A Christmas Rose
READ: Matthew 1:18-25
The Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. —Isaiah 7:14
In contrast to many of the resounding carols proclaiming the Savior’s birth, “Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming” is a gentle song. Its words and music capture the hushed, almost preposterous assertion that a rose of hope has bloomed in the world’s winter of despair. Written in the 15th century by an unknown German poet, it stands quietly in the midst of our modern Christmas rush, bearing a message of joy for all who will pause to listen.
Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming
From tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse’s lineage coming,
As men of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright,
Amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.
The song speaks of a season when roses don’t bloom and of a night half gone, a time when people often give in to despair.
Christmas can be an emotional winter, a dark night when the holiday lights are dimmed and cheery greetings are muted by loneliness or fear. Yet there is this word of hope:
This Flower, whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor
The darkness everywhere;
True man, yet very God,
From sin and death He saves us,
And lightens every load.
A Rose has bloomed at midnight in winter. Christ the Savior is born!
The message of the cradle proclaims the mission of the cross.
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