A challenging song that undermines our cheap and easy holiday cheer and points to something greater. "We'd kill you by age eight" might not work as theology (our wickedness can't subvert God's plans) but it works perfectly as a subversive artistic sentiment. The redemption of the world through Christ, which we celebrate at Christmastime, is only meaningful when we understand how dark and ugly our world really is. There are times when the peace and joy of Christmas seem like saying "peace, peace" when there is no peace. (This year, 2016, is a great example.)
So the hope of Christ at Christmastime has to come after we admit how fearful, how weak, how ugly and selfish the world has become. It's a difficult song that doesn't offer any hope in and of itself. In the context of the song, all the lovely things that Jesus said - "joy to the world, peace on the earth" etc. - are nixed by our violence, killing him by age eight. But listen to the rest of the album :)
A challenging song that undermines our cheap and easy holiday cheer and points to something greater. "We'd kill you by age eight" might not work as theology (our wickedness can't subvert God's plans) but it works perfectly as a subversive artistic sentiment. The redemption of the world through Christ, which we celebrate at Christmastime, is only meaningful when we understand how dark and ugly our world really is. There are times when the peace and joy of Christmas seem like saying "peace, peace" when there is no peace. (This year, 2016, is a great example.)
So the hope of Christ at Christmastime has to come after we admit how fearful, how weak, how ugly and selfish the world has become. It's a difficult song that doesn't offer any hope in and of itself. In the context of the song, all the lovely things that Jesus said - "joy to the world, peace on the earth" etc. - are nixed by our violence, killing him by age eight. But listen to the rest of the album :)