The Story of Silent Night
The story of the famous Christmas song Silent Night begins in the beautiful city of Salzburg, Austria in the 1790s. A simple weaver named Anna lived alone in this world, was of very modest means with little hope of raising her lifestyle or even marrying. One day she fell in love with a soldier, stationed in Salzburg. They began a romance and she and the soldier conceived a child, who was born on December 11, 1792. However, the father took no responsibility for his child and left Anna and the baby to fend for themselves. Nevertheless, Anna gave the soldier’s surname to her baby, whom she named Joseph Mohr. Being an unwed mother with a child, Anna knew the scorn and rejection of society.
Anna provided as best she could for Joseph and realized that a good education would give him the hope of a good future. The local parish priest recognized his brightness and his singing ability. He arranged for Joseph to attend the famous abbey school of Kremsmunster. There, young Joseph excelled in his studies. He later realized he had a vocation to the priesthood and entered the seminary at the age of 16. Finally, he was ready for ordination at the age of 22.
Joseph Mohr was assigned as the assistant pastor at St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, about 10 miles outside of Salzburg on the River Salzach. (The church of St. Nicholas was destroyed by flooding in 1899, but a memorial chapel stands there today.) The parish was of very modest means, and the pastor was strict and frugal to say the least.
Here Father Mohr became friends with Franz Gruber. Gruber was the son of a weaver, who had little appreciation for music. Franz was expected to follow in the trade of his father. Despite his father’s disapproval, Franz began playing the guitar and the organ. The parish priest allowed Franz to practice in Church. His talents too were recognized, and he was sent to school for formal music training. He eventually settled in the town of Oberndorf, working as a music teacher and raising his family of 12 children. Mohr and Gruber shared their love of music, and both played the guitar.
On December 23, 1818, with Christmas fast approaching, Mohr went to visit a mother and her new born child. On the way back to the Rectory, he paused by the river and meditated on the first Christmas. He wrote a poem capturing the essence of that great faith event, and called it Silent Night, Holy Night. In his composition, he captured the mystery of the incarnation and birth of our Lord: The holy infant Jesus, who is Christ the Savior, Son of God, and Love’s pure light, was born of Mary and filled the world with the redeeming grace from Heaven.
Upon his return to the parish, he was confronted with the news that the organ was broken. Voracious mice had eaten through the bellows, disabling the wind system necessary for the pipes to produce music. Being so close to Christmas and without sufficient funds to consider repairing the organ, the people feared that Midnight Mass would be silent. Father Mohr rushed to the home of his friend, Franz Gruber, and shared his plight. He handed Gruber the poem and asked him to write a melody for it to be played on the guitar. Franz Gruber completed the task in time. At Midnight Mass, 1818, the world heard for the first time the simple yet profound song we know as Silent Night.
In 1838, 20 years after “Silent Night” was written, the song made its way to the United States, singing it (in German) at the Alexander Hamilton Monument located outside New York City’s Trinity Church. In 1863, nearly fifty years after being first sung in German, “Silent Night” was translated into English. Today the words of “Silent Night” are sung in more than 300 different languages around the world.
What is the Christmas Story?
So, what is the Christmas story? To me, it’s a love story, a story about God’s love for us. That’s why I think we have such fond feelings about the Christmas season; because it’s a time we are reminded of God’s love for us, and we are encouraged to extend that same love and kindness to others. If I were to choose one word to encapsulate Christmas, I think it would be Savior. (Christ the Savior is born) Savior expresses the full measure of God’s love for us, the length He will go to save us, and the Person He will use to save us. So, who is our Savior? I will humbly offer a few insights to that question we gain from the Christmas story and the lyrics of Silent Night.
- Our Savior is Fully Man (Holy infant so tender and mild). Look at the lowly circumstances of Jesus’ birth. Jesus arrived as a fragile helpless infant born in a smelly animal stable dependent on His parents as any infant would be. In the book of Hebrews, we read that in Jesus, we have a High Priest who can sympathize with our weakness. Jesus has experienced poverty, pain, loss, temptation, tragedy. This is comforting to know that no matter what we may face in this life, Jesus can sympathize with our struggles.
- Our Savior is Fully God (Jesus Lord at thy birth). Contrast Jesus’ humanity shown through His birth with God’s announcement of His birth. An angel comes down from heaven along with a multitude of heavenly host to announce the arrival of Christ the Lord. God wanted us to see that Jesus is the Lord of all Lords and that every knee will bow to Him and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
- Our Savior Humbled Himself (Shepherds quake at the sight). We could not have imagined a humbler beginning to Jesus’ arrival. Born to a woman of modest means and social standing, born in a stable under the stench of animals after being turned away from an inn, with the birth announcement going to nearby shepherds who had among the lowest social standing in that culture.
- Our Savior Loves Us (Son of God, Love’s pure light). It was through God’s love for us that Jesus would humble himself to come into the world as He did to save us and provide eternal life. As one paster put it, “Think about what Jesus left to come to us. Jesus took His place in a manger so that we might have a home in heaven.”
- Our Savior Wants Us to Receive the Gift (with the Dawn of Redeeming Grace). Jesus came into this world to save us, but God respects our free will, so we must accept the gift.
- Our Savior Wants to Give us Peace (Sleep in heavenly peace). God offers us a peace that surpasses all understanding. If we are struggling with anything in our life, God wants to take the anxiety and give us peace trusting in him.
The story of Silent Night in some ways is a picture of Christmas. Young Anna, an unwed mother would raise up a boy to become a priest who would later compose one of the all-time classic Christmas songs celebrating the birth of Jesus. Like Anna, Mary too was a woman scorned by society, who bore a Son to be the Savior of the world. This reminds us that the love of God is open to all of us as we celebrate Christmas this year. Jesus is the greatest gift ever given in the history of humanity.
If we were to offer a gift to God this Christmas, the most meaningful gift would be to accept His gift of the Savior and to share that gift with others.