The real message of Christmas

Christmas is under severe attack. Not just by some folks in the United States who insist on calling the celebration ‘Holidays’ to engender a supposedly inclusive period for people of all faiths, but also by those who refuse to see the real message of Christmas.

Thankfully, their cousins on the other side of the Atlantic, the Brits, have refused to join in the attack. I remember reading an article by a journalist who is Jewish some days back which condemned the ‘Happy Holiday’ greetings instead of Merry Christmas, asking how uttering those two words prejudiced him as a non-Christian. This is just by the way, but it’s necessary because quite many people, Christians and non-Christians have been distorting the real message of Christmas.

Some Christians actually celebrate the season without the reason. While some denominations do not celebrate Christmas, all agree that Jesus Christ was born and that’s most important. Sadly, we see an over-commercialization of the season. Many are suffused in buying and selling that they forget that a major kernel of the Christmas message is humility. Organisations and governments spend fortune annually in decorating their premises without looking at the welfare of staff and citizens.

Christ was born to a family that was neither rich nor famous and which could not even afford decent medical care for the baby. Most likely, Joseph and Mary were so broke that they did not have money for antenatal care before their baby was born in a manger. The bleating of animals was the first sound the Saviour heard when he was born.

Even if you don’t accept the Bible’s message, you must notice how God utilised a means of communication that was fast and reliable in ancient Israel to announce the news of Christ’s birth. Shepherds, who were in the field watching their flock, were the ones who delivered the message. The Bible says, “And when they had seen this sight, they told everybody what had been said to them about the little child.” The shepherds, clearly on the lower rung of the society, announced what the angel told them. It’s instructive that the birth of Jesus involved people whom the society had little or no regard for, those whose lives must have been dreary. That’s another message of Christmas. Look around you, how do we treat the poor, oppressed, and the under privilege today? Painfully, the church is not excluded. Social justice and welfare, which used to be the cornerstone of Christianity, have been jettisoned and only the rich and affluent are welcomed in some assemblies today. That’s why I laugh when I hear politicians who claim to be Christians and must be voted into office on such basis as most of their policies are routinely formulated for the rich.

We also exchange gifts during this period even though we end up giving to people we know and love. God gave His Son to mankind excluding nobody and we need to share our substance with those who are not as fortunate as ourselves at this period. It’s a nice time to visit orphanages and old peoples’ homes to share with them. Remember, you could have been in their shoes. In a society without any welfare system apart from the extended family structure, this is an area we ought to be more active.

Our hearts must also go out to parents of the Chibok girls kidnapped since April. While most of us will celebrate Christmas in the comfort of our homes, these girls remain unaccounted for leaving their parents and guardians in anguish and heartache. As we demolish the plates of jollof rice and different kinds of meat, have we ever wondered what kind of celebration their families will have? Last Christmas, they were under the care of their parents enjoying the conviviality only a home offers but this time around, we don’t know their whereabouts. Shockingly, we have not made these girls an election issue, seven weeks to a presidential election. The government of the day continue to offer platitudes on how the girls have not been forgotten while the leading opposition party has not gone beyond ‘we will rescue them’. It’s sad. What about those who have been displaced from their homes because of Boko Haram attacks?

Let’s celebrate soberly and meditatively, remembering that for some of our compatriots, it’s a bleak Christmas. Happy Christmas.

Postscript: A month ago, this column lamented that a failed portion of the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway at Ile-Epo was causing gridlock. It was gratifying to see some palliative work on the portion last week, it is hoped that it will be completed before the rainy season.