We often romanticize the first Christmas as silent, peaceful, and holy night. Following this imagination, we say that the yuletide season is a call to set aside conflicts. There is an obvious value to depict Christmas as a time for peace. Indeed, there are a number of stories that during the First World War, British and German soldiers were pointing their guns at each other as they were separated by less than a hundred meters. But on Christmas Eve, they would realize the absurdity of what they were doing. At least for one night, they would play football and exchange bottles of wine after the game. This brought consternation to their respective military commanders who would then assign the soldiers to other fields for, after having looked at the faces of their adversaries, they were now hesitant to kill each other. The hesitation comes from the realization that soldiers on the other side were not the demons they were expecting to see but their fellow human beings.
But on the other hand, the call for peace can serve to lull us into slumber amidst injustices. In the current context, romanticizing Christmas can mean a respite from our outrage over corruption involving trillions of taxpayer’s hard-earned pesos. While there is the call to be peaceful and loving not just on Christmas but beyond, let it not be at the expense of the need to speak truth to power.
Thus, we need to be reminded that the narrative of the birth of Jesus was a subversive story against the powerful establishment. It is a story that the Son of God decided to be on the side not of the powerful but of the victims of the abuse of power.
In the Gospel of Matthew, the holy family had to flee to Egypt to escape from the murderous Herod who wanted to perpetuate himself in power. The circumstances of Jesus’ birth are intended to remind the readers of the story of Moses who liberated the Israelites from the bondage of Pharaoh.
In the Gospel of Luke, Mary proclaimed a God “who casts down the mighty from their thrones and lifts up the downtrodden, who fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich empty away.” Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, also proclaimed the God of Israel who “has come to the people to set them free,” and reiterated God’s promise “of salvation from our enemies and from the hands of all who hate us.”
The birth of our Lord Jesus himself was in the context of a census ordered by the Roman Empire. The census was likely one of the means of the empire to subjugate the people. The Son of God decided to cast his lot with the oppressed.
The title “Son of God” used in the Gospels to express the disciples’ faith in Jesus was a direct challenge to the Roman Emperor who also claimed the same title.
Was the first Christmas night therefore a silent night? Maybe, it was silent. But underneath the silence was the subjugation of a people. Was it a peaceful night? If by peaceful we mean the absence of conflict, then there was never such a night.
I will not appear here until next Sunday, and so it is opportune time for me to wish you all a Blessed Christmas.