Plus

Plus

Let Christ in and enjoy life
By the Rt Revd Kumara Illangasinghe Bishop of Kurunegala
The birth of Jesus is far more than a series of stories about miraculous happenings long ago in a land far away. This birth concerns the most profound meaning of our experience in our own time and place. Fortunately God’s view of humanity was far more benevolent and expansive than ours. But as discerning people of faith we are expected to grasp that larger vision of divine goodness. God’s love was revealed among us in this way; ‘God sent the only son into the world, so that we might live through Him (1 John 4:9).

The theme ‘God is Love’ is reflected in the whole Christmas story. It is through the birth of Jesus that the love of God was revealed among us. This is the truth of God or the knowledge of God. This cannot in any way be separated from the character of daily living for us, in obedience to the righteous commandments of God. This applies very much to the love of God. Christian belief and Christian life are inseparably linked. As a person believes, so the person has to live. The belief has to be reflected in actions of love in our lives.

In the Gospel according to Saint John we are told that the eternal God took on flesh and came into the midst of creation in order that divine light might appear throughout the shadowy domain of human sin. Note well these words of John, “To all who received Him, who believed in His name, He gave power to become children of God, who were born not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God”.

All were offered that hope. Yes even the Gentiles. All were offered hope in God, at the will of God. The creator took the initiative to redeem the creation, to save a world gone distorted.

It is universally accepted that Jesus Christ entered the world to rescue sinners. This is the central purpose of His coming. Jesus was able to do this only being one of us, fully as a human being. Jesus was not a liberator far away, but the God of every day. It was necessary for Him to be born among those whom He came to redeem.

Jesus is not only an example of great possibilities in humans, but a remover of human sins or a healer of human woes. He is the saviour through whom human sin can be forgiven and on whom human faith can be concentrated. He is the Liberator.

From the Beginning
This was not some outrageously new idea invented by the early church. Saint John is determined to show us that the impulse that sent Jesus among us had been in the heart of God from the start. ‘In the beginning was the word’. This is how John expresses the purpose of God. All things were created through this impulse and nothing was made apart from it, even though it did not take flesh for centuries and came into our midst in human form.

Ancient Israel knew this expressive impulse in the heart of God when her teachers and prophets declared that it was the Almighty who reached out to their enslaved ancestors in Egypt. God took the initiative in calling Moses and releasing the Hebrews from bondage. The God who called Moses in the burning bush is the same God who comes to us in the birth of Jesus.

God in search of us
Throughout sacred history we see that it is not that we human beings went looking for God, but that God came looking for us. This is a strange way of thinking according to most conventional wisdom about religion. God is supposed to stay in the heavens and our job as humans is to work our way up to holiness until we earn salvation. But the Grace of God extends further than we may expect, even further than we find to be comfortable. Much of the sacred history reported in the Bible tells us of God’s struggle to expand the human heart, for we suffer from a limited capacity to love others and from an impaired imagination concerning God’s capacity to love the whole world.

One of the characteristics of human beings is a condition known in the social sciences by the technical term, ‘Xenophobia’. This is a condition where there is a fear of those who are different. We tend to fear those who look different from us and those who speak languages that we do not understand.

enophobia is so prevalent that we are tempted to accept it, as natural or even inevitable. But here the Gospel stands against us. The God of the Gospels turn things upside down and puts before us a new vision, a glimpse of how life can be different from the views given to us by the prejudices that we have inherited over generations.

Liberation for all
The child of Bethlehem was born for the sake of all and not just for the sake of some. Jesus Christ is God’s gift to the whole world and not just to a select group of people. Not even just to the church or to the community of people called the Christians. Christ has come for all. In His name we are called to minister to all and not just to some.

This does not mean that we need to surrender all moral judgment. It does mean that as Christians we seek to be infused with the goodness that led Christ to come to earth and enabled Him lovingly to offer His life for the sake of those who were not willing to share love.

How come that we now refuse to follow the Saviour? Unless we are utterly unrealistic about ourselves, we know how deeply rooted is our own fear of others. We habitually tend to pull-in the boundaries of our circle and exclude those whom we do not understand or who are different from us. Even if we are open minded we often catch ourselves being far less accepting of others in our actions.

