CHRISTMAS is a season to be jolly – for everybody. Why? Any religious festivity is a season for everybody to be jolly.
Malaysia was founded on principles of unity and cooperation among diverse ethnicities and religions.
A month ago, Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah advised leaders and citizens to seek a common denominator as that will help combat the rise of excessive rhetoric masked in religious fervour and provocative slogans associated with ethnic identities.
Just as the myriad lights of Deepavali brighten our way towards right living, so do the glistening lights of Christmas convey new beginnings.
In churches, homes of the devout and in Christmas plays, you will see mock-ups of a manger wherein lies the newly born Jesus with his mother Mary and her husband Joseph.
A more elaborate setting will have figurines of shepherds and their sheep around the manger. A nativity play will also feature three notables from the East presenting gold, frankincense and myrrh as gifts.
The true value of these unusual birth circumstances lies in their symbolism. The pastoral scene is mentioned in only one Gospel – Luke (2:8-18).
The manger is a trough or open box in a stable designed to hold feed or fodder for livestock. The manger, the shepherds and their sheep denote a rural setting closer to the openness of nature in contrast to a densely populated urban setting.
The extraordinary visit by notables is also mentioned in only one Gospel – Matthew (2:1-12). From the East very likely meant beyond the Roman Empire, in Iran. That is a journey of many days or weeks in that era.
What is the symbolic value that is so relevant today as 2,000 years ago?
The manger scene denotes humility, simplicity and a more natural lifestyle under the stars, so to speak.
Christmas is a reminder to be humble despite wealth, status, ethnic identity or religious standing.
Pastors delivering Christmas sermons ought also to inform their listeners that they must put aside the trappings of urban life and visit the forest occasionally. There they will learn to appreciate nature and reflect on those aspects of human behaviour that are damaging the environment and resulting in a worsening of climate change effects.
Now we come to the notables from the East. The gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh indicated that these were three wealthy high-ranking personalities. Frankincense and myrrh have medicinal properties, and their use as painkillers and cures for snakebites and various diseases made them as valuable as gold in that era.
What do their visit to a baby in a manger born to relatively poor folks signify? The Gospel of Matthew has them arriving in Jerusalem and asking: “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” Their expressed reason was intended to justify the visit because no imperial notables from the Persian Empire or any other kingdom would travel to visit a baby in a rustic setting whose father was a mere carpenter in a land of people who had been conquered by the Romans.
The depiction of foreign notables stepping down from their high positions to be in the company of a down-and-out baby demonstrates their willingness to be with ordinary folks.
The visitation story illustrates the power of allegorical truth in dramatising the quality of servant leadership.
It is a quality that Jesus was to emphasise throughout his preaching life. “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever among you would be greatest must be servant of all” (Mark 10:44-45).
The most dramatic incident of servant leadership was the action of Jesus in healing a man with a crippled hand on the Sabbath – a day when religious law forbade any work to be done. Furthermore, it was in a place of worship. Jesus’ enemies waited to see whether he would perform a healing, and if he did so they would arrest him for infringing a religious law.
Jesus, upset by the priority they gave to obedience towards religious prescriptions rather than to human need, asked them, “Is it all right to do kind deeds on Sabbath days? Or is this a day for doing harm? Is it a day to save lives or to destroy them?” (Mark 3:1-5). He then proceeded to heal the man.
Christmas is a season for reflection. Do we observe rituals by following the exact steps and routine laid down by the doctor for taking medicine? Or do we observe a ritual with its purpose in mind? That purpose is always to elevate the individual personally or society collectively.
The next big lesson of Christmas is gift-giving. What do the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh symbolise? They represent the best of you that you must give – a heart of gold, an aura of frankincense and a touch of myrrh.
As gold represents the greatest value, your gift must carry that quality of value. Behind every gift must be a heart of love, for love is the greatest gift of all.
If you are a parent, do not think that buying a phone for your teenage child makes up for all the time spent always busy at work or entertaining business clients. Love is expressed in quality time set aside for your child and heeding your child’s needs.
Frankincense is also burnt for its perfumed scent. Hence, you must exude an aura of perfumed scent by generating the right thoughts and feelings of empathy for all the people around you. If a politician is racially abusive, do not retaliate by uttering similarly insulting words. Instead, pray that he becomes more understanding towards your community.
All of us, whether politicians or non-politicians, religious leaders or followers, should heed this advice from Jesus: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy’. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?” (Matthew 5:43-46).
The third gift, myrrh, is used as a healing balm. Develop a healing touch and influence the lives of others by helping them to change for the better.
The stories of Jesus’ healing miracles might give you the impression that he was above all else a miracle man. But the real miracle was that he touched lives. “He laid his hands on them and healed them” (Luke 4:40). Understand this as a metaphorical way of saying that he touched people in need with his powerful words and his kindness.
The perfect gift is the gift of love
Love is the miracle, the most powerful miracle. The stories of Jesus’ physical miracles are intended to convey the power of love in transforming lives and repairing the broken.
The perfect gift is the gift of love, the gift that keeps giving. Gold, frankincense and myrrh are physical depictions of life’s perfect gift – the gift of love. This is what Christmas is all about.
Finally, we come to the evergreen symbol – the Christmas tree. By now you will have seen brightly decorated Christmas trees in shopping malls, with gift boxes stacked around them. All across the world, the Christmas tree is a symbol of joy, with its star, twinkling lights, ornaments and tinsel.
How did the Christmas tree come about? Shepherds in Europe tending to their sheep in the open saw the stars shining above the forest trees on some winter evenings. The stars looked as if they were sitting on the treetops. From these observations sprang the Christmas tree tradition.
If you are decorating your home with a Christmas tree, make sure that it is a living tree and not made of plastic.
More than joy and hope, the tree depicts life whereas plastic is non-living. Any tree with branches – even a Ficus plant – will do to serve as a reminder of the evergreen “tree of life” in the midst of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9). All trees in Malaysia are evergreen.
More importantly, since 1859, the tree encapsulates naturalist Charles Darwin’s powerful vision of the interconnectedness of life. “I believe it has been with the great Tree of Life” which fills with its branches the crust of the earth, “and covers the surface with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications” (On the Origin of Species).
Darwin was the first person to see the family connections of all lifeforms from the dumbest microbe to the smartest human.
What a powerful thought for Christmas – to joyfully celebrate our multiethnic, multireligious and multicultural diversity as one national family, as well as to celebrate our links with the animals and plants as one natural family.
Be sure to fix a star at the top of your tree. It is the most important decor piece. Just as a star guided the notables on their long journey, a star of light should guide your journey through life.
Shine a light on your family, relatives, friends, associates and strangers through your concern for them, words of encouragement and acts of kindness. Should you receive a surprise gift, accept it with joy.
Joachim Ng champions
interfaith harmony.
Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
