Penultimate Things

Meditation on a Few Words from In the Bleak Midwinter

Some forty-six years ago I learned this hymn. I was seven or eight years old, and with my brothers, sang in my home congregation's junior choir. Thus, I've had many years to sing it and ponder its meaning through different phases of life. The original poem was written by Christina Georgina Rossetti, and appeared in Sribner's Monthly in January of 1872. The melody, Cranham, was composed by Gustav Holst in 1906.

One of the difficulties in setting the hymn to music is that the irregularity of the syllables in the poem cause rythmic difficulties. (I can still remember our choir director giving us instruction in regard to getting the right syllables over the correct notes.) In a sense, this is fitting since the second verse reads, "Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, Nor earth sustain... "
Those words are especially intriguing. What does it mean to say heaven cannot hold him? The prophets along with St. John in the Book of Revelation have given us marvelous visions of the Kingdom of Heaven. John has difficulty describing it; his vocabulary is too limited, the prophets are nearly stunned into silence at what they see. Yet a picture emerges of a place that is filled with the glory of God, with angels and cherubim and saraphim as well as the saints leading the host of heaven in praise. Heaven has enough space for all of these, yet it cannot hold Jesus Christ. Jesus own heavenly kingdom cannot hold him and this is not surprising. His grace, mercy and love are too great for the heavenly realm. Thus, the incarnation is heavenly necessity. The grace of Jesus has made it so.
"Nor earth Sustain..." From the moment of the incarnation earth cannot sustain the the Word made Flesh. John's gospel tells us that he came to his own people and they did not receive him. He came to Bethlehem the ancient home of his ancestor David, and Herod sought to have him killed. Jesus is the first Christmas gift to be returned. We sent him to the grave from Calvary. Just as heaven could not hold him, nor earth sustain, the grave also could make no claim upon him. The grace of God cannot be denied, the gift cannot be given back, and indeed "Heaven and earth shall flee away, when he comes to reign."