Christmas - celebration or living

Christmas Message

Christmas: Celebration or Living (An other way of living)

Prepared by : Shaiju C Joy, Leonard Theological College, Jabalpur

Greetings to you, all in the precious name of my God and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is indeed a great privilege for me to stand before you to deliver Christmas message at this auspicious occasion of Christmas Carol Singing Competition organized by St. Andrews Mar Thoma Church, Jabalpur. I don’t want to limit this event to a mere competition rather I value and respect this as a platform for ecumenical togetherness as one community irrespective of the barriers like creed, dogmas or faith. This is an occasion for strengthening our ecumenical relationships. So I congratulate the organizers for their effort and all the participants for taking pain to participate in this event.

I am asked to deliver the Christmas Message today. I wonder what can I preach today as a Christmas message. We are living in a world of fear, confusion and despair. The recent terrorist attacks in the metros especially the on going terror traits in Mumbai city makes us panic. The force of fascist elements that threatens the minority existence and specifically the attacks on the Christian minorities in the states like Orissa, Karnataka etc augments the intensity of our pain. A Christian nun was brutally raped by Hindu fundamentalists in front of a priest and such incidents are increasing day by day, what could be the message that Christmas can bring? In the context of increasing crimes against women like molestation, sexual harassment, infanticide etc. It makes our life more complex and our existence is questioned. Whether we as the Christians can really celebrate Christmas?  Whether we can sing the same song that the angels sang at the time of Jesus’ birth. ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” (Luke 2:14).

If we carefully reread the infant narratives in the Bible, we will reach to a conclusion that all the stories are pregnant with the elements of Universalistic Salvation. When a young virgin lady conceives a child without knowing a husband, and on the other end, an old barren woman gives birth to a child to prepare the way for Christ. The former represents the poor carpenter community (Mary); the latter represents the rich priestly class (Elizabeth). The message of the birth of Jesus reaches to the wise of the East. Nevertheless it also reaches to the ordinary shepherds at the other end. When one presents with very precious gifts, the other had nothing other than themselves to present before Jesus. In the midst of these colorful stories have you ever heard of ‘the cry from Ramah’ (Luke 2:18), the cry of the little martyrs for Christ, the silent partakers in the salvation history? Have you seen the fear of Mother Mary, to hide this child, protect this gift that God has gifted for entire humanity? Where is peace here? How then, Christmas can become the message of peace?

The answer we can see in Mary, she herself explains the purpose of her sacrifice, the vision of her future, the salvation that she eagers for. Her dreams are visualized in the Song of Mary (Luke 1: 46-55). The New Testament Scholar      R. E.  Brown says “The Magnificat spoken by Mary, the first disciple, is especially meaningful because having heard that her child would be the son of David and the Son of God, she translates this into good news for the lowly and hungry and woe for the powerful and the rich”. He continues “In Luke her son does the same. The heavenly voice says, ‘You are my beloved Son’ (3:22); and Jesus translates that into beatitudes for those who are poor, hungry, and mournful, and woes to those who are rich, contented, and mirthful (6:20-26)”.  I want to underline the word ‘translates’.  Christmas becomes meaning when we translate the message into the life of people. Otherwise it is just a celebration as anyone celebrates any festival. If Mary, a village lady, could vision and visualize the Kingdom of God as a reality that is going to be happening in her very context, what would be the message that we convey today. Does it convey any little ray of hope to the suffering humanity? Does it convey any solace to the downtrodden whose hopes are crushed?

Dayabai says , “I began here on Christmas day (she tells about the beginning of her work among the Gond tribal). I began with conflicting thoughts about our usual Christmas celebration. I could not agree with the kind of celebrations we had; greeting cards, festival meals, and a lot of pomp and show. How unlike the first Christmas in Bethlehem! I used to wonder. I am convinced that Christmas is a truth we should live. The fusion of divinity with humanity! The Great One becoming small” In reality, the Christmas calls us for a life of sacrifice as Mary shows, the sacrifice of the Wise to walk a long distance in search of the truth, the sacrifice of many parents in Ramah, the sacrifice of the shepherds and so on. In Indian terms, we can call it as ‘a way of renunciation’, the spirituality that Indian tradition gives to the entire humanity. It shows that the message of Christmas can really incarnate in the Indian soil, as it is ploughed for this message of love, sacrifice and ‘self emptying life’. But Christianity could not do it as it came here mainly through the colonizers, the powerful, and the crusaders. Even when we inherit a tradition of 2000 years we could not influence much on this soil. We become the religion of the Powerful. ‘The Herods’ of today are not frightened with this message? They are becoming the sponsors of Christmas celebrations.

Dear friends, do we realize the necessity, and willing to translate the message of Christmas into the life of people. In theological terms, are we ready to allow Jesus to incarnate in the life of people? Then we need a life of sacrifice, a spirituality of renunciation. When the Indian Church can strengthen the vigor of Indian Spirituality, then the issues that we discussed in the introduction can be addressed. This is a land of Spirituality; nothing can be a medicine other than it. Let us have a spiritual audacity that challenges the powers of neo-colonizers.

So with our Fore-Fathers (Mothers), Let us pray in this Christmas

Sarvesham swastir bhavatu

Sarvesam Shantir bhavatu

Sarvesam purnam bhavatu

Sarvesam mangalam bhavatu

Santi santi santi