Recovering the Unsung Verses--February 20, 2025

Recovering the Unsung Verses--February 20, 2025

(Jesus said:)

"But woe to you who are rich, 

     for you have received your consolation.

Woe to you who are full now, 

     for you will be hungry. 

Woe to you who are laughing now, 

     for you will mourn and weep. 

Woe to you when all speak well of you, 

     for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets." (Luke 6:24-26)

Everybody loves the Christmas song, "O Holy Night," but rarely does anybody sing the third verse in concert or out caroling.  That's a shame, really, because it's absolutely beautiful and some of the most powerful poetry in the song.  Many folks don't even know that there's more than one verse, but the third in particular complicates the song.  That's because it's in the third verse of "O Holy Night" that the song itself takes a stand against the practice of slavery, and over the years a lot of choir conductors have just decided that feels less "Christmas-y."  Everybody likes to sing about the stars "brightly shining" and the "thrill of hope," because those are positive images.  But the third verse leaves behind the Nativity story imagery (the Magi and the manger at least are in the second verse) and comes out with a clear position on the issue of slavery, declaring, "Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother, and in his name all oppression shall cease."  There's not a Fa-la-la to be found, just the firm rejection of human bondage.  And even if folks today are solidly anti-slavery (and I would hope they are), a lot of folks don't want to "go there" in their yuletide concerts, or to have a positive, cheery season tinged with the bleak mention of slavery.  I have a feeling that more than a few critics or music directors have said, "Oh, that's too negative, let's just stick to the positive first verse and close out with We Wish You A Merry Christmas."

The song, of course, takes its stand for a reason.  The text, originally written in 1847 (and in French, it turns out) was written in an era when slavery was a thriving institution--not to mention wreaking havoc over countless African American people who were enslaved in this country at the time.  From the perspective of the author and translator, the connection is indeed obvious--the Christ-child has come to set people free from oppression, and that would include an end to enslavement.  The positive claim (that Jesus' birth is a "holy night") cannot be separated from the negative claim (that Jesus' reign is opposed to slavery), because it is a part of what makes Jesus who he is.  Jesus is worthy of praise, adulation, and worship, at least in part because he has come to set people free as he brings about the Reign of God.  So, despite the fact that it throws a monkey-wrench into our sentimentality at Christmas time, the third verse is really an indispensable part of the song. You can't sing, "Fall on your knees" at Jesus if you don't also sing, "Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother," without losing something essential about why Jesus is worthy of our bending our knees and offering our praise.

Well, I mention all of this because I think there is an important parallel with the words of Jesus that are sometimes known as Luke's version of the Beatitudes.  And just like the conscience-pricking but necessary third verse of "O Holy Night" that folks sometimes want to leave out or skip past, Jesus speaks words that many folks want to ignore or mute because they make us squirm.  We love the announcement of blessing, but nobody wants to hear the second half, the inverse statements of "woe." It's heartening to hear Jesus say, "Blessed are you who are poor," and even more comforting to hear blessing for the hungry and the weeping.  But folks start getting uncomfortable, or even downright irritable, when Jesus goes on to say, "Woe to you who are rich," along with the full bellies and smiling faces of the self-satisfied.  So we skip over the part that makes us uncomfortable, rather than wrestle with what Jesus has to tell us.  As long as we only ever talk about being blessed, we never have to feel bad about ourselves... right?

The only trouble is that Jesus, rather like the original minds behind "O Holy Night," doesn't seem ready to let us slice up his words in order to edit out the parts that sound too "negative." Jesus insists that the YES of blessing for the ones typically regarded as "losers" cannot be separated from a parallel NO for the mindset of those who label themselves "winners" at the top of a human pyramid.  And again, much like the Christmas song, it's because there is a through-line between the "positive" and the "negative" parts.  They are two sides of the same coin.  It is because Jesus is the sort of Lord who breaks chains and ends enslavement that we acclaim him as redeemer and savior.  And just the same, it is because we believe Jesus when he says that God particularly cares for the human beings who suffer (whether in grief, hunger, or need) that we also are called to turn away from any way of life that is oriented just toward getting "more" for ourselves, at the expense of others.  And Jesus' statements of "woe" on the rich and well-fed are just that--criticisms of what happens when we orient our lives on getting more money, more stuff, more food, or more of whatever else we hoard, rather than on the value of the other human beings around us.  We are missing the point of the gospel if our lives are bent on the pursuit of "more," according to Jesus.  He is just willing to be honest about that, even if we would rather he not say that part out loud.

We should probably stop for a moment, too, to note that the word that gets translated "Woe" here in today's verses (which continue the passage we've been reading all week since worship this past Sunday) isn't so much a statement of curse or condemnation, as it is one of pity. It's got the feel of "I feel sorry for the ones who..." or in an earlier generation's language, "Alas for..." (or perhaps like Mr. T used to say, "I pity the fool who...").  In other words, these "woes" aren't Jesus saying, "If you make such and such an amount of money in your annual salary, God hates you and you are doomed for hell," so much as he's saying, "What a shame it is to spend your life on piling up money! What a waste of your life is it trying to make yourself smiley and happy all the time rather than sharing the sufferings of others in compassion!"  Jesus will tell a story later on in Luke's gospel about a man who piles up his wealth into bigger barns (rather than sharing his windfall with his neighbors), only to find out that his life will end that night and all of his hoarded treasures will be scattered anyway.  It's the same sort of statement here in these "woes"--Jesus is trying to warn us that it's a waste of our lives to accumulate more stuff, more wealth, or more things we think will make us happy.  And yeah, that may not be comfortable for us to hear (since we live in a culture driven by the impulse to make more money and possess more stuff), but it's the necessary corollary to confessing as Lord the one who seeks out the lost and lifts up the lowly.

If we are learning to see the world through Jesus' eyes enough to recognize God's blessing and care for the empty-handed, the broken-hearted, and the losers, then Jesus will also compel us to see that we are wasting our lives if we are bent on making ourselves "winners." We don't get one without acknowledging the other.

Today, let's be brave enough to recover the unsung verses, so to speak--let's allow Jesus to say both the things that are easy to hear and the ones that trouble us, in order that we can spend our lives on what really matters.  And let us be brave enough to listen when he speaks.

Lord Jesus, speak and make us to listen.