It seems, as much as ever, that the Christmas message of peace and love and joy is needed this year. With almost daily accounts of senseless violence and hatred and man’s inhumanity to man both in the United States and abroad, questions arise about whether peace, in the end, will triumph.
Such is the nature of faith, which for many people is the foundation of their Christmas celebration. Faith in the belief that Jesus was sent to save humanity from itself; faith in the power of the message that is celebrated every year at this time. Whether or not one believes in the religious foundation of the holiday, we all can use this time to reflect upon human shortcomings and the hope for a better future.
The Christmas story, which appears in two of the four Gospels of The Bible, is viewed by many as a parable. As Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan write in “The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach Us About Jesus’ Birth,” Jesus was famous for parables that “invited his bearers into a different way of seeing how things are and how we might live.” And, as Gregory Rodriguez writes in an essay for the Los Angeles Daily News: “The story of the birth of Jesus clearly is more than sentimental. It’s about the weak and the wise outsmarting the powerful. It’s about the humble and faithful turning the world upside down.”
That message is embraced and celebrated by both the Christian and the secular, because the overriding meaning of the season is one that is not confined by religious boundaries. Even Christianity has many sects that hold differing views of Christ’s birth, life and resurrection. And there are many other faiths that respect Jesus as a prophet, if not the literal son of God. Throughout these conflicting views, a common thread of Christmas can be found.