Artwork:
Adoration of the Shepherds by Rembrandt, (1646) is a Baroque Style oil on canvas. Housed in the Bavarian State Painting Collections, Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany, Rembrandt depicts a warm illuminating glow which shines on the newborn Christ, who is watched over by Mary, Joseph and a gathering of worshippers and onlookers. The source of the light is hidden, so it seems to radiate directly from the sleeping child, illuminating the faces of all around him.

Advent Devotional

The title of this carol asks a question that each person will ultimately have to answer. It was the question on the mind of everyone who came to see the child who, “On Mary’s lap is sleeping.” The words to this carol were composed by Willian Dix around 1865. Dix was a successful insurance executive in Glasgow, Scotland, who suffered from illness and depression. Yet out of his depression he penned these verses and married them with the music from a song composed in the 1500’s titled, “Greensleeves.” “Greensleeves” was a balled about a gentleman longing for his love, Lady Greensleeves.

Dix provides us with the answer to his question – “This, this is Christ the King.” But what type of king is born in dark and dirty surroundings among animals? Instead of a royal guard, this carol tells us that Jesus’s guard was made up of shepherds. Jesus’s kingship is not like human kingships. His kingdom is not about strength, but weakness. It is not about power, or money, or reputation, it is about suffering. Each verse ends with the reminder that Jesus is a “Babe”, a helpless child. He who is the “bread of life” (John 6:35) once cried out in hunger. He who is the “living water” (John 4:10) once cried out from thirst. But we shouldn’t let the circumstances of Jesus’s birth fool us. A reminder of this comes from the conclusion of C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia when those loyal to Aslan are surrounded and forced into a small stable that they think contains the evil god, Tash. Instead, they find another world and Aslan’s loyalists discover that with this stable, “its inside is bigger than its outside.” This triggers Queen Lucy’s remark that, “In our world too, a Stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”

Prayer

Almighty God during
this season as many
ask questions about the
identity of Jesus
and the meaning
of Christmas, reveal
Yourself to us.