Shroro:

Christmas Thoughts

by Dr. D. Babu Paul

As the Christmas approaches, I cannot but recall the transformation of Christmas in my own mind over the last fifty-plus years of clear memory. When we were young there were two Christmases every year, December for the Latinos and January for the Syrians. Now I know that neither is real Christmas, what we celebrate is a baptized Pagan festival. As a student of the Bible I feel that it is more reasonable to think that Jesus was born before November or after February. I also know today that this is Christmas2004 of the new only because we follow a certain calendar; Jesus was born at least 2009 years ago. How I wish I could unlearn these facts. Or at least learn not to notice them. And get back the excitement of the child which I, the adult man, lost somewhere on the way.

It is important how we see Christmas, but it depends on how we see Christ. When He came the response varied from person to person. How do we respond to the Infant? Let us consider the people who came in contact with Him, directly or indirectly, when Mary brought forth the child. First the Magi; they saw the sign in the sky and set out on a journey to an unknown destination. The Magi can be historically placed in the Persian Empire and the star explained from the astronomical data now available, but if I take that road I will miss the Infant now, and therefore I follow the Magi to the palace of Herod the Great. Where else to look for a Prince except in a palace? Herod, already insecure for many reasons including his Idumean ancestry, was shocked but as a seasoned ruler he did not show it. Instead he sent for scholars to find out if there was any clue to where the Nativity could be expected. The scholars did not have to waste much time. They knew. They could open the scroll and point to the exact reference. They did precisely that and returned to their leisure. Herod was polite; he asked the Magi to comeback with full facts. And the Magi set out again. Until they reached the ‘city of the Bread’ where, the one to be described as the Bread of Life was born. They adored the babe and worshipped. Then they left. Not to Herod’s palace. They had been asked not to go back there. They took another route. God knows whether they ever became Christians at all, in the formal sense, like the shepherds: did they ever become Christians, God knows. But God has chosen the shepherds to know that the Good Shepherd was born. They were told by the angels as the Magi were told by the scholars. Unlike the scholars, the poor shepherds could not contain their curiosity. They went looking for the manger. They saw. They worshipped. And they went back filled with joy. And Herod was furious when he realized that the Magi had “cheated” him. He was shrewd enough to calculate, at least roughly. He did. Innocents were killed. It could not have been a massacre; after all Bethlehem was a small town. May be 33 children; one to mark each year that witnessed the kenosis. Was it Sheen or Barclay who said that Herod could not meet Jesus even in he bloodbath? It was Sheen anyway who said that only the illiterate and the erudite met Jesus; those in between missed Him then, as most of us miss Him today too. Now with whom are we?

Herod could not permit the child to grow up. Coexistence with him was impossible: he was too much of a threat. A threat to the value chain of the world! A threat: to his way of life and to his own throne. No, the child had to go. No matter how many innocents would go in the process, the threat had to be taken care of. Most of us are not Herod. We do not fear Him so much as to kill. May be we are not so cruel either! But the scholars, the priestly courtiers, those who knew their Bible well. And theology too: God had to become Man, born of a virgin. If they knew their Micah they sure knew their Isaiah too? Yet they were not touched. They retired to their couches of luxury and their niches of bible study. They had neither the time nor the inclination to travel even a ten kilo meters to Bethlehem to check the veracity of the scroll they read out.

Herod was hostile. The scholars were indifferent. Only the erudite Magi and the illiterate shepherds showed interest. But they were rewarded with an audience with God. To see the Incarnate God they had to enter the cave. Those who have been to the Church of Nativity would recall that one has to bend and crawl before you can touch the star on the floor. Yes, to meet him we have not only to be interested, and willing to take the trouble or pay the price, but also to bend ourselves, and crawl in humility. Once we can bring ourselves to meet these two conditions we can meet Him. And once we meet Him we are not the same. The Magi went back along a different route. Their life was changed; they had seen God. Those who see God can no longer traverse the same path. And the shepherds, they went back with full of joy and praise. The good Jew did not care. The half-Jew was hostile. The backward class Jew was filled with joy; for that is where the shepherds belonged since they could not meet the ritualistic standards of the priests who sacrificed the lambs reared by them. And the Gentile, for that was the Magi who came from the east and returned to the east. Am I Herod? Am I the scholar- courtier? Am I the inquisitive and open Magi? Am I the humble but chosen shepherd? My perception of Christ would depend on my answer to this question. And that perception would define my Christmas.