Sunday, December 23, 2018

Happy Christmas and New Year 2019


"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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