Reflection: Do You See What He Sees? (December 25, 2012)

Christmas Day (The Nativity of Our Lord)
Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-12; John 1:1-14


The first question in the Christmas song “Do You Hear What I Hear” is actually “Do you see what I see?”. But whether this well liked song is talking about seeing, hearing, or knowing, it says very little about “the child, the child sleeping in the night.” Quite inadvertently, this song has become a telling description of how our culture experiences Christmas. People see and hear all sorts of things about Jesus during the season through carols, displays, and events, but they don’t hear what we hear or see what we see. Why is this? It’s because they don’t know what we know.

What a blessing it is to know that Christmas is more than the gathering of families, exchanging of presents, and feasting to celebrate a holiday. Knowing that the birth of Jesus is the reason that Christmas is celebrated fills all of these enjoyable activities with meaning and purpose. Because we know that Christmas is just the beginning of celebrating God being with us in the flesh, our Christmas joy continues long after the rest of the world turns its attention to the next event to celebrate. Not only that, knowing the meaning and purpose of Christmas brings us joy and hope even when we have no reason to celebrate — and when all our reasons to celebrate have been stripped away by the tragedies and hardships of life in our sinful, broken world.

Even though we know these things, rethinking the words of the song “Do You Hear What I Hear” in light of today’s Gospel reading reminds us that we often fall short of realizing the full impact that Christmas has had in our lives. John 1:14 proclaims that “We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Do we see what the Gospel writer sees? Christ has come so that we can see the glory of the Father by bringing us grace and truth — or put another way, by bringing us God’s forgiveness. By coming into our world, living in its brokenness, bearing our sins on the Cross, and conquering sin, death, and the grave, the child born at Christmas has changed the way that God sees us. In His sight we are as holy, righteous, and innocent as the newborn Christ child — “the child, the child sleeping in the night” who has brought us goodness and light. Do you see what He sees?

Audio file of the sermon "Do You See What He Sees?"