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O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The third and final hymn we will look at and consider this Advent season is O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. The hymn itself, from the 12th Century, is based on what are known as the seven “O Antiphons,” which may date back to the 5th Century. These prayers came to be special and well-loved of the Church, building up the hearts of the faithful as they moved toward the celebration of Christmas, teaching what the celebration of Christmas was all about. Each antiphon contains a title of Christ, a description of that title, and then a request, a prayer.
So what do we learn about Jesus from these antiphons? Consider the antiphon from which the hymn gets its title:
O Emmanuel, our king and our Lord,
the anointed for the nations and their
Savior:
Come and save us, O Lord our God.
Emmanuel is a Hebrew word which means “God with us.” During the holidays we treasure having family and friends with us. But our Lord does even better: He make His dwelling place among us. God is with us—but not to condemn or destroy us as we deserve in our sinfulness. God is with us in flesh; He has come in flesh to save us. In mercy He has come to bring us back from our exile in sin, to bring us back into His family, to restore us to His kingdom by the forgiveness of our sins.
Matthew the Evangelist doesn’t tell the beautiful story of our Lord’s birth the way Luke does; Matthew bypasses the story of the birth in the stable. He doesn’t tell it in beautiful picture language the way John does. Matthew just states it plainly, telling his readers that our Lord Jesus was born. But this birth was anything but ordinary! A virgin conceives and bears a Son, just as God prophesied through the prophet Isaiah. And this Son is Emmanuel, God with us, the Word made flesh to dwell among His people. He has come to be one of us, to release us from our bondage to sin and death. You know the truth about yourself and our human race: that “we are by nature sinful and unclean,” that we are slaves of sin. There was nothing we could do to free ourselves. We needed to be saved, which means we needed someone to be our Savior. And this Child in the manger is that One. God comes in mercy and gentleness to save us in our great need. He is Emmanuel, the true God who makes His dwelling with us. Our Creator is our Savior; our King is our Brother.
We also pray to Christ as the Wisdom of God, who teaches us to live prudently, according to God’s will and law. You may remember from Psalm 119: “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” This is the wise way in which our Lord would have us walk. He shows us the narrow way that leads to the gate of heaven itself. And this ties into the next verse, where we pray to Christ as Adonai, the Lord of might, who gives us that Word. He gave His righteous Law on Mount Sinai, and He continues to reveal Himself to us today in His Word.
We pray to Christ as the Root of Jesse, before whom all peoples will bend the knee in worship, from the mightiest of rulers even to the lowest of the slaves who are not counted by the world as citizens of any kingdom. We pray to Christ as the Key of David, the one who gives the Church the authority to forgive sins, opening the gate of heaven to all believers. He releases us from the chains that bound us to our sin, and He binds Satan so that that wily serpent no longer has any power over us.
We pray to Christ as the Dayspring, the Light of the world. As we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He shines forth in holy light, guiding our way, dispelling our gloom. A shadow fades away when the light shines brightly; so it is as we cling to Christ, “the light of men.” As St. John tells us, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Because Christ shines His light upon us, and His light overcomes the darkness, darkness has no more power to destroy us!
And finally, we pray to Christ as the King of the nations, the true heir of King David. Jesus is the King even David longed to see. Our hymn calls Jesus “our King of peace.” And how truly we confess Him as such, because He is the One by whom God and sinners are reconciled.
And that causes us rejoice. How can we not? And we also sing for Him to come again! We pray for Him to come and take us home, to where the rejoicing will never cease. For the day is coming when He will come, when He will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Our joy will be joined to the joy of the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. That’s what Advent’s all about. And that’s what our Savior is all about. And so we pray:
O
come, O come, Emmanuel,
And
ransom captive Israel,
That
mourns in lonely exile here
Until
the Son of God appear.
And
we, His Church, look forward to His coming with great joy. We sing in
acclamation: “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!” In
the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.
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