Jesus Christ the life of the World
With Christmas we celebrate LIFE, the birth of the person who brought life and shared life in sacrificing life for others. The purpose was that the others may have life. This is true in respect of physical life, because Jesus sacrificed His life on the cross so that the sinful people may be liberated from the bondages of sin and enjoy life in all its fullness. In our society today the denial of life is not only in respect of physical life. Many people do continue to live on earth, but exceedingly sub-human lives. Even the basic human needs like food, clothing and shelter are not available for them. Their life cannot be complete with such shortcomings.

On the other hand there are many realities in our midst where life in fullness is hampered. There is no war in our midst, but there is also no peace. How long are we to wait until peace with justice and fair play is established for all our people. It is true to say that there is distrust, discord, envy and bitterness among our people. It is extremely difficult for any person to hold a view that is different to another. This is true both in the political field or elsewhere. Agreeing to disagree is becoming almost impossible. Elimination of those who oppose, has become the order of the day.

Preaching and teaching about reconciliation is very common today. But there is discrimination at all levels. Symbiosis, interdependence and cooperation are what we need to foster and protect in our society.

The above realities cannot in any way be considered as reflections of love or for that matter, situations where life is enjoyed in fullness. In reference to His own incarnation Jesus said, ‘I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly”. If we are to share life, we must be among those who are in need. We are called to sacrifice so that others may have life abundantly. This is the wonderful gift that we are called to exchange.

Exchange of gifts
At Christmas we are used to exchanging gifts. This is possible only by the great mercy of God. Whatever wonderful gifts you may give or receive at this Christmas season there is one gift that is far greater. It is that God in Christ took on our human nature, in order that we might participate in the divine nature, that we might become like the one whom we worship. Here is the only Christmas gift exchange that really counts. The exchange in which God takes our littleness, our pettiness, our fear of anything different and exchanges them for those attitudes and actions of love, generosity and hospitality towards others. This is an exchange offered to us by the action of the Holy Spirit, that our natural impulses may be transformed by the renewing power of God.

The gift of Christmas is not locked up in a stable in Bethlehem and available only to a few shepherds and sages who appeared on the scene two millennia ago. The gift is offered also to us. But the acceptance of the gift requires of us a willingness to let God expand our vision, so that we may reach out to the world with the love that radiates from the manger.

The challenge
There was no place for the babe in the Inn. Mary and Joseph had to find shelter in the cattle shed. They came face to face with the harsh ‘No’. Many in our society have no place to lay their heads. It is not surprising that there is no place for ‘life’ in our society. Perhaps the innkeeper was busy attending to the pilgrims who had gathered in the area for the festival. The religious leaders may have been preparing for worship in the synagogue. They had no time to worry about people at the door.

We don’t seem to be too different from such leaders of that day. Our arms are so loaded down or our minds are so occupied, we are quite capable of keeping the stranger out of our Christmas observations. We seem to even keep Christ out of our celebrations. The demand today is that we try and include the ‘poor’ and the needy of the world in our total act. They demand to be let-in to the celebrations.

This is a demand of which people today are more aware than were the previous generations. The hungry and homeless millions are making their presence felt. It is also encouraging to note that people are willing to recognize their involvement in the needs of others. They are ready to let the world in and perhaps to acknowledge how at the first Christmas, the Saviour of the World was identified with the under-privileged.

Once we were the Gentiles, the outcasts beyond hope. We were no people. But now we have discovered that we are God’s people. Our mission is to seek out those in our world who are cast aside, marginalized, discarded, robbed of hope and are in despair. Our mission is to seek them out and to let them know by word and deed that they too are God’s people.

When we have done that, we would have celebrated Christmas appropriately. It is our firm hope that we can make our celebrations meaningful at this time.
Our Saviour Christ is the Prince of Peace; of the increase of His governance and of Peace there shall be no end. Christ who by His incarnation gathered into one all things earthly and heavenly, fill you with His joy and peace.

Back to Plus