Session 25

Silent Night, Holy Night

From Join the Chorus!

“Take heart; I have overcome the world.” - John 16:33 

How do we find peace amid heartache, political upheaval, and trials? It’s an age-old but daily dilemma. On this Christmas Eve night, we sing, “Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright.” Yet, the climate on that first Christmas was anything but peaceful. The people longed to hear from God. Suddenly, Jesus entered the chaos of their broken world. Surrounded by animals, poverty, and fear, there lay true peace, wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. 

On the night of the last Passover Jesus and his disciples shared together, Jesus poured his heart out to His disciples, encouraging them to love, promising His Spirit, confirming who He is, and warning of future events. Before departing for the Garden of Gethsemane, He addressed them, saying, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). What a strange encouragement, offering peace but immediately warning of tribulation. Trouble followed quickly with Jesus’s arrest.

We can know peace on this Christmas Eve even as the disciples knew peace on the eve of Jesus’s death. Peace is not a set of circumstances. Peace is a person. The One who lay in the manger grew up to defeat sin and death! Now, if we have accepted His sacrifice, Jesus’s Spirit lives in us. The world may whirl and storm, but our souls can sing, “All is calm, all is bright.” Jesus Christ is our peace.

Silent Night by Franz Xaver Gruber and Joseph Mohr. 1818