William Chatterton Dix was an insurance executive by vocation and a poet by avocation. He wrote the lyrics to What Child is This?:
What child is this, who, laid to rest
On Mary's lap, is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing:
Haste, haste to bring him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary?
Why lies he in such mean estate
Where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christian cheer for sinners here
The Silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spear shall pierce him through
The cross be borne for me for you.
Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
The Babe, the Son of Mary!
So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh,
Come peasant king to own Him,
The King of kings, salvation brings,
Let loving hearts enthrone Him.
Raise, raise the song on high,
The Virgin sings her lullaby:
Joy, joy, for Christ is born,
The Babe, the Son of Mary!
The first two stanzas explore questions. The first stanza, taking account of the fanfare surrounding this child, looks again a second time, asking "what child is this?" The second stanza, now finding the humble surroundings to be discordant with regard to what we now know about the child, asks 'why here?' The rest of the second stanza provides the linchpin answer: it is not for himself, but for sinners that Christ is in "such mean estate", just as it is not for himself that he ultimately goes to the cross. The third stanza now imagines that these questions were asked by the Magi, and encourages them to bring their gifts. Or, it imagines that all singers of the hymn come to Christ as the Magi do: with questions, and it is in asking the questions that we find - not answers - but Christ. And in Christ we find the answer.
Compare this with the stunning hymn, Who is This, So Weak and Helpless? by William Walsham How:
Who is this, so weak and helpless
Child of lowly Hebrew maid
Rudely in a stable sheltered
Coldly in a manger laid?
'Tis the Lord of all creation
Who this wondrous path has trod
He is Lord from everlasting
and to everlasting God.
Who is this, a Man of Sorrows
walking sadly life's hard way
Homeless, weary, sighing, weeping
Over sin and Satan's sway?
'Tis our God, our glorious Savior,
Who above the starry sky
Is for us a place preparing
Where no tear can dim the eye.
Who is this? Behold Him shedding
Drops of blood upon the ground!
Who is this, despised, rejected
Mocked, insulted, beaten, bound?
'Tis our God, Who gifts and graces
On His church is pouring down
Who shall smite in holy vengeance
All His foes beneath His throne.
Who is this that hangs there dying
While the rude world scoffs and scorns
Numbered with the malefactors
Torn with nails and crowned with thorns?
'Tis our God who lives forever
'Mid the shining ones on high
In the glorious golden city
Reigning everlastingly.
In How's hymn, we are initially struck by the contrast between Jesus' humble appearance as child, and his divine nature. Over the course of the hymn, through the consistency of this scheme and the rising intensity of what is taking place, they don't seem to contrast so much. Christ's humility comes to have a towering, divine, glorious quality of its own. There is might, vigor, and strength to these questions, so filled with the riveting details of Christ's ministry. The questions don't shrink before the answers, but anticipate them. The answers come as an 'Amen!' to what we perceive that the questioner already knows!
Dix teaches us to ask questions at the scene of the manger. How teaches us not to stop there, but to keep asking through the course of Jesus' ministry, particularly the primary question which comes to the disciples' lips so often, and which turns out to be the central question of the four gospels...
..."who is this?"
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