God born among us
Christmas is a time of huge sentiment. It is a time for gatherings, family holidays, pohutakawa flowering, beach trips, good will to all. Because it occurs in the midst of our summer holidays, people are generally more relaxed, more in the holiday mood. As such, it provides a welcome break from the rigours of the year just completed. It is a time we need to embrace and enjoy.
Christmas is also a time of consumer insanity. If ever our modern golden calf was on display, it is at this time. At every turn we are urged to buy – and buy more. This great consumer feast is evident every hour of every day. And celebrated. To visit a shopping mall is to enter into a world of frenzied activity, centered on buying things that often are obsolete by New Year. It reflects a type of cultural madness.
Therein lies a paradox. Most have taken the historical birth of Jesus – the most important event in history - and wrapped it in holiday sentiment and consumer madness.
The importance of the birth of Jesus is virtually lost. We have sentimentalised his birth to the point that it is almost unrecognizable. Is it any wonder that Christian faith has such little hold on the public consciousness? Jesus is born in among a Santa bag of presents as just another item. Most don’t bother even to unwrap him!
This sentimental celebration of Christmas can cloud our understanding of Christ for the rest of our lives. Instead of Christ being understood for what he really is, he runs the risk of being seen as an ineffectual figure with some good ideas we can take or leave, not unlike a favourite uncle or aunt.
So who is this Jesus whose birth we honour? Christians believe the birth of Jesus changed the world forever. Because of his life and teachings, a new way of being and doing things was presented. Christians are those who follow these teachings and implement them in their daily lives. They are what the Acts of the Apostles calls, no fewer than 27 times, followers of ‘the Way.’ That means that in many instances they do things differently from mainstream cultural practice.
This is particularly true in relation to how we treat our neighbor. Jesus, who taught a way of total non-violence, was clear about that. We are not to kill, steal from, defame, abuse or neglect our neighbour. We are to recognize that each neighbour carries a presence of the divine within. We are to treat each with respect.
I was reflecting recently with a friend as to what happens when the gospel is presented in its full modern cultural context. It makes a huge difference. For example, we can all say that ‘love your neighbour’ is a good thing. But place that imperative alongside the beatitudes of Jesus to ‘feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned’ and suddenly it can be very challenging. If I understand my neighbor to be trapped on the Horn of Africa in a refugee camp and he or she is starving, what does that say to my excess wealth about the proposed overseas holiday trip I was planning? About the new car I had my eye on? About upgrading my home? What does ‘love’ mean here? Jesus would be clear enough – love/justice demands we feed the hungry. But that demands sacrifice. Herein lies the crunch. How many are willing to pay the price?
Jesuit priest John Dear tells stories of preaching to numerous congregations in the US about the beatitude to be peacemakers. People are happy for him to talk about peace in generalities. They all say ‘we want peace’. But contextualize it and it becomes a different matter. Mention current US policy on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, suggest that Jesus would demand that they bring home the troops and disarm their nuclear weapons arsenal, and all hell breaks loose. They don’t want to know. Jesus also teaches, ‘be peacemakers, and love your enemies’. And the last words of Jesus to his disciples on earth were, ‘lay down the sword’. Radical stuff! Too hard to stomach perhaps in our modern culture? Not so for followers of Jesus.
It is not a problem confined to the US. After listening to Sunday preaching for the past 10 years both here and overseas and virtually never hearing social justice themes mentioned, I am convinced that many clergy are afraid to preach the full meaning of the Gospel. They prefer to sentmentalise it around individual spiritual issues of prayer and personal growth. Too often they ignore the bigger issues of justice, mercy and the needs of the poor. Jesus was scathing of such inadequate preaching by the Pharisees in his own time. What’s different now?
It is time for us to reclaim Christmas. The birth of Jesus is far too important to leave in the hands of spin doctors in shopping malls. We can do this by living the message ourselves. The discerning question to answer here is – do we follow the prevailing cultural norms or follow Jesus?
During Advent, maybe we all need to reflect on what being a true follower of ‘the Way’ means today. And make a choice about it.
Jim Consedine is a priest of the Christchurch Diocese, and a member of the Christchurch Catholic Worker