“Do You Hear What I Hear?”

Christmas 2020. Two terms that seem contradictory, not to be used together. Christmas, “the most wonderful time of the year.” 2020, a term that has come to mean difficult at best and dreadful for many.

Christmas songs fill the air trying to cover the stories of rising COVID numbers and political uncertainty. Stores are trying to bring their bottom line up while staying compliant with COVID constraints. Parents are making new traditions for their little ones because money is tight or the pandemic is keeping them from being together. In far too many cases, a loved one is gone and there is a hole in the family, and families are doing their best to hold themselves together one more day.

“Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy, Do you hear what I hear? Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy…”

If you know the lyrics to this carol, you know the questions asked and answered tell us that a star is seen, a song is heard, and a child is born, a child who “will bring us goodness and light.”

For many, the Christmas story is just a part of the tradition celebrated this time of year. Jesus, the babe in the manger, is just that, a babe in the manger. But let me tell you what I hear.

Jesus, God eternal, Creator of all, chose to come into our hurting world as a babe, the most innocent and vulnerable creature of all, to walk with us here, and take the brunt of all our hatred and arrogant rebellion against Him. He chose to be broken for us so we don’t have to endure a broken relationship with Him, which is where we find ourselves without that babe paying the price we cannot pay.

Do you hear what I hear? I. Am. Loved. Why else would God come to earth to ransom me?! I. Am. Known. Why else would God sing the song of redemption into my heart?! Do you hear that song?

One week before Christmas, I decided to read Luke 1 during my morning quiet time. I knew the Christmas story started at Luke 2, but since Christmas was a week away, I figured I would read the prequel. There we hear the story of Zacharias being told by an angel that his barren, well-advanced-in-years wife, was going to have a baby. Not just any baby, but one who would “make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Next we hear the story of Mary being told by an angel that she will conceive and bear a son, even though she was not yet with a man. That baby was to be named Jesus, would be called the Son of the Highest…and His kingdom would be endless.

I loved reading the details…Mary going to visit her cousin Elisabeth, Elisabeth’s child being born, the song of praise Mary sang as she met her cousin, the song of praise Zacharias spoke when his son, John, was born. The miracles of both births, one to a virgin and one to a barren older woman. The plan of God being worked out in His time, John (meaning “Jehovah is a gracious giver”) being sent as a forerunner for the Messiah, Jesus (meaning “savior.”). I enjoyed the details so much that I read the same passage the next morning, a Saturday.

God’s lesson for me did not end with that Saturday reading. Yes, I saw how He spoke to the two ladies and to Zacharias. I read how He knew each of them by name; they were not forgotten to Him. I understood that God had a plan for them and for the sons that were to be born. But on Sunday, I also heard God say that He knows ME, and He loves ME.

The day after I had read Luke 1 two days in a row, our pastor announced that passage as the source for his morning message. I doubt I have ever heard a sermon the last Sunday before Christmas on this chapter. But I heard it this year. This year when God had led me to read those words more than once that very weekend. This hard and difficult year. This year when we all need to hear that God is still in control no matter how chaotic the world seems. This year when people wonder if our Creator cares or even knows we exist. This year when compassion and love are needed as much or more than ever. In hearing that sermon this year, I could hear God whisper, “I know you; I love you.”

Do you hear what I hear? I hope so. Read Luke 1. Read Luke 2. God the Eternal One is writing a story. A grand story. And we are part of that story. No matter how hard this year has been, He loves you. No matter how much the world seems out of control, God’s plan will not be thwarted. Jesus is still our glorious Redeemer, the One whose coming we celebrate at Christmas, even in 2020. Be assured, the Father knows you by name, and loves you.

Listen carefully. Do you hear what I hear?

(Photo: Taken by Carolyn Thigpen, August 2018, inside the chapel at the Shepherds' Field, Beit Sahour, Palestine.)