A reminder for Christmas

St. Matthew 2:1-12

It is the season of the birth of Christ and as we get into the festive mood let us also read the word of God and try to understand what the Christmas season should be for all of us. St. Matthew 2:1-12 tells the story of the magi or the wise people visiting Christ the Messiah. The wise people hear about the birth of the Messiah and they are out to meet the baby. They come to the palace of Herod because they think that Herod will know about this. But Herod has no idea and he himself calls upon his advisors and asks them about this. Herod learns from them that the place of birth is likely to be Bethlehem. He then sends the Magi to search for the Messiah and inform him as soon as they see him. 

Christmas is a time when we all remember the birth of Christ Jesus in our midst. It is also a reminder of the profound way in which God loves humans and all of God’s creation. But we are far away from the reality of God and in ways more than one we are always confused about God’s presence in our lives.

In the story of the birth of Christ found in St. Matthew 2 we see two realities of life. On the one hand were the wise people. They had some possessions and yet found that this was not enough for them to gain the happiness they were seeking. They hear about the birth of the Messiah and then take all they have and start their journey to meet the Messiah. 

The other reality of the story is King Herod, a rule unto himself, seeped in corruption and drunk in power. He has no plans to reform himself and neither is he looking for anything else because he thinks he has everything. There was a change of heart later in his life but this was not the case at the time of the story. Herod is not looking for any Messiah. Instead he is on the lookout for various kinds of amusements to keep him busy.

The two sides of the reality meet during the birth of the Messiah, Christ Jesus. In the meeting we have the opportunity to decide what kind of a Christmas we want to celebrate. For this we have to dissect the passage and come to understand what we can learn from it. Firstly, the birth of Christ signifies the coming down of God into the midst of humanity. It is such a humbling and yet powerful act by which God says to humanity that God loves us and will not let go of us, come what may. We can decide what we want to do because we have the freedom for that. But it is humbling for us to note that God who is so powerful can come down to us and be with us to suffer like us. The birth of the Messiah is a reminder for us that God loves us so much that God has become us so that we may become like him. This Christmas we should be reminded in all our tensions and problems, that God loves us beyond measure. Christmas is joy because we are told that whoever tries to exploit and isolate us, God will remain by our side in all God’s magnanimity. 

Secondly, the travel of the Magi shows us that humans are ever behind God and behind peace and happiness. This will never end and everyone who finds God will find peace and happiness. The magi were misled into thinking that the Messiah will be in the palace because the palace was the center of the kingdom. But they soon realise their mistake and carry on their journey following the star which leads them to their goal. Once they reach and witness the baby and his mother, they give all they have because it is lesser than what they have witnessed. Christmas reminds us that we have to journey to find Christ the Messiah. We cannot decide before hand where we will witness Christ. We will be led and we will be taken to places we have never thought of. This could be a manger or a cave or a road side place. All we have to be thinking about is to witness and worship Christ. We will be taken there and Christmas will be fulfilled.

Thirdly, the role of Herod is striking here. He is the King and the ruler who has power to decide who will live and die. This is his prerogative, so he thinks. But he is reminded that it is not the case. He has no idea who the Messiah is and where the Messiah will be born. He is completely at a loss for words and ideas. He realizes that he is the king but he does not know what is happening in his kingdom. Perhaps if he was humble enough, he would have known why. Herod is a reminder for us that we do not own anything. God is the owner of everything and we are care takers of all that God gives to us. The moment we feel that we are owners, we lose everything and become irrelevant. There are many Herods in our society who think that they have created something and everyone else should be subservient to them. But the birth of the Messiah shows us that it is not the case.

May this Christmas be a time when we remember that God loves us so much that God has come down to us to be with us in all our good and bad times. Let us make use of Christmas to remember that we are all on a journey to discover God and God is never in places that are big and powerful but in the least expected places. This Christmas let us let go of power and those who are associated with power because if we don’t, our ignorance will only increase and make us arrogant and insane. Christ is born but Christ can never be born into confinement and slavery but only into freedom and independence. Amen.

Picture credit: www.ncronline.org

The cries of children from Bethlehem: An inspiration to fight for good

St. Matthew 2:16-18

One of the most tragic incidents mentioned in the bible and that too in very few words, is the killing (cold blooded murder) of children two years and below in and around Bethlehem by Herod. The usual reaction to the story is wondering about the cruelty of Herod and about why the birth of Jesus led to the killing of several babies and how justified is such a birth of the savior of the world. It has parallels to the saying “mother killer” when a birth of a baby leads to the death of the mother due to some birth complication.

The association comes for many people and the more one thinks about it, the more one is perplexed by the association of how this can happen. This association is what prevents us from raising our voice and doing good. We think that if we say something and that leads to something happening to someone, that we are responsible for that. It is though a very naïve understanding of the situation. We have to sometimes say things for the common good and for the benefit of society. We are not opposing a person but the evil in a person which even he/she may or may not be aware of.

Herod was a leader and the birth of Jesus needn’t have bothered him too much. Yet he is surprisingly rattled. The birth of a baby upsets him! This also makes us think what kind of a leader he was. But what he ends up doing through the murder of innocent children is that he reiterates that he is inherently evil. So who was the reason of the deaths?  Herod or Jesus? Many a time we think that if not for Jesus the children would not have died.

