Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king, “Do you know what I
know? In your palace wall mighty king, do
you know what I know? A child, a child
shivers in the cold. Let us bring him silver and gold.”
Lately, I’ve thought about the fanfare, the trumpeting angels, the
spectacular birth announcement of Jesus Christ that terrified shepherds in the
night. The Star of Bethlehem, the Angel
Gabriel, all of these fantastic signs.
It only now has dawned on me, that God had to do this, what with Jesus being born in the margins and laid
in a feeding trough. How else would
anyone know that the words of ancient prophets were being fulfilled? Had he been born in an earthly palace, there
would have been parades and pomps and circumstances with all the
trimmings. But, Jesus was born in the
outskirts, and the heavenly and celestial birth announcement was noticed by the
poor shepherd boys, out of town.
And, then, as this song that we hear in every shopping mall in
every city every December, the news of Jesus’ birth had to also come from the
bottom up, in terms of human hierarchy.
The shepherd boy asks, “do you know what I know?” to a king. And what’s amazing, in this song anyway, is
that this earthly king listens. Listens,
and spreads the word of this upside-down Kingdom.
Listening. Do you hear what
I hear? Do you see what I see? Do you know what I know? Maybe 2013 we can work on listening, that we
might know what others know, see what others see, know how one another
live. There is a flurry of discussions
right now, rightfully so, about gun controls and safety and mental health and
why, why, why? And I’m impressed,
actually, that people are talking about having real, civil, discourse. Talking about it, anyway. But to do this, we will have to not only
spout our mouths off, but we will have to listen. 2nd Amendment die-hards need to
listen, really listen, to the voices of people affected by gun tragedies. Anti-gun folks ought to listen to histories
of hunting families, especially those that do so with respect and a sense of
balance. Anglo folks, especially those
who believe racism is over, ought to listen to what it means to not be white in
today’s United States, from those who have to think about that day in and day
out. People adamantly against Mexican
immigration ought to listen to a father doing anything he can to provide for
his family, and try not to refer to him as an illegal alien. Christians ought to listen to the ideas of
Jews and Muslims, which doesn’t mean we adopt the same beliefs, but dear Lord,
we should be able to listen.
I ought to listen to my wife, what it means to be the mother of
two, more than I currently do.
Do you know what I know? Do
I know what you know? Is there a place we
can sit down and listen to one another?
Thankfully, Jesus has already set that table.
Merry Christmas Everyone,
Matthew
1 comment:
We all think we know but we don't really know without listening. dad and Mom
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