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Christmas – Herald of His 2nd Coming
By Lenard R. Mahaarachchi
Christmas, the august event of the Son of God coming down to earth in human flesh will be celebrated for the 1670th time internationally. For Sri Lankans, it would be the 500th anniversary of the event, since the coming here of Lorenzo de Almeida in November 1505.

Christmas means the Mass of Christ, the mass here meaning the sacrifice, for it was to atone for the sins of the world, that Jesus was born on the first Christmas.

Christmas in Latin is Dies Natalis, in Italian it is Il Natale while the French rendition of Jesus’s Birth is Noel. The Sinhala word “Naththal” has come to us from the Portuguese word “Natal” as it was the Portuguese who brought Christianity here.

The crib is a familiar sight in every church at Christmas time. It is a legacy we inherit from St. Francis of Assissi who set up the first crib in 1226 AD to show his people what a lowly birth it was. But today we have buried Christmas in lavish feasting and revelry.

Christmas was not celebrated in the first three centuries of the infant church for two reasons. Then no birth anniversaries were to be celebrated in Rome, save that of Caesar. The second was that the early Christian community expected the 2nd coming of Jesus in glory any time, and hence, there was no need for a celebration of His birth as an infant.

Meanwhile in ancient Rome, there was a sun festival, adoring the sun god “Ra” around end December. This was a pagan celebration called “Saturnalia.”
The early Roman Christians too were susceptible to this pagan fest, so the Pope of the day, decreed that the birth of the “Sun of Righteousness” (Christ) be celebrated by Christians instead of Saturnalia. It is chronicled that the first celebration of the feast of the Sun of Righteousness was transferred into Christmas way back in 335 AD.

According to the evangelist John, Christmas means that the Word of God, or the love of God i.e. Christ), became flesh, i.e. man, and lived among men.” John does not describe the tinsel and glitter of the supermarket Christmas that we have been celebrating, which is a counter- witnessing to the mysterious, sacred Birth. He deals with the spiritual side of the event that must be understood by Christians if not earlier, at least now. John describes the why of Christmas. “God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that we may believe and have life in Him.”

Luke’s picture of Christmas is a Light coming into the world to dispel its darkness. Like in all other events of Jesus’s life, His birth was foretold by prophets of old. At the first Christmas night, the angels sang, “Glory to God and peace to men of goodwill.” Have the past Christmases given Him glory? Or is there peace in the world after 2000 years of His Coming ? In Sri Lanka today peace is a commodity that is so much in short supply.

Today’s Christmas has to be a catalyst to the Second Coming of Jesus, which event is now more imminent than ever. Let us stop the excessive eating and drinking habits and make this Christmas and the ones hereafter, a fitting preparation to the joyful hope of His coming again in majesty as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

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