Malay Mail Online（http://www.themalaymailonline.com/）
The dark side of Christmas, 23 December 2016
DECEMBER 23 ― Many people forget that Christmas actually started with the massacre of babies.
The Jewish King Herod, like most people with absolute power, was paranoid about being toppled by a newborn boy as announced by the Magi. This was seen to be a fulfilment of an Old Testament prophecy.
So, as with all psychotic despots, why not solve the problem by inflicting unimaginable catastrophe and pain on innocent families, right?
The dude could have saved the nation a whole lot of bloodshed (and himself a crap load of blood pressure) if he only grasped that the newborn king wasn’t one bent on violent conquest or political power (as folks like Herod understood it). This boy-child “ruler” was not one to rule with the sword; quite the opposite, in fact.
To be fair, not many of Jesus’ followers today “get” it either. Many of them/us believe that the “kingdom of God” (as spoken of in the Bible) has strong correlations with political governance, national institutions, legal justice and so on.
I’m not the only one who suspects that Christians put way too much hope in things like the Constitution and the rule of law. Likewise some Muslim NGOs’, as regular as the seasons, play up fears of Christian “conspiracies” to take over the country.
But to the extent that such groups view Christians as having a political agenda ― and seeing this agenda as the sine qua non of the message of Jesus ― they’re just plain out for lunch.
Politico-legal authority and the Christian faith have never been great bedfellows.
At Christmas, Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus whose parents were “on the run” from the law. Then at Good Friday, churches go dark to commemorate the execution of their Saviour who was convicted of sedition and blasphemy. Finally, at Easter, Christians rejoice at the Resurrection which, strictly speaking, violated Roman law (because who gave Jesus the right to leave the tomb without the guards’ permission?).
So much for God being entirely on the law’s side. I wonder, too, if this mindset (of associating God with the law) reflects the ― understandably ― very human desire for political order so we can all carry on with our lives, making money, taking selfies, accumulating stuff we don’t need.
This cascades down to our modern-day notion of gift-giving which, of course, brings great joy to the malls (and Christmas tree vendors). Which is all very ironic because, to reitreate, Christmas began in tragedy and blood.
The baby Jesus with dad and mum became refugees, fleeing from a blood-hungry tyrant. They survived, yes, but countless other infants died.
This dark side of Christmas needs to be put squarely back into our Seasons’ Greetings. Joy to the World, absolutely, but for that joy to appear a world of sorrow and despair had to be endured. Without affirming the tragic prelude for Christmas, it would be like Raya sans Puasa.
God’s political ‘tactics’
But it gets worse. According to the Bible ― the same book without which the very idea of Christmas wouldn’t exist ― what were God’s “tactics” in response to Herod's massacre? What tactics did God use when confronted with a mini-purge of male babies?
FYI, there is nothing in recent memory that can compare with the wanton slaughter of hundreds of toddlers. American school shootings are but playground scuffles compared to this. Even ISIS bombings seem to pale in comparison.
If something like this ever occured in Malaysia, the shock waves would be so great there could be a nationwide shutdown for mourning and outrage. Yet we all accept that something like this happened around the time of the birth of Jesus, a birth which every Malaysian who’s visited a mall in the past few weeks must have heard again and again via the piped-in Christmas carols.
Anyway, the Christian scriptures record the following actions of God in (continual?) response to the tragedy:
― running/fleeing
― personal communiques which are ambiguous, mysterious (Jesus’ dad had to “negotiate” the angel's instructions)
― time (!) and patience ― God is not beneath getting the holy family to wait for Herod's death'; it's not merely that an eternity to us is a “minute” for Him; it's that He treats our minutes differently from how we treat them
― sheer human faithfulness and trust in God's provision/protection ― Joseph could have protested (legitimately) that long-distance travel wouldn't be that “suitable” for Mary and the baby, why can't God simply inject a truckload of cholesterol into Herod's arteries, cancel the road trip and whilst He’s at it install a democrary-loving, pro-rakyat king?
Notice especially the lack of confrontation, “co-ordinated action”, political mobilisation, technology, etc. Christmas is practically defined by a lack of inn room (Jesus had to be born in a manger i.e. the parking lot of the day), presents by visitors who are anything but VIPs of that era (sheperds and sorcerers) and animals.
Strange places, strange people and non-human creatures. Merry Christmas, Malaysia. A Saviour is born. Go figure.
・This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
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