Go Tell It on the Mountain (Christmas Eve 2014)

It’s Christmas Eve. I can’t think of a better carol to honor today than Go Tell It On the Mountain. The exhilaration of joy at having heard proclaimed by the angels the birth of our Lord and Savior…the joy at seeing Him and adoring Him… ought to prompt us forward to share the Good News of great joy that we have heard.

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Our greatest joy on Christmas morning is that Jesus entered into our human struggle as fully God but fully human. His life and His death changed everything.

Romans 10:4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. ..8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile– the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

It doesn’t matter whether we’re male or female, young or old, Jew or Gentile…and there is no difference in God’s love for us. His love is immeasurable and magnificent and given to us no matter what color is our skin, what social strata we’re from, where we live, or what language we speak. Every human bears the Image of God. God’s Image is colorblind and His love is big enough for all.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Go Tell It on the Mountain was first published in a collection of slave songs and spirituals entitled New Jubilee Songs and Folk Songs of the American Negro (1907) by John Wesley Work, Jr.. His family before him and after him were devoted to preserving spirituals and he was actively involved with the Fisk Jubilee Singers whose name you might remember from the Overcomer’s series devotional on Swing Low Sweet Chariot.

As you read through the lyrics to this spiritual and enjoy this version from the incomparable Mahalia Jackson, ponder our Thought Focus for Today.

Thought Focus for Today: In a world that seems to divide and tear apart on superficial demographics, what does it mean to you that there is no difference…that the same Lord is Lord of all?

How ought our views of others along national and racial lines be changed by remembering that Jesus entered this human struggle as a Jewish man to save the entire world?

Will you Go Tell It On the Mountain that Jesus Christ is born?

Go, tell it on the mountain,