Jesus was born poor in a stable in Bethlehem:

Humility - the message of Christmas

by W.T.A. Leslie Fernando

Christmas is a festival celebrated all over the world on a grand scale. The shops are full of goodies. Hotels organise special lunches, dinners and dances.

The journals are full of Christmas advertisements. People rush to cities for Christmas shopping. People prepare weeks ahead to prepare for the great event.

From the times of the Portuguese, Christmas has been well celebrated in Sri Lanka.

The birth of Christ celebrated in Christmas was not such a fascinating and fantastic event. According to the story as depicted in the Gospel according to St. Luke, it was a very moving and humble event.

Augustus Caesar the Roman Emperor had decreed that all his subjects should come to their native place for the Census. Joseph the poor carpenter also came to the city of David called Bethlehem with Mary his wife. Mary was from the house and lineage of David.

There in a stable Mary got labour pains and delivered Christ unto this world.

The holy Angels announced the good news not to the rich and affluent making merry at the inns but to some humble shepherds watching their field by night in a nearby field.

It was to this very stable that the three wise men came in search of the Divine Baby guided by a Star and paid their homage with the gifts, frankincense, myrrh and gold.

Thus, Christ the King of Kings was born poor in a stable at Bethlehem, while his divinity was proclaimed by Holy Angels, innocent shepherds and King. Christ being the Son of God could have been born to the rich and worldly distinction.

But in His humble birth He has made the important decision that the luxurious of the world was not for him. When Christ began His ministry, he went from place to place saying "Foxes have their holes. Birds in the air have their nests. But the son of man has no place to lay his head. (Matthew 8/20).

He selected his disciples not from the nobility or from the patrician classes or the rich but from fisher folk - an underprivileged class, tax collectors a despise class and publicans the outcasts. Christ moved mostly with the lowly and the humble. He mixed freely with the rejected, discarded and helpless. He associated with sinners who were treated as outcasts.

The woman of Samaria was astonished and shocked when Christ asked for some water to drink because they were treated as untouchables by the Jews.

It was an age where people sought pride of place and splendour. There was a dispute even among the disciples of Christ as to who should be the greatest among them.Christ recognised the dignity and worthiness of human labour.

He said "Come unto me all that labour and heavily burdened. Take my yoke upon for I am meek and lowly at heart." (Matthew 11, 28, 29)

The priesthood at that time was an attractive profession. The clergy led a luxurious life.

The cloak was a cover to many vices. The church premises was a place of money transaction and trade. Christ in his apostolic college established a different order.

He instructed his disciples to lead simple, humble and austere lives saying "Provide Neither Gold, Silver or Brass in your purses. Nor script for your journey.

Neither shoes not yet staves for the workman is worthy of his meet. (Matthew 10/8, 9)Thus Christ preached humility, simplicity and he practised what he preached.

The early Christians followed the teachings of Christ to the letter and led simple and serene lives, in accordance with the Gospel values.

However, once the Roman Empire embraced Christianity, the simplicy and austerity gave way to pomp and splendour. And gradually the Church institutions became westernised.

When we see the ecclesiastical pomp and ceremony, glamour and majesty, glittering regalia and apparel of the Hierarchy we wonder whether Christ the simple Galillian could find a place among them.We Christians should incorporate humility and austerity to our lives as well as Christian forms, practices and institutions, in accordance with the true spirit of the life and trachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ. (The writer is a former High Court Judge and a Vice-President of Human Society Alumni Association).