Just now my colleagues and I spent a good whole hour not working but window shopping online for a perfect gift to give to our boss who is based in Sydney, Australia.Should we give him a book? A bottle of perfume? A leather wallet? We would argue back and forth. No, a fountain pen is best, I would insist. So we browsed catalogues finding the best bargain. I spot a Luscious Chrome Century Ballpoint that's $70. "That should do," I say as I loosen my belt pants so I could breathe. I have been to one too many Christmas parties these past two weeks, and more are lined up ahead.
"Seventy dollars is too much! That's close to P3,000!" one of my colleague exclaims.
"That's about 500 pesos split among us. Besides, it's Christmas. We only do this once a year," retorted another. "Plus this store offers free engraving."
This is what Christmas is for us. Greeting cards, gifts, buffet parties, 13th month bonuses. A friend confessed once, "I like Halloween better than Christmas."
"Why?" I asked, incredulous.
"Halloween isn't pretentious. Christmas, on the other hand, is just another word for 'commercialized holiday.' There's a whole industry machinery behind its back churning money out of the whole charade."
"Scrooge," I tease him. "Christmas Cynic."
He turns to me smugly. "Do you know that there are more suicides occurring at this time of the year than any other? Depression hits an all-time high--pardon the pun--as countless people suffer loneliness and isolation. Enter all these sentimentality about family and Santa and I'll-be-home-for-Christmas cheer and all you did was rub it in their faces enough to push them off the cliff. Perfect ingredients for disaster."
I think now of my Uncle Bob and Aunt Edith. Uncle Bob's dad has passed away last week. I wonder how they're feeling. Suddenly something takes precedence over things that they would've been doing this time of year, like planning vacations and such. I also remember Aunt Bellet who lost her Mom to old age some Christmasses ago. She sat speechless as tear after tear poured out her eyes. Aunt Bellet's a pastor's wife. Even Christians are not immune to grief.
Of course Jesus did come to this world to die. That's the gospel truth. God couldn't die because He's from everlasting to everlasting. But if He does we can have eternal life. So He became man to suffer death for us. Every birth ends in death sooner or later. That's true for all men, including the Son of Man.
But wait! Hold your horses! Why am I saying this? Have I become like my friend the Halloween lover? Am I becoming a Christmas Cynic? So I go online and watch a video on youtube called "Christmas 2.0: The Digital Story of Nativity."
If you haven't seen the video, it's a humorous re-imagining of the Christmas story. Angel Gabriel uses google maps to track down Mary and texts her an important message: The Holy Spirit will cause her to be with child. Mary finds out about the "Holy Spirit" through Wikipedia and quickly shoots Joseph with an e-mail regarding the news. Suddenly, an FB announcement is made calling all citizens to a census. Joseph books online travel and accommodation and finds only a donkey and a stable available. The Magi use GPS to find the newborn King and shops online for gold, frankincense and myrrh to bring as gifts. It was so funny I had to share it on FB. Within five minutes I got all sorts of comments ranging from "Too cute!" to "Haha! I'll re-post this." So now I'm awashed in cheerful Christmas spirits. I thought if Joseph and Mary were living in our times they're not too different from us. They'd do exactly as we would! We exchange text messages and announce our current status to the world in shout outs.
So, how different was their world back then? Radically different, you might say. There's a two-thousand separation between the First Noel and this coming Christmas. So I dig into my Bible to find out.
Reading through the story I notice there was at least one thing that the video got right. It was a sense of urgency. Everything that was happening caused quite a stir that even baby John leapt within his Mommy Liz's womb. And while the youtube video poked holiday fun at our current Christmas flair, it seemed the First Christmas was steeped in scandal. Joseph finds her girlfriend to be pregnant and almost breaks up their engagement. And just how did they register Mary's child in the Census? Joseph could claimed he was the baby's father, but that wouldn't be exactly true, would it?
Mary, Zechariah, Simeon and Anna become filled with the Holy Spirit and begun to prophesy. The things they said hint that they were in very dangerous times, especially for a King child to be born.
Zechariah's lips, unloosed, said, "God has sent us a mighty Saviour from the royal line of his servant David, just as he promised through his holy prophets long ago. Now we will be saved from our enemies so we can serve God without fear."
Mary said, "His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands." Why, I gasp, Mary's talking about a revolution!
Simeon's words to the new mother were no less unnerving. "This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, but he will be a joy to many others. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul."
Then strange visitors from the East pay a courtesy call, which only endanger the life of the Child, and those around him. King Herod sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under to wipe out his throne's future usurper. My head was spinning after reading that. Two-year-old boys?! There's a secret flight to Egypt in the middle of the night. "Quickly!" the angel rouses Joseph frum sleep. "Go now!"
My friend Ivy San Diego-Guerrero just gave birth to her first son Timothy last December 7. Timmy is a miracle child, born only at 29 weeks' term. He weighed 1.246 kilos at birth. Immediately he has brought joy to his parents Ivy and Omar. Timmy, the little fighter, has to stay in the hospital to gain enough weight before he's allowed to go home. I shudder to think what if the government declares a massacre of all boys? Timmy would've lost his chance at life!
So now I know I was wrong. The events of 2000 years ago are not very different from today's. Middle East politics is shaky and there's threat of war. North and South Korea have exchanged bombs. Nearly a decade ago Lauro Vizconde lost his entire family in a tragedy, and still the killers are unknown. It was just last year that the Maguindanao Massacre shocked the whole nation.
"A cry was heard in Ramah—
weeping and great mourning.
Rachel weeps for her children,
refusing to be comforted,
for they are dead."
Was that headline from 2000 years ago, or today's? Christ's first coming was wrapped in political tension and personal tragedies, things we know all too well in 2010.
And yet the angels have announced something we all pin our hopes on to. They sang to shepherds: "Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased."
Peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased. This is the I AM's promise. He said, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." It is by God's grace that we receive peace. It was His choice to impart compassion.
It is by God's grace that Omar and Ivy have peace as they wait for Timmy to be strong enough to come home. It is with peace that Aunt Bellet grieved her mom's passing, knowing that the Christ has come and conquered death forever. It is with God's peace that I look at my strained family relationships knowing that somehow and soon, there will be forgiveness and restoration. God has promised. "I will have compassion…"
Elizabeth told Mary, "You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said." It was true then as it is now. We are blessed if we believe that the Lord would keep His promises.
He said He'll give us eternal life (1 John 5:11). He said He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:3). He said He'll come back for us to live with Him forever (Revelation 22:20). Let us believe that the Lord would do as He said.
So as we celebrate Christ's first coming, amidst greetings and holiday cheer, let us toast to Christ's glorious return, the True King and Saviour of the world. Merry Christmas, my brothers and sisters!
