THE MIDNIGHT RIDE AND THE MANGER

This past week my thoughts of the infant Jesus sleeping in the manger merged with my thoughts of Paul Revere. Weird, right? I can thank Mr. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for its happening. Describing the scene of Paul Revere taking his “midnight ride” to warn the American patriots of Lexington and Concord of the impending British attack, Longfellow notes ominously and presciently that around 2 am, when Revere approached the bridge to ride through Concord, “…one was safe and asleep in his bed Who at the bridge would be first to fall, Who that day would be lying dead, Pierced by a British musket-ball.” Sobering. One serenely asleep in the deep of the night would soon lie dead having sacrificed his life fighting for America’s freedom. What a contrast between the man slumbering peacefully in the comforts of his bed and his corpse later that day lying on the ground where it had bled dry of its blood through the gaping hole left by the British ball. That contrast brought another--the contrast of the cute, newborn Jesus, swaddled comfortably and securely, sleeping in the manger to that same Jesus slumped lifelessly on the cross the last of His blood draining from the gaping hole the spear had left in his side and from the other wounds suffered for our sins. Rarely do we think of the Babe of a serene Nativity scene fast asleep in the manger juxtaposition with His corpse hanging on the cross. The minute man of Concord long ago was peacefully asleep at the beginning of his day and tragically lay dead at the end of it. Jesus was peacefully asleep at the beginning of His life as an infant and violently crucified as an adult at the end. In both cases, the sacrifice was for our freedom. Of course, Jesus rose again! I hope I didn’t ruin your singing of “Away in the Manger,” this year with a vision of a Concord minute man’s white corpse lying where he had fallen. But, it could only inspire grateful worship if our minds went from the sleeping Child of the manger to the writhing, suffering, dying Savior on the Cross. Maybe this year the Silent Night will be broken with the sound of galloping horses’ hooves.

THE MIDNIGHT RIDE AND THE MANGER

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