One must come out of the understanding that Jesus was responsible for the death of the children. There was only one planner and executioner and that was Herod and perhaps his advisors. If we do not accept this, many of us will step back from doing any good because we will think that others will be sacrificed in the process of what we are going to do. The thought is always “I can sacrifice whatever but why should others be affected?” This thinking is not helpful because it will prevent us from doing any good even though we are capable of it. The celebration of Christmas and the time which follows up to new year will be like this. It is a time to not just remember the birth of Christ, but to do what he did. In the process we are bound to ruffle feathers, bring discomfort to others and be a thorn in the flesh to many. This is why we must understand that celebration and dejection go hand in hand. There was wailing and sadness in Ramah and mothers were crying because they had lost their young ones. But we need to cry only if Jesus lead to the death of the children. Contrary to this he did not. It was Herod who had planned and implemented this. Jesus was only a ploy he used.

There are many leaders who do likewise. Someone else is made out to be the reason of a cruel decision. It appears so in the case of the death of the young here as well. But that is where we err and we must know that the birth of Jesus leads to the birth of courage and expression of views and opinions in a culture that cannot express itself. The murder of the babies is the cowardice of Herod and nothing else. The women wailing are made to think that the reason is something/someone else. But as soon as they would have known who the conspirator was, they would have stopped crying because the children died cruelly at the hands of a dictator.

Civil wars rife in Syria and Iraq and international conflicts like in the case of Israel and Palestine and internal conflicts in many parts of the world all lead to genocide and the brutal killing of children. The killers will always say that it happened because of some rebels and external forces. The truth though is that it happens because the regime wants to quell dissent in various forms. The killing of the babies by Herod reminds us of the danger of regimes who will justify their actions and use religious symbolisms to say that they are right. The killing of the children instead should remind us of the birth of Jesus who went against the shrewdness and injustice of repressive regimes and instead stood with the people and fought for life and human dignity.

The birth of Jesus is not a time to cry but a time to raise our heads and question countries and dispensations that are anti people and oppress people. The people of Syria and Palestine among many other countries deserve to have access to their mother land and live a life of dignity there. We must not allow the creation and continuance of Herod like figures who use the birth as an excuse to take life instead of encouraging life and dignity. The innocent children died a violent death due to such sinful characters and this should not continue to happen during the commemoration of Jesus’ birth narrative.

Hear the Magi, Christmas is a time to search and discern well!

St. Matthew 2:1-12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men[a] from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,[b] and have come to pay him homage.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah[c] was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd[d] my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men[e] and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising,[f] until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped,[g] they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Christmas is a time when we come together in a rushed time of holidays, get together, shopping, exchanging gifts and making and buying cakes. The lent comes to an end with a lavish spread shared between family. It is a celebration befitting a kingly and grand occasion and the birth of Christ is indeed lavishly and joyfully remembered. But what does Christmas symbolize? It does among many things symbolize the realization and search of spirituality by the Magi (wise people) and takes us back to the time when the Magi and King Herod looked at the same birth in two different ways.

The Magi followed the star and thought of the great one as being naturally in the palace and kingdom and may have been misled into thinking that Herod would know about the whereabouts of the child Jesus? It might have been natural for them to think that the child would be in a palace. But they are not helped by Herod as the birth is news for him as well. He is shocked that someone else could come to question his authority and his stranglehold on the people. Rather than being happy about the news, he is worried and he calls his advisors to know what this is all about. They confirm his worst fears and he thinks about what to do in the light of a new challenger to his unquestioned rule.

He does what he thinks best and that is to make the Magi spy on his behalf. He outsources the spy work that would have been done by his own army, to the wise people. Either this was a horrible short sight from his part or he was so confident that the Magi would be faithful to his power and arrogance that he left the job with them. His own wise men also fail him because they did not inform him about this before he came to know through the Magi. The Magi follow the star, see the baby, offer their gifts and go their way. This passage speaks to us in a big way in a time like Christmas.

One, the wise people come to the palace because they are misled like many of us that spirituality and prosperity are interlinked. They expect the baby in the palace and perhaps stop trusting the star. It was natural, like it is for all of us to trust the leader that we have and expect good things to come from the leader. Why would one expect anything else? But this is not what happens. To the contrary the leader is the opposite of what they think. He is scared and challenged by the news of the birth of the Messiah and a ruler other than himself, even if it was for the good of all. Power, position and authority don’t mean truth and sincerity. Our society teaches us to overly depend on positions and people in places of authority so blindly that we finally end up being like the wise people who went to Herod trusting him. They did what we would do today.

Two, listen to your voice which may sometimes be the opposite of what people in authority say. The Magi fall into the trap laid by Herod and they go to see the baby as spies of Herod, without being aware of it themselves. They also fulfill the official duty of representing the authorities, although they originally come of their own accord. But after they see, pay homage to and give the baby the gifts they had brought, they make a very important decision. That is to not listen to Herod and instead go their own way. Till here Herod has everything covered. But the wise people trust the voice of God which comes to them and question authority and the role given to them and move on. Even though they were law abiding citizens, they listen to a higher voice which tells them to stand for truth rather than authority laced with abuse of power and corrupt practices. This nice group of people pulls of a coup without making a bone of it.

So let this Christmas be a time of two things. We should be able to search to see where the Messiah is. We should also bring ourselves to a position of accepting that the Messiah is in a place we least expect. We should also be able to discern for ourselves and go against the official point of view of being spies for people in authority and have the courage to being followers of the light which will lead us to our own paths and our own decisions. Amen.