When Handel Wept

In the summer of 1741 the famous classical music composer, Handel, depressed and in debt, began working on a piece of music that would become one of the most well-known arrangements in all of classical music. It took Handel, a Christian, only 24 days to complete his work, Messiah. Now, in case you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s the piece of music you’ve heard before with the famous Hallelujah Chorus: "Hal-lel-uiah, Hal-lel-uiah, Hal-lel-uiah, Halle-luiah." Handel's Messiah is often performed at churches during Advent season and covers the prophecies concerning Jesus the Christ, his birth, miracles, crucifixion, death, resurrection, ascension into heaven and Jesus’ final victory over Satan, sin, and death. Now, what you may not know is that part of the lyrics of Handel’s Messiah are taken from Isaiah 9, which is the section of scripture we are focusing on during this year's Advent sermon series, A Son Is Given. In the Messiah, when they sing, "And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace," that’s from Isaiah 9:6. Rumor has it that when Handel wrote Messiah, his assistant was shouting out to him, but he didn’t answer. So the assistant went into Handel’s room and found him bent over weeping. When he asked Handel what was wrong, Handel held up the score for Messiah and said, "I thought I saw the face of God." Perhaps he did. 2 Corinthians 4:6 says, "For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." It’s my hope today during this Advent season that God would shine a light into your heart so you can see the beauty, strength, and wisdom of God in the face of Jesus Christ by God the Holy Spirit illuminating Isaiah 9 as we study it together. Bubba Jennings is executive pastor of the Seattle region and interim campus pastor at the West Seattle campus, on whose blog this post originally appeared. See the entry of Handel's baptism in 1685 here. After the jump, watch a flash mob performance of the Hallelujah Chorus in an Ontario, Canada mall (we kid you not).