Colloquial Soliloquy

Oh Holy Night is prob­a­bly my favorite hymn of all time. It is usu­ally only sung dur­ing the Christ­mas sea­son, but it’s mes­sage is time­less. This Christ­mas I am singing with a small group in my Church and this is one of the songs we are prepar­ing for our Christ­mas program.

I was hum­ming the tune and singing the words that brought my recent study of Acts chap­ter 15 to life:

“Truly He taught us to love one another. His law is love and His Gospel is peace. Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother, and in His name all oppres­sion shall cease! “

Acts 15 is where we read of the first Coun­cil of the Church, the Coun­cil at Jerusalem. It opens up with our brother Paul dis­agree­ing sharply with Judaiz­ers who believe that Gen­tile believ­ers must be cir­cum­cised. In this Chap­ter Peter, who is also present, stands at the Coun­cil and says the most beau­ti­ful, life affirm­ing and con­vict­ing words I have read so far in the study of this book of the Bible. Peter states in Acts 15:9 – 11

“He made no dis­tinc­tion between us and them, for he puri­fied their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the dis­ci­ples a yoke that nei­ther we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

Affirm­ing because of the beau­ti­ful and pas­sion­ate procla­ma­tion of sal­va­tion through grace alone. Con­vict­ing because of the times in my own walk with the Lord that I have acted like one of the Judaiz­ers. I have at times in my life put a chain, a yoke of slav­ery, on another and did not even real­ize it.

This yoke of slav­ery that Peter talks about in the pas­sage is a stan­dard of jus­ti­fi­ca­tion through the obser­va­tion of the law. This is a stan­dard that those mak­ing the demand had not been able to keep, them­selves. Why would they want to enslave another in the very thing that had held them cap­tive for so long? Yet, we do this to one another in the Church when we with­hold grace and love, and in its stead we offer slav­ery and oppres­sion to our brother or sis­ter via judge­ment and for­give­ness denied.

In Matthew 11:28 – 30 Jesus says,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and bur­dened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gen­tle and hum­ble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my bur­den is light.”

A right view of ‘self’ and the need for sal­va­tion through the grace of Jesus Christ is an effec­tive way to quickly let go of the yoke and bur­den of slav­ery we try and place on another. We have all sinned, and the small­est infrac­tion of the law car­ries with it the same penalty as the most heinous — sep­a­ra­tion from a Holy God. Never think more lightly of your own short­com­ings than you do of the short­com­ings of oth­ers. Oh how quickly we cling to the Cross when our own sin and shame is revealed! Should we not want the same grace, for­give­ness and restora­tion for our fel­low brother and sis­ter in Christ?

Is there a sis­ter you are bear­ing a grudge against? Are you angry with your hus­band and you have not made steps to make it right? Is there some­one to whom you are deny­ing for­give­ness? Who’s yoke are you offer­ing? The yoke of slav­ery or the yoke that is light?

As this Christ­mas hymn reminds us ‘… He appeared and the soul felt its worth!” May we also feel the worth of the souls of those we are called to love!