God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen!

Advent, Week Two

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen!
INTRODUCTION
God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born upon this day,
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
For Jesus Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas day.

• Centuries old, anonymous authorship
• At least eight musical settings.
• Many English villages had their own versions of the lyric.
• Many parodies, notably by G.K. Chesterton
• Used by Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol, so it became even more important
• Long the most popular Christmas carol in the UK.

God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen too tipsy from partying?
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

Mark Roberts: “To rest someone merry” meant “to keep someone happy.”
In other words, this wasn’t a wish for happy people to rest, but for people to be and to keep on being happy because Christ is born.

DISMAY: The language is quite old and obscure.
What does it mean?
Dismay: consternation and distress, …caused by something unexpected

We live in a world that dismays us…
• …the challenge of Christmas shopping in a mad rush, seeking gifts that no one needs.
• …the frightening images we see on-screen each week, highlighting the awful status of life under an oppressive government, without its necessities.
• …frustrating scenes provided daily by those who would govern us, warring parties each punishing one another, while all insist that it’s being done for our good.

Yes, this Christmas season, there is much to be dismayed about.

CENTRAL IDEA: The birth of Jesus is the antidote to dismay.
This familiar Carol of Christmas reminds us that our consternation and frustration can be resolved.

How does the birth of Jesus provide relief from our dismay?
1. The birth of Jesus provided TRUE RELIEF
a. for the shepherds.
i. These may have been very special shepherds, just outside Jerusalem; many have speculated that these were the sheep and lambs prepared for the Temple sacrifices in the city.
ii. These shepherds, as Israel, found comfort in the promise that their lambs offered as Temple sacrifices would give them opportunity to worship God with a clear conscience.
b. for us… to “save us all from Satan’s power.”

I’m especially concerned about the evil I see demonstrated against the weak and the broken. That is truly dismaying, shocking.

i. Satan’s power is manifest in the wanton destruction of life, the expression of cruel might against the helpless of the earth.

The lyric reminds me that my concern about evil should include my OWN tendencies.

ii. Satan’s power is manifest in our own lives, “when we were gone astray.”
iii. We share in the problem, evil has infected our souls as well as the world’s major perpetrators.
1. Hannah Arendt: The Human Condition, “the banality of evil”
…the great evils in history generally, and the Holocaust in particular, were not executed by fanatics or sociopaths but rather by ordinary people who accepted the premises of their state and therefore participated with the view that their actions were normal.

2. Isaiah 53:6

Is. 53:6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.

Then Paul adds another Isaiah passage to several Psalms…
iv. Romans
Rom. 3:15 “Their Feet Are Swift To Shed Blood,
Rom. 3:16 Destruction And Misery Are In Their Paths,
Rom. 3:17 And The Path Of Peace They Have Not Known.”

Which leads ME to an essential insight…
v. My life is in need of radical transformation, as well as the lives of those whom I fear and am dismayed by.

So what’s the solution to spiritual DISMAY?
2. My dismay is aptly treated with “TIDINGS OF…
a. Comfort—treatment for dismay.
Hebrew-- delight, comfort, delight, enjoyment,
to find consolation, regret;

My dismay is aptly treated with “TIDINGS OF…
b. Joy—antidote to dismay.

Comfort & Joy: a baby cries out of boredom, then quiets when a jangling toy is dangled within reach; comfort then transforms into joy.
A mother receives a false report of the death of a son, then is transformed when the boy walks in the front door.
A secretary types out a memo ordering layoffs for all employees, then discovers that she will be retained for the duration. COMFORT & JOY

So, where do I find both comfort and joy in the Story?
Comfort—for Israel, as in Handel’s Messiah, “Comfort ye, my people, for your warfare is past, accomplished, your iniquity is pardoned. Isaiah 40

Comfort—for these particular shepherds in Israel…
Their need for sacrifice was about to be forever fulfilled.

Comfort—at the foot of the Cross, Jesus said to his mother, one of three Mary’s there.

John 19:25 …But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
John 19:26 When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He *said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”
John 19:27 Then He *said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

Jesus gave COMFORT at the most unexpected moment.

Comfort for all—Matt. 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
IF JESUS USED SUCH AN AWFUL MOMENT IN HIS LIFE TO GIVE COMFORT TO HIS MOTHER AND HIS DISCIPLE, THEN HE WILL NEVER MISS AN OPPORTUNITY TO COMFORT TO YOU.

But the lyric highlights JOY as well…
Joy—at the gravesite, after discovering the tomb was empty, and the ‘gardener’ nearby.

John 20:16 Jesus *said to her, “Mary!” She turned and *said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher).
John 20:17 Jesus *said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’”
Jesus gave JOY at the most unexpected event, his appearance after death.

CONCLUSION:
1. Jesus gives comfort today. He gives comfort to all who come to him:
Matt. 11:29-30 “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.”
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

Our rest, our merriment, our happiness is deeply rooted in the work that Jesus did for us, beginning with his humble birth, involving his life of teaching, healing, and concluding with his death for us all.
The resurrection of Jesus means that our happiness, is guaranteed for all time and eternity.

2. Jesus gives joy today.
John 15:11 “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

How might Jesus give you comfort today?
Dismayed about the pressures of this season?
About a disappointment in someone? In yourself?

Jesus gives comfort and joy; He is able to keep someone happy.
Come to the Cross!