that the world in which we celebrate our Savior’s birth this year is a world dominated by the spirit of antichrist and Jesus, in reality, is not welcomed any more this year as He was His first year! But there are still those who like the first shepherds, recognize the one wrapped in swaddling clothes in Bethlehem is the “Lamb of God” come to solve the sin problem of the world. There are still wise men who still seek Him and bring their sacrificial and deserving gifts to worship Him who was Himself God’s unspeakable gift sent from heaven to earth for us to be able to go from earth to heaven through Him and His Salvation.