Nativity Hymn 8: The Sealed Womb and the Sealed Tomb

So that your resurrection might be believed among those who denied it, they sealed you up in the tomb and set guards. For it was because of you that they sealed the tomb and set guards, Son of the Living One! [a]

If, when they had buried you, they had paid you no attention, left you and gone away, there would have been room to lie and say that they had stolen you, Giver of life to all! When they craftily sealed your tomb, they made your glory greater.

So Daniel was a type of you, and Lazarus too: one in the den, which the Gentiles sealed up, and one in the tomb, which the People opened. See, their signs and their seals rebuked them. [b]

Their mouths would have been open if they had left your tomb open. But they went away, because they had shut your tomb and sealed it and closed up their own mouths. Yes, they closed it, and when they had senselessly covered your tomb, all the slanderers covered their own heads.

But by your resurrection you persuade them about your birth. For the womb was sealed and the tomb was closed, and you were pure in the womb and living in the tomb alike. The womb and the tomb, both sealed, were witnesses to you. [c]

The womb and hell cried aloud of your birth and your resurrection. The womb conceived you, and it was sealed; hell brought you forth, and it was closed. Neither did the womb conceive you, nor did hell give you up, according to nature! [d]

Sealed was the tomb to which they had entrusted you, so that it would keep the dead safe. Virgin was the womb which no man had known. The virgin womb and the sealed tomb, like trumpets, proclaimed him in the ears of a deaf people.

The sealed womb and the closed rock stood among the accusers. For they slandered the conception as coming from the seed of a man, and the resurrection as coming from a theft by men. The seal and the signet ring convicted them, and pleaded that you were from heaven.

The people stood between your birth and your resurrection. They slandered your birth, and your death condemned them; they set aside your resurrection, and your birth refuted them. These were two wrestlers who stopped the mouth that slandered.

For Elijah, they went and searched the mountains. By looking for him on earth, they confirmed all the more that he had been taken up. Their search bore witness that he had been taken up, because it did not find him. [e]

If, then, prophets who had been told beforehand of Elijah’s going up still doubted, as it were, that he had gone up, how much more would impure men speak slander against the Son? By their own guards he convinced them that he had risen again.

As for your mother, Lord, no one knew what name to give her. If he called her a virgin, there stood her child; and no one knew her to be married! If, then, no one could understand your mother, who is equal to understanding you?

For she alone was your mother; together with all, she was your sister. She was your mother, she was your sister. Together with the chaste women she was your betrothed. You adorned her with everything, you who are your mother’s ornament. [f]

For she was your bride by nature before you came; she conceived you not by nature after you came, Holy One, and she was a virgin when she had given birth to you in holiness.

In you, Lord, Mary gained the honors of all married women. She conceived you within her without marriage. There was milk in her breasts, not in the way of nature. You suddenly made the thirsty land a fountain of milk.

If she carried you, your mighty look made her burden light. If she gave you food, it was because you were hungry; if she gave you drink, it was because you were thirsty. If she embraced you gladly, you, the coal of mercies, kept her bosom safe.

Your mother is a wonder. The Lord entered her and became a servant. The Word entered her and became silent within her. Thunder entered her, and his voice was still. The Shepherd of all entered her; he became a Lamb in her, and came out bleating.

Your mother’s womb turned the order of things around, you who set all things in order! The Rich One went in, and he came out poor. The High One went in, and he came out lowly. Radiance went into her and clothed himself, and came out in a despised form.

The Mighty One went in and clothed himself with fear from the womb. He who gives food to all went in and took on hunger. He who gives drink to all went in and took on thirst. Naked and bare, the one who clothes all came out of her.

The daughters of the Hebrews, who cried out in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, used lullabies from their own books instead of the laments of their Scriptures. A hidden power within their words was prophesying.

Eve lifted up her eyes from Sheol and rejoiced on that day, because the Son of her daughter came down as a medicine of life to raise up his mother’s mother. Blessed is the Baby who bruised the head of the serpent that struck her! [g]

She saw the type of you from the boyhood of Isaac the fair. For your sake Sarah, seeing that types of you rested on his childhood, called him, saying, “Child of my vows, in whom the Lord of vows is hidden.”

Samson the Nazirite foreshadowed a type of your work. He tore apart the lion, the image of death, which you destroyed, and from its bitterness he brought out the sweetness of life for men. [h]

Hannah too embraced Samuel, for your righteousness was hidden in him who cut Agag to pieces as a type of the wicked one. He wept over Saul, because your goodness too was foreshadowed in him. [i]

How gentle you are! How mighty you are, Child! Your judgment is mighty, your love is sweet! Who can stand against you? Your Father is in heaven, your mother is on earth; who will declare you? [j]

If someone looks for your nature, it is hidden in heaven, in the mighty bosom of the Godhead. And if someone looks for your visible body, it lies before their eyes in the lowly bosom of Mary.

The mind wanders between your births, Rich One! Thick folds cover your Godhead. Who can sound your depths, you great Sea who made yourself small?

We come to see you as God, and see, you are a man! We come to see you as a man, and the light of your Godhead shines out!

Who would believe that you are the heir of David’s throne? Out of all his beds, a manger is what you have inherited; out of all his palaces, a cave has come down to you. Instead of his chariots, perhaps, a common donkey’s colt comes down to you.

How fearless you are, Baby, letting everyone hold you! You smile at everyone who meets you; you are glad toward everyone who sees you! Your love is like someone hungry for people.

You make no distinction between your fathers and strangers, nor between your mother and maidservants, nor between the woman who nursed you and the unclean. Was it that you were too forward, or was it your love, you who love all?

What moved you to let everyone who saw you hold you, both rich and poor? You helped those who had not called you. How did it come about that you hungered so for people?

How great your love was! If someone scolded you, you were not angry; if someone threatened you, you were not frightened; if someone hissed at you, you were not upset! You are above the laws of those who avenge their injuries.

Moses was gentle, and yet his zeal was harsh, for he fought and killed. Elisha too, who brought a child back to life, tore a crowd of children to pieces by bears. Who are you, Child, whose love is greater than that of the prophets? [k]

The son of Hagar, who was wild, kicked at Isaac. Isaac bore it and was silent, and his mother was jealous. Are you the mystery of him, or is he not the type of you? Are you like Isaac, or is it not he who is like you? [l]