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| Sunday, 22 December 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Birth of Jesus by Rev. Shelton A. de Silva When Prince Charles married Princess Diana the ceremony was so carefully rehearsed and put on television that there was very little more that could have been done to make it more acceptable. Even countries that did not have monarchies such as the United States, Russia and China envied the British for being able to put on so marvellous a show. And a show it was, because it came out later, that even before the wedding and soon after, the Prince of Wales was 'carrying on' with a childhood sweetheart of his, Mrs. Parker Bowles and that this broke up the marriage. It is being said that the British monarchy should be flexible enough in these present times, for Prince Charles to marry this same woman and that if he ever succeeded to the British throne, she should take her place as Queen of England! (O tempora, O mores). Splendid When God became man, there was no such splendid stage management as there was in the Royal wedding. God chose a simple peasant girl at her prayers to tell her that He had chosen her to be the mother of His Son. Mary was aghast at the idea. She was a virgin and engaged to be married. How could she bear a child? When she was told by the angel Gabriel that she would be impregnated by the Holy Spirit, it did not make it any clearer to her. Most peasant girls knew how babies were born. For one thing, she had done nothing spectacular to deserve such a reward. Secondly, though Joseph her fiance was connected to Prince David, she was not obviously of royal lineage herself to be chosen for the role of bearing the King of Kings - the Messiah. When God does His daily miracles, He does them in ways we hardly suspect He is being at work. He plants a mango tree and puts water and certain chemicals into the soil that forms mangoes. So also with grapes. He makes grapes and men must gather them and squeeze and ferment them to make their juice into wine. This makes something bland and unattractive into something which, if taken in moderation, gives men a great deal of joy and happiness. Whereas, we men need to attract the attention of our fellowmen, God has no need for advertisement. He uses all sorts of men and women into His service. He calls the poor and tells them that obedience to Him will make them sons and daughters of His Kingdom. He warns the rich that they may be easily distracted by the power wealth possesses to get material things. He befriends sinners and His closest woman-friend, Mary of Magdala was a former prostitute. He crosses racial prejudice and religious prejudice as He did when He met the woman of Samaria and befriended her and asked her for a drink of water. He even befriended notorious tax gatherers like Zaacheus and Matthew who were considered by the common people to be disloyal to the Jewish Nation by being employed by Imperial Rome. In other words, He overcame all religions, race, class and gender discrimination and displayed a flexibility and liberalism that upset the Pharisees and Sadducees of His day. On one occasion when He visited His hometown Nazareth, He spoke with an eloquence that amazed them. "Is not this Joseph's son?" He reminded them that God loved even the enemies of Israel. In the time of Elijah, there had been many widows in Israel and yet, Elijah was not sent to any of these widows but to a widow in Sidon - the Sidonians were the traditional enemies of Israel. Jesus went on to say that there were many people suffering from leprosy in Israel but the Prophet Elisha was sent to heal Naaman the Syrian (Luke 4:16). The Syrians too were the enemies of Israel. When the people in the Synagogue heard that God favoured the enemies of Israel as much as He did the covenanted people of Israel, they got so angry that they dragged Jesus to the top of the hill on which Nazareth was built in order to throw Him over the cliff but His personality was so strong that they let Him walk through the crowd and go His way. It will be seen that God's ways are not like man's. We give largely in order to gain attention and Jesus praised the poor woman who gave tuppence to the Temple Till and said that she gave more than the rich man because he had given in order to be noticed but she had given all she had. Further, God's people were to "love their enemies and do good to those who hate you and bless those who curse you....If you love only the people who love you, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners do that" (Luke 6:32) Significant Perhaps, one of the most significant experiences Jesus had was when a Roman Centurion asked Him to heal his much-loved servant. When Jesus was not far from the house of the Centurion, He got a message, "Sir don't trouble to come to my home. Just give the order and my servant will get well". (If a Jewish rabbi entered the house of a Gentile, he was ceremoniously unclean and had to bathe). Jesus was amazed at the faith of the Roman Centurion and said, "I tell you, I have never found faith like this, not even in Israel!" It will be seen from the incidents recounted above that Jesus lived in this world but did not become ensnared by the temptations and problems of this world. He loved, He forgave, He trusted even those who later betrayed Him, He cried when His friend Lazarus died and He almost died in despair on the cross "My God, my God, why are you abandoning me?" As the resurrection tells us, God never abandoned Him but supported Him to the end. Christmas means not that we overeat and overspend on ourselves and our loved ones. Christmas means we love others with some of the love with which God loves us. Jesus is our light and we are to reflect His light in our lives. |
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