Christmas - For Whom?

There is no other event that has affected history as much as the birth of Jesus. World History today is divided into BC and AD based on the birth of Christ. No wonder we call Christmas a universal event.  The world celebrates the feast with the joy as much as we Christians do. But, just imagine what would happen if the Church wanted to stop celebrating Christmas on December 25. I am sure the world would continue celebrating Christmas because it is a great season of income for the businessmen; season of relaxation for students and teachers and the list could go on. But now I pose a question: Christmas – for whom?

The immediate answer, probably, running in our minds is, ‘for all’ because Christ came for all. Basing my reflection on the Gospels, especially the narration of the birth of Christ, I affirm that the birth of Christ was not known to all, even among those who knew about this  incarnation of God many were not able to find Him.  According to the Gospels, two groups rather two cities did not find the Babe in the Crib.

The first city is Bethlehem. It is a paradox that the city that hosted the First Christmas did not witness the event. It is interesting to know that St. Joseph was not able to get a place for his wife in travail or a home in his hometown. Why? We read in Luke2:7 that there was no place for them in the Inn. Now the problem is with the word ‘inn’. The Greek word that is used here is ‘Kataluma’ or ‘Katalima’, which denotes not only inn but also a special room, a kind of guest room or a store room. Usually, any woman in labour would be admitted there since encountering blood is an act of untouchablity for the Jews. Now, this room was not available for our Blessed mother as the city was filled with guests who had already registered their names.

And so, Bethlehem, the house of Bread as it literally means, did not have a proper place for the Bread from Heaven. I assume the city was not aware of the coming of the Redeemer since it clung on to the law rather than show love for its townsman.

The second city that was not able to have the glimpse of the Heavenly Babe was Jerusalem. As the president or the prime minister represents a country, King Herod represents Jerusalem. Moreover, it is also given in Matthew 2:3 that along with Herod all Jerusalem was frightened of the arrival of the new king of Jews. What blinded his eyes, from reaching the manger that received the messiah, was his craze for power. Furthermore, his passion for position led him to massacre the innocent without a grain of compassion in his heart. And so, the city of Jerusalem could not hear the ‘Gloria’ on the first Christmas day.

Now it is clear that when people have recourse more to law and not to love and are filled with passion for power rather than with compassion, they are unable to meet Christ in the crib.

The next important fact is how two kinds of people found Jesus: the wise-men and the shepherds.

The first group of people who were able to celebrate Christmas is the three wise-men, why wise-men, let us call them philosophers of those days. Great philosophers are not mere thinkers but persons who have love for wisdom and truth. The sign in the sky moved them to be in search of the source of wisdom. It was not the laws that they had have studied but their love of wisdom that unveiled the truth in the Nativity.

The second group is the group of shepherds. They too received a sign rather a direct message from an angel. They were extremely happy as thy found the savior amidst the sheep and the cattle. What could be the reason for their privilege to encounter the Messiah? I think it is because they were people of compassion. Jesus the good shepherd, later in his public ministry, had compassion for the flock of people following him. I personally experienced this attitude of shepherds through a shepherdess who is working in one of our Salesian houses. The childless woman takes care of the sheep as her own children calling them by name. Any feast with mutton in the house would be a day of boundless sorrow for her. These simple people may not have passion in life but they can be seen to be people of compassion.

The two kinds of people who were able to meet the Saviour in the stable were persons of love and compassion. And this is probably the answer to the question that I asked in the beginning, “For whom is Christmas?” 

I feel that to celebrate Christmas worthily we need to be people of love and compassion as the love of God leads him to be one among us and His compassion for us gave meaning to His acceptance of the Cross. Though our logic pushes us towards law and our reasoning may give passion, the true meaning of Christmas is in the opposite – in Love and in Compassion.

My wish for all of us is that we celebrate and share the joy of Christmas with love and compassion for one another.