25 December 2001, 12:16am IST
Janina Gomes.
Christmas is a festival that belongs to children and the child in all of us. the old testament prophet isaiah foretold that a great light would appear at the birth of a child. that child was jesus, who came forth from the womb of mary. a burst of light startled the shepherds, as angels sang of his birth. the apostle st paul anticipated that people were cleansed of all unrighteousness and once again responded to life with a childlike innocence. caroll stuhlmueller c p, a biblical commentator says, ‘‘the biblical readings related to christmas do not scatter toys round the christmas tree, nor are they composed of fairy tales’’. if christmas speaks to the child in all of us, it’s because they are close — as children are, to the source of life. it is because in the celebration of the festival, we come face to face with the most essential, the most beautiful and the most worthy of our dedication, that is the birth of jesus. christmas symbolises all the joy and excitement of a new birth. it impacts not merely the family into which the child is born, but in this case, the whole ‘human family’. at christmas, we recall the first innocence with which we are born into the world. the freshness and purity of a new born is celebrated with traditional gaiety. at christmas, this is a cause of even greater celebration, since ‘the child’ born is the: ‘‘light of nations’’ and comes to redeem us of sin. children are spontaneous, and it is this quality that we are called to celebrate. jesus said: ‘‘unless we are like children, we will not enter the kingdom of heaven’’. the crib which we find in churches and in so many christian homes during the season paint an ideal scene — with mother and child, and the adoring magi. the ox and the ass at the stable, in the scene, portray an even more earthy reality, and stress the closeness of nature. all creation is at peace with and pays homage to this child. from the angels announcing the birth, to the shepherds being called to worship him, every aspect of life is woven into this great mystery. the adoring magi or the three wise men from the east, who come to pay their homage are symbolic of the fact that human wisdom takes a second seat to the innocence and purity of a child. as adults, we are meant to preserve the child in us so that we retain our innocence. childhood is associated with vulnerability, freshness and openness of a mind and life not yet tainted with prejudices. by the birth of jesus, each of us is freed of chains and prejudices, like jesus was. we can possess the innocence and the hope of a child. christmas, like a child at the moment of its birth, is surrounded at first by darkness. this obscurity may envelop the world, from great tragedies like war and cruel conflicts, to genocide. this darkness may be simply the silence of night when we pray and watch like shepherds in the field. within such a darkness, a child is born and world events will not halt the birth of a infant whose time has come. another aspect of the christmas mystery which christians believe, is the incarnation of jesus, when jesus discarded his robe of light and instead put on swaddling clothes by taking birth as a human baby. according to luis m bermejo, a leading theologian, jesus humbled himself and became obedient. humility is not a particularly palatable virtue to our contemporaries, and is considered almost as a sign of weakness and impotence. yet, jesus did become humble and human, and this radical, voluntary self-abasement of the incarnation was not a passing, ephemeral event. through his birth, jesus became subject to the human condition and through his subordination won back reconciliation for man with god. the christmas message is a message of universal love and peace. a joyous announcement that the father loves everyone is significantly not made to the high and the mighty, though such people existed in palestine at that time, but rather it is made to the outcasts and the marginalised — to people who found it difficult to make both ends meet. they were the recipients of the first christmas message. every christmas the message is repeated that god comes to us to evoke the child in us. his birth is a manifestation of god’s love for humanity which made him embrace the human form. christmas is also a season of hope. hope that knows that suffering, though indeed bad in itself, is often the price of redemption — hope that helps us overcome the worst of disasters.
No comments:
Post a Comment