He Has Seen!

“He Has Seen!”:
Absalom Jones’ Historic New Year’s Message, Part I

The history of New Year’s Eve “Watch Night” services and of New Year’s Day messages is long and varied, carried out in white churches and black churches. In African American churches, a major part of that history traces back to the Rev. Absalom Jones.

A New Year’s Day Message

Absalom Jones was born in slavery on November 6, 1746, in Sussex, Delaware. At age sixteen he moved to Philadelphia, and by age thirty-eight he was able to purchase his freedom. Along with Richard Allen, he became a lay preacher for the African American members of St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church. By 1794, he was ordained a deacon in the African Episcopal Church, and in 1804 he was ordained a priest.

On January 1, 1808, in Philadelphia’s St. Thomas’s African Episcopal Church, Jones preached a sermon entitled “A Thanksgiving Sermon on Account of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade.” The sermon parallels American slavery, the bondage of the Jews in Egypt, and God’s personal and powerful Exodus rescue of His people.

Jones begins his message by reading Exodus 3:7-8, “And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their task-masters; for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians.” Commenting on this passage, Jones first highlights God’s sustaining care for Israel. He then relates the historical Exodus narrative to current African American life on the basis of God’s unchanging nature.

“The history of the world shows us, that the deliverance of the children of Israel from their bondage, is not the only instance, in which it has pleased God to appear in behalf of oppressed and distressed nations, as the deliverer of the innocent, and of those who call upon his name. He is as unchangeable in his nature and character, as he is in his wisdom and power. The great and blessed event, which we have this day met to celebrate, is a striking proof, that the God of heaven and earth is the same, yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.”[i]

He Has Seen: Paying Attention to the Earthly Story of Suffering

In classic sustaining style, Rev. Jones shows that God has been watching every event of their earthly story. “He has seen the affliction of our countrymen, with an eye of pity.”[ii] To emphasize how important it is to pay attention to the earthly story, Jones presents an outline of African American history hauntingly similar to mine in Beyond the Suffering: capture, middle passage, auction block sale, enslavement, separation from family, work from sunup to sundown, deprivation of food, clothing, and shelter, torture of the body, and withholding of religion from the soul.

Jones prefaces each point with the repeated phrase concerning God, “He has seen.” Thirteen times. Can you hear it? Feel it? Imagine it? Place yourself in the congregation.

“He has seen.” “Oh, yeah!” “He has seen.” “Preach it!” “He has seen.” “Come on!” “He has seen.” “Glory!” “He has seen.” “Yes, he has!” “He has seen.” Clapping. “He has seen.” Standing. “He has seen.” Swaying. “He has seen.” Hands raised. “He has seen.” Shouting. “He has seen.” “Amen!” “He has seen.” Tears streaming. “He has seen.” Kneeling.

The God Who Sees

Like Hagar in the wilderness, Absalom Jones, with faith-eyes sees the God who sees us. In our lives, do we believe in a God who sees our affliction even when it appears He has turned His eyes from us and turned a deaf ear to us?

When God sees, what does He do? In Part II of this mini-series, Rev. Jones will continue his New Year’s message and answer that question for us.

[i] Kellemen and Edwards, Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction, p. 225, quoted in Warner, p. 540.
[ii] Ibid.