A very merry Christmas to you! Today, Fijians together with everyone around the world celebrate the Christian holiday – Christmas – or more specifically, the birth of Jesus Christ.
There was nothing physically spectacular about that birth over 2000 years ago.
To mark our birthdays, even our very fi rst, we get out of the way to put up a spectacle replete with balloons, tinsels and layered birthday cakes. Jesus’ birth day had nothing of that sort.
According to the Bible, Joseph and a heavily pregnant Mary whom he had been betrothed to marry left the city of Nazareth for Bethlehem during a decreed census.
Everyone was required to travel to his or her home city. When they reached Bethlehem, the City of David, all possible lodging space one could think of was occupied – every inn and every room on every street.
From every door that Joseph knocked on came the displeasing answer “there’s no place for you here!”
It so happened that the only place that had “space” available that night was a smelly manger inside an overcrowded stable where animals were jostling against each other and making raucous animal noises.
It was as if these beasts were all shouting out the words every property owner in town had already told the couple: “there’s no place for you here!”.
You can imagine Mary’s state of mind, knowing she was going to give birth in a state of chaos, in front of curious animals. When you come to think of it, Christmas is not really about gifts and presents, Santa Claus and dining over good food and fine wines with loved ones.
On this most popular holiday of the year, many are still stuck in misery and pain. Many will eat from an empty plate, many prison dads will have no children to hold, many have no homes to go to and no family members to hang out with.
Many, despite our human rights and modern laws, still feel alienated by the dreadful words that Mary and Joseph heard in Bethlehem that miserable night: “there’s no place for you here!”
In today’s society, Christmas has been used as a marketing gimmick so those greedy businesses can snatch your hardearned cash out of our hands. And the blaring music, dancing, grog sessions, lovo lunches and roasted dinners of Christmas give us false security of the world we live in.
We forget about the unjust leadership we are governed under, the abuse of our rights and privileges, the high cost of living and hiking food prices and the many adversities we encounter in our quest to just have fun. Just a few months ago, hundreds of our fellow citizens were dying in our hospitals and families were burying their loved ones in droves. +
Not too long ago too, tens of thousands had lost their jobs and households were struggling to put food on the table. We still remember those moments but get excited and whisked into a state of euphoria when we see stockings, Christmas trees decked with lights and trinkets and presents laid out under them in attractive wrappers and elaborate bows.
We seem intoxicated by this superfi cial sense of excitement and joy. Think of it! New Year, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Fiji Day, Christmas, Diwali and Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday — may seem harmless but they are fast becoming a popular product of a greedy capitalist Fiji where the bottom line is your bottom dollar. They want your money!
Every single cent of it!Period! Parents tell children to make a list of Christmas gifts they’d want Santa Claus to get them. While Santa remains in the imaginary world, parents will physically walk to the mall to shop.
Then they push their children through a street crowd to ensure the young ones sit on the lap of the red-suited and whited-haired Santa. To top things off, they spread lies that the chubby gifter travels from the pole on a flying carriage powered by reindeers. We make them believe in partridges in pear trees, turtle doves, Alaskan huskies and Rudolph the red-nosed deer.
There are even songs to sing along to. But do we ever relate to them the real underlying meaning of Christmas?
That it’s almost a horror story of how baby Jesus was born in a trough used for feeding animals under the most unhygienic of conditions?
The dirt and grime of the manger is more than a lesson we can ever get from showering each other with gifts that we unwrap from under the Christmas tree. It is more than eating to our hearts’ content with family and friends. It is also more than holidaying in a secluded slice of paradise and soaking up the December sun. Christmas is about compassion and humility.
The story of Jesus being cradled in a manger of a stable demonstrates the depth of God’s humility – that he was willing to leave his mansion and heavenly glory to be born in the human flesh in one of the most despicable places you could think of. He wanted to live among us and through lessons in humility, he showed his unerring love to mankind and that he would die for all the sins of the world so that we may live with him one day and have a share in his eternal life.
As we look around us, we may find a few leaders that live a life of humility and compassion. Many display greed, covetousness and selfishness. Many demonstrate love, compassion and selflessness. Let us not sound the words “there’s no place for you here!” this Christmas.
Instead, let us receive the unhappy, the poor and the ostracised and make them feel welcomed to have a piece of joy from our hearts, in our homes and community.
As we move closer towards 2022 and the impending general elections, let’s not forget to remind our leaders in the community and in politics about the lessons of inclusivity, unity, equality, justice and humility – things that bind us together and not things that push us apart and say “sorry, there’s no place for you here!”
And as you unwrap your presents tomorrow, do not focus too much on the new gifts that you will receive with a gaping “wow” but rather think of those unfortunate people that don’t have them.
Think of baby Jesus, swaddled innocently in plain clothes in a filthy manger because there was no space on earth left to receive him. Make your hearts and minds, the manger that will receive him this merry season.
Think of the luxuries he gave up to be born among us, just so that he could die for us and save us.
Now that is the manger Christmas – the genuine and only true Christmas story!
Until we meet on this same page same time next week, stay blessed, stay healthy and stay safe.
