The Meaning of Christmas
On Christmas morning a woman told her husband, "I just dreamed that you gave me a beautiful diamond necklace. What do you think it means
You’ll know tonight,
said the husband.
That evening
just before opening presents, the husband came home with a small package and
gave it to his wife.
Delighted,
she opened it only to find a book entitled "The Meaning of Dreams."
What is the
meaning of Christmas?
Most of the
time, we do not respond to one another as human beings but as categories. I put
you into some hard and past category and respond not to you but my mental
construct about you.
And you may
do the same to me. When I am introduced
to a stranger, he asks me, “what is it that you do.? And whatever I reply becomes
the basis for 90 percent of all the thoughts or feelings that he will ever
entertain toward me!
If I say, I am
a priest he will be careful not say off color jokes in my presence, apologize
for having missed church last Sunday and be sure that I am not invited to his
next cocktail party. If I were to say
that I were retired, he would want to know, “retired from what?” so that he
would be able pigeon-hole who I was and what I was like as a person. If he could not comfortably work me into
a pre-established category, he would always feel unsettled in my presence.
The Chinese
have a saying which they use to explain prejudice and hatred toward others:
“Call a dog a bad name and shoot it.” Once you have categorized someone, you are
no more responsible to treat him as a human being.
We
characterize our enemies as insects, animals or monsters and then feel
justified to exploit them or take their lives.
When someone disagrees with us, we declare that person “sick,” “crazy”
or stupid. I label that person
first. From that point I feel justified
to react to the label and pay no attention to the reality of the person.
The
incarnation of Jesus challenges such assumptions that we hold against each
other. Christ challenges every assumption as to who is good and who is
evil. Jesus mingled with all kinds of
people: he enjoyed the company of the most despised people in the society. That
does not mean that he spurned such conventionally upright individuals like
Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimethea.
This is the
challenge of incarnation. You and I are beloved children of God. We are God’s
children; our human dignity comes from the fact that God created you and me in
His image. We have a divine element in each and every one of us. Our original human condition was tarnished by
the sin of our first parents. By incarnation, God restored our human
dignity. God made his dwelling among us.
He has established his tabernacle in each and every one of us.
Our tendency
to categorize people is a great obstacle to see the worth of human life. Our
inclination to pigeon-hole people is a real threat to cherish the divine in
those people we meet.
The great
mystery of divine incarnation is upheld and celebrated in everyday life by people
of India by in the tradition of greeting one another by saying, “Namaste.” The
person greets the other with folded hands and says, “Namaste” WHICH MEANS I
revere you, I respect you because I see the same God who dwells in me dwells in
you, too.
This is the
great lesson we have to learn from the mystery of incarnation: When I respond
to you and you respond to me without prejudice and preconception, we are both
changed. When I am able to see someone as real human person with flesh and
blood and not just categories in which I place you , I will find who I am and
my real worth. Then the incarnation will
become a reality in my life.
To
Paraphrase Meister Eckhart, if the Christ is born in Bethlehem a million times,
and trudges the dusty roads of Palestine, preaching a million years, but is not
born in your heart and life- and in my heart and life-then what difference does
his Gospel make? But if you and I are crucified with the Christ and yet we live
because he lives in us, then the good news is true: God is for us. God is with us.
God is in us. We are thankful.
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