Two Poems on the Incarnation
A brief look at the table of contents of a hymnal shows that the conception and birth of Jesus has inspired God’s people to write more poetry than any other act of His redeeming work. This fact is unsurprising, since Luke 1-2 shows that it was accompanied by so many songs of praise, thanksgiving, and wonder at its actual occurrence. The incarnation of the divine Word has led to an outpouring of human words.
Two poems that have powerfully struck me over the years are Robert Southwell’s “The Nativity of Christ” and John Milton’s “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity.” As you have opportunity soon, meditate on the glory of the Word made flesh!
“The Nativity of Christ,” by Robert Southwell1
Behold the father is his daughter’s son,
The bird that built the nest is hatch’d therein,
The old of years an hour hath not outrun,
Eternal life to live doth now begin,
The word is dumb, the mirth of heaven doth weep,
Might feeble is, and force doth faintly creep.
O dying souls! behold your living spring!
O dazzled eyes! behold your sun of grace!
Dull ears attend what word this word doth bring!
Up, heavy hearts, with joy your joy embrace!
From death, from dark, from deafness, from despairs,
This life, this light, this word, this joy repairs.
Gift better than Himself God doth not know,
Gift better than his God no man can see;
This gift doth here the giver given bestow,
Gift to this gift let each receiver be:
God is my gift, Himself He freely gave me,
God's gift am I, and none but God shall have me.
Man alter’d was by sin from man to beast;
Beast's food is hay, hay is all mortal flesh;
Now God is flesh, and lies in manger press’d,
As hay the brutest sinner to refresh:
Oh happy field wherein this fodder grew,
Whose taste doth us from beasts to men renew!
The incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ is full of paradox (something that seems contradictory, but is in fact not). The first stanza of Southwell’s poem captures powerfully the truth that Jesus is fully God and fully man; the eternal Son of God became man without ceasing to be God. The second stanza calls us to come to Christ to be saved from death, darkness, deafness, and despair. The third stanza reminds us that all who receive God in Christ as their highest joy must give themselves to Him. The fourth stanza . . . not exactly sure what’s going on here. The imagery of mankind being hay is odd - and certainly if Southwell’s Romanist/transubstantiationist views on the Lord’s Supper are a part of what he intends to convey by the imagery of Jesus being hay upon which we feed to be refreshed, I would strongly disagree with him - but the idea of being renewed by Christ to what God designed us to be is sound.
“On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” by John Milton
This poem is long, but I include the opening stanzas here:
This is the month, and this the happy morn,
Wherein the Son of Heav'n's eternal King,
Of wedded Maid, and Virgin Mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring;
For so the holy sages once did sing,
That he our deadly forfeit should release,
And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.
That glorious Form, that Light unsufferable,
And that far-beaming blaze of Majesty,
Wherewith he wont at Heav'n's high council-table,
To sit the midst of Trinal Unity,
He laid aside, and here with us to be,
Forsook the courts of everlasting day,
And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay.
Milton highlights the purpose of the incarnation and the nature of it. Why was Jesus was born? In order to redeem us and reconcile us to God, by releasing us from the debt of eternal death we incurred in Adam’s fall through His own death as a man. What was the incarnation? Nothing less than Jesus condescending to leave the riches and majesty of heaven for the filth of earth (Philippians 2:6-7). By taking to Himself human flesh, He did not cease to be God, but He did become poor, so that we, through His poverty, might be made rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). Wonder of wonders, that the Son of God would lay aside His glory for us and for our salvation!
From The Poetical Works of the Rev. Robert Southwell, edited by William B. Turnbull