Artwork:
Madonna del Granduca by Rafael, (1505) is an oil on wood Italian renaissance painting. Housed at the Museum Pitti Palace in Florence, Italy. Rafael depicts the Virgin Mary standing, with the Christ child in her arms. Her melancholy gaze is directed downwards as she holds her child positioned toward the onlooker for all to behold the Savior.

Advent Devotional

This tune is a traditional German melody from the sixteenth century. Resembling a Renaissance madrigal, the earliest source of this old and unusual Christmas carol is a manuscript dating between 1582 and 1588. Originally a hymn, it develops Isaiah’s prophesy concerning the “rose” from the “stem of Jesse” later in Isaiah chapters 11 and 35, but is begun here in Isaiah 7 with the incarnation prophecy. Using the blooming of a rose to represent the coming of Christ, the imagery is stunningly profound.

For centuries before the song appeared the rose had been used as a symbol for Christ, and sometimes for Mary, particularly in her direct and immediate obedience to God in bearing His Son. Emphasizing the humanity of Christ through His mother, Mary, is contrasted with His deity, as Savior and King of Glory. Rooted in Scripture, and the Christmas story in Luke 2:1- 20, through His human birth, Christ is connected to the family of King David, “from the stem of Jesse,” David’s father. Indeed, “as men of old have sung it came a flower bright amid the cold of winter when half gone was the night.”

We all love the extraordinary beauty of the rose and the lovely fragrance it offers as well. It cheers even a winter table. The flower is therefore a fitting picture of the multiple levels of magnificent beauty revealed in our Savior. This Christmas allow His ever-blooming beauty and bouquet to fill your home, for His glory.

Prayer

My dear Savior and Lord,
thank You for giving
Yourself as an offering
and a sacrifice to God for me.
I adore You.
Amen.