I Heard the Bells

One Year Bible: Dec. 27

Zechariah 10:1-11:17

“I Heard the Bells”

My students and I participated in a program based on the American Revolution. We read the poem Paul Revere’s Ride. Perhaps, you may recall the words, “The British are coming!”

The man who wrote this poem, Longfellow, was a famous abolitionist. He stood strongly on the side of “Freedom” but then became enslaved to darkness, grief, and abandonment.

My family and I went to see Sight and Sound’s Christmas movie based on the life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It was touching, powerful, and filled with a timely Christmas message.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was famous in the days of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. His household was filled with joy, laughter, and love. His wife was a very faithful worshipper of God. One day as Henry was taking a nap, she was near the fire, and her dress caught fire. Henry was burned badly trying to rescue her, but she sadly died.

Henry became enslaved in pain, guilt, and grief. He could not find God or believe in him. “If God gave me the voice of a poet, why did he take my poetry?” Henry asks. “I will never write again.” He had indeed lost his hope and his voice.

His son, Charlie, abandoned his faith and joined as a soldier in the Civil War. While there, he was wounded and near death. The soldiers carried Charlie into New Hope Church in Virginia, and he was near death. He lay next to the “fallen church bell” and had a near-death encounter with the Risen Lord while unconscious.

Where was the God who “took his lovely mother” and abandoned his father into a steep descent into grief and pain meds? Would he die abandoned in this broken-down church?

Abandonment and betrayal are “hard pills” to swallow, Aren’t they?

Today’s lesson is about just that… Abandonment, Slavery, and Rescue.

Zechariah 11:12-13 is an intriguing reference to 30 silver coins. Zechariah had been commanded to watch a flock of sheep doomed to the slaughter (Zechariah 11:4). Within a month, Zechariah fired the three shepherds working with him (v. , and he abandoned the flock and broke his staff. All that watched this recognized it as another “living parable” from the Lord. They understood that the Lord would remove His favor from his people and allow them to be taken captive by their enemies. (v. 6)

Zechariah then tells his employers to pay him his wages as they see fit. So, they paid him 30 pieces of silver, the price of a SLAVE. (Ex. 21: 32) Zechariah gives the coins to the Potter’s house (the temple).

This is a word picture or “bell ringer” for the Jewish people.

Zecharias is insulted as this betrayal is the price worthy of a “slave.” Why do people think this passage relates to Biblical prophecy about Jesus’ betrayal at the hands of Judas, who is betrayed for 30 pieces of silver?

Matthew 27:3-10 directly links this prophecy to Jesus, “Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: ‘They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.’”

Jeremiah also bought a field at the Lord’s command and was tied to this prophecy about the law, the writing, and the prophets. The message was that the Jewish people would be judged and made captives, and their debt would be paid for with 30 pieces of silver.

This passage takes me back to the story of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his son, Charlie.

You see, while Henry was standing up for “Freedom,” he because a slave to guilt and grief.

While Charlie was wearing the uniform to fight for the freedom of slaves, he nearly lost his life and was close to being paralyzed.

He was physically paralyzed, while his father was emotionally paralyzed.

Both of them were spiritually paralyzed. They felt completely abandoned by God.

However, God met Charlie on that cold, hard floor of the New Hope Church. He saw “The Bell” that called people for years to worship and pray was now calling him…

He found hope in the midst of death and took that hope home to his father.

On Friday, December 25, 1863, Longfellow, a widowed father of six, wrote this song, “I heard the bells on Christmas day their old familiar carol play. And mild and sweet, their songs repeat. Of peace on Earth, goodwill to men… Then rang the bells more loud and deep. God is not dead, nor doth He sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail. With Peace on Earth, goodwill to men.” (I heard the Bells, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Henry’s greatest triumph song came out of his greatest tragedy.

The good news in today’s passage may seem hidden in the rubble, but the bell rings forth the true message. Jesus came to set the captives free! He triumphs over tragedy!!

Can you hear the bells of Christmas?