"Behold, I bring you
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." This
is what we read in the book of Luke 2:10. Is
that great joy reflected in our lives and in our daily contact with others? Or are we so
enamoured with and entangled in this fleeting, failing, futile, finite earthly
life that we have lost the great joy of anticipation of being in His presence.
Let us keep asking this question as we celebrate the Christmas in different
ways.
The birth of Jesus is a turning point of
human history and there is nothing wrong to remember the Lord’s birth. But how
do we do? Is it just to follow the western tradition, or are we projecting the
truth from the bible? What a great news it might have been to those Shepherds
when the angel came and said "Behold, I
bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people..." Now, let us also look at our context
too. The world where we live is very
strange in one way. We live in the age of information, or “digital age,” or
“new media age.” The whole world is in our fingertip. Our uncles and aunties
from Mugu can make a whatsapp call to their friends in California. One of the most used online sources
(dictionary.com) chooses “MISINFORMATION” as the word of the year 2018. Our children are bombarded with the
misinformation, which is mostly packed with false
or inaccurate, especially that which is deliberately intended to deceive.
We survive in the societies where truth does not have any more space. We live
in the villages where whole set of good information is distorted and our
children are trained up in confusion. The gospel according to Luke reminds us
FOUR things about Christmas. Let us see what the Lord has stored for us to
renew our hope in Him.
1.
Shepherds: The good news came to the shepherd first
time, not to kings. The history says that the shepherds were disdained as lowly
as you can think of. During the patriarch era, they were considered valued and honored in society. The following civilization then twisted and values and
norms gradually shifted over the years.
Things turned to the different arena when Israelite came into slavery in
Egypt. This profession had lost its dignity in society. The rabbis
considered them to be religious outcasts and their testimony was not admissible
in court. (Utley, 2004). Whatever the case might be, the angel came to Shepherds
with the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord hears the cry of his
people disregard of our background and class.
2.
Fear: What a fear it might have
been to the shepherds who were immersed with fear of society, culture, and
context. In Contrast, the voice appears to them, “Do not fear”. Fear has caught
us even in our lives. Our family, society, villages, nation are in deep trouble
with fear of survival. Looking at our Nation, we do not know how the federal
system will survive. We were desperate for the majority and we have got it.
People are afraid of how things will move from here. Our daughters are not safe
in our society. We cannot trust civil servant. The corruption is more rife than
ever before in our country. Of the 715
people who went to 15 government offices in Kathmandu and Lalitpur, 504 of them
said they had to bribe the official to get their job done. Out of
180 people who went to four Land Revenue Offices in Kathmandu, 140 were forced
to bribe officials. (Sapkota, The Nepal Times, Dec, 2018) What
will happen to us tomorrow? We are burdened with our future? We are anxious how
our children are going to be tomorrow? The message for the shepherd is to break
all those barriers and turn it into freedom.
Christ was/is the hope for all. The hope of freedom!
3.
ALL: The question is about the
God’s saving nature? Many a time we question in the Old Testament, saying, is
the Lord for all! Yes, He is. He speaks
in Pentateuch. (Gen 12) His blessing will follow from Abraham. Psalmist keeps
saying that everyone in the earth will praise the Lord. All castes, colors,
ethnic groups and languages will praise the Lord. This is the golden thread
that binds all. Even angels told to shepherds that the good news is to ALL.
4.
Peace: No man can earn or cultivate the peace.
This comes from above. The Lord will add his peace which no one can ever earn. Knowingly
the fact that we cannot do much to earn the peace, human beings are after it.
We assume that materialism can feel the gap. Alas! It does not last for long. A
billionaire industrialist Adolf Merckle committed
suicide in 2009. He was once ranked as one of
the 100 richest men in the world, with an £8.5 billion personal fortune. I can
name the list of the high profiles who earned the wealth and status but their
hearts were void. Who can fill that gap? The shepherds are glad to share the
good news of peace. He is the Lord Jesus.
Can we
celebrate Christmas with hope, joy, peace and love? We do not need Santa, or Christmas tree or even do not require much of the show-up which sometime puts a pressure
on the one who cannot afford. Let us make the Christmas where our brothers and
sisters gets an opportunity to know the Christ. Please remember, the Christmas
is not found in the Bible, Christmas tree is not found in the Bible. Santa does
not have space in the Bible. What we have in the Bible is about the Love, Peace
and Joy of our savoir. We all can create culture from the Bible without
Turkey’s Santa, or Europe’s Christmas-tree. Let us celebrate the birth of our King!
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