The Christ of Christmas

Behind the festive ambience, there was an uneasy eeriness written on the faces of the Sri Lankan people who had gathered to celebrate Christmas. And except for two of them, rest of the nearly 100 people were non-Christians.

“We have had our Good Friday, but are yet to experience our Easter” quipped a Sri Lankan friend who sat next to me and had served as the former ambassador of Sri Lanka to Pakistan. (He was referring to the recent brutal massacre of Sri Lankan Tamils by both the Army and the LTTE).

His friend from childhood days who was with him and had served as the former adviser to the President of Sri Lanka had left their home country along with him a while ago in search of peace, leaving behind ancestral homes and lovely orchards where they played since their childhood days.

I was warned beforehand not to make any attempts at talking about ‘peace’ as I attempt to bring the message of Christmas as this may evoke strong negative feelings among them.

On the same morning, I had shared the Christmas message in an ‘Angel Tree’ gathering, mostly to families who have their loved ones in prison. In most cases, the wives had moved on in their lives by marrying somebody else but it was the children who appeared to be shattered, broken and hurting trying to find their place in this world.

"..our identity is partly shaped by recognition or it's absence, often by the misrecogntion of others, and so a person or group of people can suffer real damage, real distortion, if the people or society around them mirror back to them a confining or demeaning or contemptible picture of themselves.

wrote Charles Taylor in his article on ‘The Politics of Recognition”.

The questions that are probably ringing in the minds of these two groups of people who are struggling with their ‘identity’ are probably the likes of “Where is God when it hurts?”. …”If God is so loving, why does he allow such sadness, loss and pain in my life”…

How could the message of Christmas relate to these two groups of people?

As I was contemplating about it while I was preparing, I was particularly drawn to John 1:10,11.

“He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

God did not provide a political solution or a philosophical response to man’s deep and troubling questions, but chose to come and take it upon himself by becoming like us.

Heb. 2:14 says, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things..”

He came to his own (the greek refers to the entire world) but his own (here it refers exclusively to mankind!) did not receive him.

What a travesty? Of all of His creation, it was only man who chose to not receive him.

If there is someone in this world who knows what the pain of rejection is, that is Jesus Christ himself.

The first Christmas was not a very Merry Christmas.

Secondly, not only did he just come and become like us, he also came to engage and provide a solution to the basic problem that is the source of all this pain, hurt and suffering in this world – which is our own sinfulness.

Matt. 1:21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

It is sin that alienates us from God and from one another. It is because of Sin, he as not known, received or accepted when he came and lived in this world. Not only was he not accepted, but he was killed by the people for whose sake he came into this world.

During his time on earth, he revealed to us what the Love of God is all about. He taught us to love our enemies, which he modeled for us on the cross by praying for the forgiveness of those who nailed him. He showed how to live a sinless life. Yet he was given a scandalous death on the cross.

Yet, God raised him from the dead and now He abides in the hearts of those who are drawn to Him and empowers them to love Him and others including our enemies and eventually to become like Him.

Not only then, even now people do not recognize him during Christmas.. they do not want to accept him as God. Not only did the world did not know him then, it still does not know him. And the reason is still the same –our sinfulness. Our quest for autonomy. Our zest to be our own Gods.

Christmas isn't Christmas, till it happens in our hearts.

I hope my Sri Lankan friends realized that they needed Christmas to happen in their hearts before they could experience ‘Easter’.

May we experience the joy of the true Christmas this Christmas season and share it with our friends and foes!