Christmas and Its Significance

It has been well established today that the four Gospels were written to record the life and story of Jesus Christ as biographies. The Gospels fit into the pattern 'bios' of the Greco-Roman civilisation within which the larger Jewish culture of the day was embedded. Scholars like Richard Bauckham, David Aune and Richard Burridge have made significant contribution to this inquiry in recent times. Yet this has been the traditionally accepted position of the church. Besides, the biographies locate the narrative of Jesus birth in the larger scheme of God's work in history in which the birth is presented as the culmination of the salvation plan that God has been orchestrating for the whole world – the living as well as the non-living world. The birth of Jesus Christ inaugurates a new world order!

The birth of Jesus was not taken well by the power structure of the day. The immediate implication of the arrival of the eagerly awaited Messiah is that the wicked and despotic power structure will face judgement; that which is unjust and ugly will be set right. No wonder Herod the Great tried hard to murder Jesus at birth. Herod had massive building projects finished and even served as the President of the Olympic Games in his last days. He was a philanthropic too! However, he was also a murderer so much so that the slaughter of the infants of a small town like Bethlehem was too insignificant to find its place outside of the Gospel records.

Luke records that Mary envisions a new world order – a society where the proud are humbled and the hungry fed. Luke further records John the Baptist's father Zechariah say that the days of holiness and righteousness are at hand. The birth of Jesus raises hope that justice and peace will eventually triumph over sin and death.

When confronted by a just person, unjust rulers and leaders cringe. Wicked rulers are afraid of justice. Jesus did not occupy any political office in his thirty three years of life on earth. However, his speech and actions were often politically and culturally subversive. He confronted the corrupt political and religious leaders of the day. He uses strong words to denounce hypocrisy of the rich and the powerful, yet to the self-confessed sinners and the out-caste, he showed love and mercy. The lost ones were sought and the ostracised given recognition. Those who have been marginalised were taken in as members of his kingdom. His life, death and resurrection usher in a new order!

Christmas brings a hope of a new order in my individual life and also with those I relate. Christ Jesus restores those who are neck-deep in immoral activities and conceited heart if one is willing to come to him. The invitation to be part of the this new order is open to anyone. And this new order is for the whole world. The significance of Christmas is political as much as it is spiritual and social. The politicians, traders, bureaucrats, doctors, students etc. are all invited to come to him, giving up their ungodly ways; and unless their ungodly ways are given up and choose the new order and life offered, destruction is what awaits them. For Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God who is the creator of all. Thus no power or hell can withstand his sovereignty. This monotheistic feature that Jesus is the Lord of all results in Christians attempting to share or sharing the love and lordship of Jesus to every human individual; every domain of human enterprise – economics, astronomy, art, medicine etc. – to be under the authority of the crucified yet risen Jesus Christ. There is no force involved – or ought to involve for anyone to come to Christ; it must all be voluntary. At the most the messenger invites is through persuasion.

St. Francis of Assisi ( 1181-1126) popularises the famous nativity scene where the young and tender Jesus lay in the manger. But the tender baby in the manger is also the Aslan, the lion, of C S Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series. If the baby in the manger is vulnerable and tender, Aslan is untamed and powerful. Let this Christmas season remind each one that no forces of the evil one or the Herod or the emperor Tiberius will prevail over the One that is untamed and powerful, the source of all which is good, true and beautiful. The Lord's kingdom is inaugurated, and in his return every knee shall bow! 

( This article appears in The Hornbill Express on 22 December, 2014)