BRING A TORCH, JEANETTE, ISABELLA So, who were Jeanette and Isabella? No one knows, so we have to guess from clues in the song. Someone, perhaps the innkeepers wife, has risen early and is setting about the mornings chores. Can you imagine the shock when she goes to the stable, as she has so many times before, and finds a baby there? It’s not just any baby. The innkeeper’s wife knows straight away that this is the Saviour, and she sends Jeanette and Isabella (either her daughters or her servants) to bring lights and to summon all the people of the village! The innkeeper’s wife knows this is a major event and important to everyone! It isn’t mentioned, but the poor innkeeper must have got quite a telling off afterwards for not providing a comfortable room for this particular expectant mother. The villagers come running. Some verses talk of them gathering around the manger in reverential silence, watching the Christ-child sleep, commenting on his smile and his rosy cheeks. In other verses the villagers come noisily knocking on the door, with platters of food, all ready for a celebration. And, indeed, the song was originally a tune for French noble folk to dance a lively jig to at grand meals and balls. Doesnt that just sum up the feeling of coming to know Christ? On the one hand you want to fall to your knees in supplication. On the other hand, you want to tell everyone about it and start a world-wide party! Over thirty years later, in the midst of his ministry Jesus would describe himself as “the light of the world.” At the very beginning of his story, according to this well-loved Christmas song, Jeanette and Isabella helped spread that light with their torches and their enthusiasm for telling people about Him. Now, more than two thousand years later, it’s our turn! Those Little Extras • The 1553 carol was originally called Un flambeau, Jeannette, Isabelle. • It first appeared in Provence, France, and was not thought specifically a Christmas song. • It was translated into English in the 18th century by E. Cuthbert Nunn • The upbeat tune was intended for dancing to at parties. To The Gift-Giver Lord, how can we expect others to see you as their Redeemer if we live lives where you hardly seem to feature? If we grumble about going to church, and attend but wish we were elsewhere, why would anyone else come along. Light a fire in us like Jeanette and Isabella’s torches, so others will come to see what (or who) it is that makes the difference in us! From The Gift-Giver And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. Acts 13:44. KJV How Wonderful Other People Thought It Was “Christ could be born a thousand times in Galilee – But all in vain until He is born in me.” Angelus Silesius. (Johann Scheffler.) Priest and poet. 1624-1677 “God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.” C.S. Lewis. Academic and novelist. 1898-1963 “The birth of the baby Jesus stands as the most significant event in all history, because it has meant the pouring into a sick world of the healing medicine of love which has transformed all manner of hearts for almost two thousand years.” George Matthew Adams. Newspaper columnist. 1878-1962 “We must not measure greatness from the mansion down, but from the manger up.” Jesse Jackson. Clergyman and civil rights activist. A baby, a manger, a bright and shining star; A shepherd, an angel, three kings from afar; A Savior, a promise from heaven above. The story of Christmas is filled with Gods love. Author unknown, but appreciated. https://youtube/watch?v=OVLYYYOtuW0
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 10:27:24 +0000
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