(Clears throat)
Lights, please.
“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11)
The holiday season doesn’t officially begin for many of us until Linus walks onto the stage, takes his thumb out of his mouth and straightens out what exactly is the true meaning of Christmas. Somehow, the contrast of his little voice speaking those brilliant words brings it to life for me. Yet, there is still one word that struggles to have its depths unveiled—which isn’t surprising (or Linus’ fault) since many scholars, in fact, delayed in translating it into our modern language. It seems it’s hard to convey its full meaning in a few letters placed neatly in a row.
behold
My mistake is in Americanizing it, hearing the Angel say as I read,
“Hey, come check it out!” or “Look, a baby!”
What the Angel actually said was this: hinneh.
Hinneh is a Hebrew term that translates more as an attitude than a word. It implores a person to stop what they’re doing, pay attention to what they’re about to be told, and then consider their life in terms of it.
Why?
Because it will change everything.
Now, imagine with me, being a shepherd in the field where the angel visited. With the absence of light pollution, the shepherds basked only in the illumination of the moon and stars. Maybe the glow of a small fire lit their faces. The appearance of an angel must have pierced dramatically through their routine of thick darkness, causing their minds to race with an overload of terror. But, then the angel said, “Hinneh…” They knew then, to set aside their fear and bewilderment and pay close attention to what was about to be said because a life changing event was afoot. And afterward, they didn’t linger in the field excitedly reviewing over and over again what had just happened. No, they left where they spent every night earning a day’s wage and went “with haste” seeking Jesus.
The bearded shepherds became the first worships leaders (sans skinny jeans) “glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” Luke 2:20
Now, with knowing the complexity and magnitude of behold, consider the following scriptures:
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”(2 Cor. 5:17)
This is the Christmas story; the one where God, Himself, came down from heaven to be with you and change your life into something wonderfully unrecognizable from the normal.
It’s easy to write off the full wonder of what happened that night in Bethlehem. But it’s a past, present and future story in which you are a main character. Jesus’s birth, and subsequent death and resurrection, was God’s answer to our sinning against and rejection of Him.
He did it for those shepherds, for you and for me.
He longs to “sup” with us. To wake us up from our routine of survival in the darkness and be welcomed in; to become the most intimate and lively part of our lives. He has a light for each of us.
Behold,
“This is what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”
Merry Christmas!
Andria, Hannah, and Keith
