Joy to the World (Unedited)

Unless you are pulling out a traditional hymn book in church you are unlikely to sing the richest part of the Christmas song: Joy to the World.  Most of the versions on the radio, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, even Veggie Tales omit this incredible verse of this song.  It reads: "No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns invest the ground, He comes to make his blessings flow, far as the curse is found..."

And strangely this verse stands at the very center of the biblical reason why this baby is actually bringing joy to the world.  It gets me every time I sing it.

Owen on Godly Affections

The 17th century Puritan John Owen had a few things to say that weren't very Puritan-ish, or at least the stereotypes often placed on them.  Tim Keller gives a very interesting summary of his Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ.  Of course like every puritan Owen believed in the centrality of biblical doctrine and the light (as he often called it) of the word of God.  But beyond this, he never hesitated to emphasize the indispensability of the affections, the feelings of the heart, religious passions.

“Where light [right doctrine] leaves the affections behind, it ends in formality and or atheism; where affections outrun light they sink into the bog of superstition, doting images and pictures or the like.”

This gives a picture of an interesting balance that Owen says is required for healthy spiritual life.  But if you had to error on one side of the spectrum or the other, which would it be?  Feelings or doctrine?  Love or Truth?  Genuine affections or true beliefs?  What do you think Owen would say?

“In your thoughts of Christ, be very careful that they are conceived and directed according to the rule of the word, lest you deceive your own souls, and give up the conduct of your affections unto vain imaginations... Yet I must say that I had rather be among them who, in the actings of their love and affection unto Christ, do fall into some irregularities and excesses in the manner of expressing it... than among those who disavow their having any thoughts of or affection unto the person of Christ... It is better that our affections exceed our light [right doctrine] from the defect of our understanding, than that our light exceed our affections from the corruption of our wills.”

For someone who cared more about doctrine than probably any of our modern churches, this a remarkable thing to say.

An Alternative Nativity Scene

Ken Bailey in Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes asks some interesting questions regarding the traditional nativity story which we're accustomed to seeing every year in displays, figurines, and Christmas pageants...

1. Why was there no one in Bethlehem (their own hometown) that could provide Joseph and Mary lodging for the birth of Jesus?  Hospitality isn't a nice gesture in the middle east.  A family's honor, not to mention the honor of an entire village, is often at stake.  Surely being Joseph's hometown it seems to hard to believe he and his wife would have been left out in a barn/stable/cave to stay, says Bailey.

2. Bailey continues, “simple rural communities the world over always assist one of their own women in childbirth regardless of the circumstances.  Are we to imagine that Bethlehem was an exception?  Was there no sense of honor in Bethlehem?... [It would have been] an unspeakable shame on the entire village.”

3. According to the traditional story, why would the shepherds, after visiting the baby Jesus in a animal stable or cave, have not invited them into one of their homes?  Are we to believe that they rejoiced and praised God that they had seen the birth of the new king and then left this family in an animal pin?

4. Bailey also points out interestingly, “Joseph had time to make adequate arrangements.  Luke 2:4 says that Joseph and Mary ‘went up from Galilee to Judea,’ and verse 6 states, ‘while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.’  The average Christian thinks that Jesus was born the same night the holy family arrived –hence Joseph's haste and willingness to accept any shelter, even the shelter of a stable.”

These problems get resolved, says Bailey, by getting a better answer to two questions:  Where was the manger?  And what was the “inn”?  He uses a background study to make the case that mangers were traditionally held in the homes of the average villager and uses a word study to make the case that “inn” is better translated “guestroom.” –not a commercial inn.  It is the same word translated  “upper room” in Luke 22:10-12.  In sum, he argues it is far more likely Jesus was born in an average villager's home, not outdoors in a stable or cave.  Very interesting.  Worth reading even just the first chapter.

It reminds me of how much I still read the scriptures through my own interpretive lens.