Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, a tune that has become familiar to many, has captivated me for many years. The song’s melody is entrancing, but its lyrics are somewhat perplexing. The verses speak about a “cold and a broken Hallelujah,” hinting at the brokenness of our humanity and of human love.
I’ve never thought of Cohen’s Hallelujah as a Christmas song, but hearing a rendition of the song on one of Pentatonix’s Christmas albums got me thinking: Isn’t the brokenness of our Hallelujahs exactly why the Son of God became one of us? Didn’t he become flesh to teach our hearts to praise? Leonard Cohen was Jewish and wouldn’t have intended his song to point to Jesus, but my Christian heart couldn’t help making the connection.
Here’s what I mean: The Hebrew word “Hallelujah” (or Allelulia in the Latin spelling) is one of the most significant words of the Scriptures, especially in the Psalms. Hallelujah, meaning “Praise the Lord,” is an acclamation lauding God for his infinite perfection. Hallelujah is the song of heaven, sung endlessly by the choirs of angels and saints. To be in heaven is to be absolutely overwhelmed by the truth, beauty, and goodness of God, so that you cannot help but sing out, “Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!”
In the brokenness of our fallen world, however, we often fail to see the goodness of the Lord and therefore struggle to find a reason to praise Him. We tend to be overwhelmed not by the beauty of God, but by the demands of life, our unfulfilled longings, the pain of rejection and mistreatment by others, and, ultimately, the tragedy of suffering and death. Our human hearts, which were created to rejoice in the Lord, easily fail to see past the evils of our fallen existence.
The first “Hallelujah” was sung not by the angels, but within the heart of the Most Holy Trinity: For all eternity, the divine Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have sung out to one another a hymn of perfect praise, as each marvels at the divine perfection of the others. Both humans and angels were created to join in this exchange of praise, as God sings of our goodness, and we sing of His. Sin has interrupted this symphony of praise, both by introducing reprehensible evil into creation and by turning our hearts away from the Lord. The Hallelujahs of the human heart need to be fixed.
The infant Jesus is the Word made flesh or, you might say, the Hallelujah made flesh. His infant-sized human heart held heaven-sized praise for the eternal Father, even in the discomfort of our fallen world. Christ carried this lifelong hymn of praise uninterrupted even to the Cross, calling us to sing of the Lord’s goodness even amid life’s suffering.
Praise was a defining characteristic of Jesus, even when he suffered on Calvary. Many of us are familiar with Jesus’ words of distress on the Cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, quoting Psalm 22:2). Many are unaware, however, that Jesus was quoting Psalm 22:2, which continues, “Yet you, O God, are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel” (Psalm 22:3). Even during the agony of the Crucifixion, Jesus was alluding to the holiness of God and our call to praise Him.
Through his Resurrection and Ascension, Jesus conquered sin and death. Now in heaven, the Risen Lord leads the angels and saints in a symphony of joyful Hallelujahs. By giving us his Holy Spirit, Jesus has introduced us into his new life of praise. By our Communion with Jesus Christ, His Hallelujah has been placed on our lips and in our hearts, so that we may also learn to sing the praises of our heavenly Father, even when life is challenging. By grace, every sin in our lives can be forgiven and replaced with goodness, so that we may one day “receive praise from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5).
This Christmas season, then, may each of us be inspired by Jesus to sing God’s praises! May the Son of God repair every broken Hallelujah. “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Alleluia!” (Psalm 150:6).