Dec 12-13, 2020
From the Pastor’s Desk: Rev. Simon Lee
Dear brothers and sisters of RCAC,
It is the worst of times. It is the best of times. This is inspired by a quote from Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities that I remember from my secondary school days: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…“ Christmas 2020 is a Christmas that is not “normal,” like no other that we had previously experienced. Also, we have been talking about expecting a “new normal” because of the pandemic. But with Christmas, I think we are in fact going “Back to an ‘Old Normal’,” or at least we will be more able to rethink what the first Christmas was really like. Yes, let’s start with the bad news and then go to the good news, after looking around us.
Right now, with the renewed lockdown a few weeks ago due to the second wave of the COVID pandemic, many people will no longer be able to celebrate Christmas like they used to do in the past. The usual rush in travel to be “home for Christmas” will not be possible for a lot of people as they will have to go into a quarantine of 14 days before they can see their folks they want to visit, and have to do the same when they return to their home. Many vacations will become staycations. The annual Christmas lights seem to be strangely dim and less people on the streets and in the malls; they will not be able to create the usual festive mood. The usual Christmas carols that fill the air will sound hollow. Can we really sing “Joy to the World?” There will not be the usual Christmas services, and there will be no Christmas caroling. The mall will not be filled with people all frantically trying to shop for the best Christmas gifts for their loved ones in the last minute. Many Santa’s will be out of a job! After the Christmas holidays, there will be probably a lot of shops that will be closed declaring bankruptcy, as too many people will resort to buying online. Everyone (at least most people) will be going around with masks like they did in the many plagues pandemic in past history. Yes, this will not be the “joyous” Christmas that we have always anticipated at this time of the year. We are in the worst of times!
But maybe this is in fact a good thing. I like to think of our Christmas this year with COVID as an opportunity to really “go back” to what it was like in the first Christmas, before all the church traditions and commercialization made it into a “holiday season” that leaves “Christ” out of “Christ-mas.” Maybe when all these trappings of Christmas are removed, we will be able to rediscover and truly celebrate the real “reason” for the “season.” Let us therefore go back to rediscovering what it was like in the first Christmas when Christ was born in Bethlehem:
1. The first Christmas was a time of political unrest and social tension in society
First of all, the Jewish people in Israel were governed by the Romans who were conducting a census at the time that forced the people to leave their home to go back to their birthplace (Lk 2:1-7). As a result, people were travelling here and there, not because they were happy to do so, but reluctantly because they had to. In fact, that was what happened to Joseph and Mary who had to travel from Galilee to Bethlehem, even though Mary was ready to give birth to Jesus at any time, they had no option but to take the journey. Maybe because they waited till it was too late and so many people were also travelling, “there was no place for them in the inn!” (Lk. 2:7)
Another picture of the hideous time can be seen from the story of the visit of the Wise Men from the east, sometime after the birth of Christ, recorded for us in the account by Matthew (Mt. 2:1-18). Herod the “puppet” king was so fearful of what might happen to his rule, that he plotted to follow the info of the wise men when they find “he who has been born king of the Jews” so as to do harm to Jesus with the pretense of “that I too may come and worship him.” (2:8b) The story ended tragically with genocide, the slaughter of all male children under two years old in Bethlehem. Joseph and Mary with the baby Jesus became refugees to Egypt!
So we can see the first Christmas was totally devoid of any festive mood, it was instead filled with fear and anxiety, the people lived amidst the brutal and tyrannical rule of a very insecure “puppet” king that served the Roman Empire. Today we find ourselves similarly in our war-torn, poverty-stricken, politically-racially-divided and morally-decadent world. The COVID 19 has only made the situation worse by adding a viral infection pandemic that has also resulted in a global economic crisis. So though the causes of our distress are somewhat different, we are nevertheless definitely in a similar time of unrest, even despair. Every year we have come to expect as “normal” a festive and peaceful Christmas holiday, but the truth is that was not the case in the first Christmas and has never been the case down through the ages. We are indeed in the worst of times. That is the bad news. But we also have good news.
2. The first Christmas was a time of great anticipation and hope being realized
The best way to describe the “good news” is found in the declaration of praise by the angels as they announced the birth of Christ: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will among men!” (Lk. 2:14) This was declared, amidst the turmoil and tension of the time, to the shepherds, simple folks who were keeping watch over their flock by night. The angels said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.” (Lk. 2:10-11)
The first thing to remember is that the birth of Christ is first and foremost to bring glory to God. This happens when the divine plan of God’s redemption that was in fact began at the fall of man after the creation, was to be fulfilled in the incarnation of the Son of God. This will bring “peace and goodwill” but it is rooted in Christ the Saviour and Lord, as His kingdom is not of this earth. Christ’s birth would therefore “bring good news of a great joy that will be for all the people.” This is demonstrated after the shepherd had visited Jesus in the manger, they returned “glorifying and praising God for all they have heard and seen, as it had been told them.” (Lk. 2:20) This was also similarly shown in the reaction of Mary (in the Magnificat) and in the words of Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist. The divine encounters with Jesus the Christ (messiah) or the news of his birth, first of all lead to the utterance of praise to God. Indeed we need to put “Christ” back into “Christ-mas” and bring glory to God.
The “good news” is qualified by “a great joy” which refers singularly and directly to the joy of the birth of Christ who is both the Saviour and Lord, the Saviour who delivers us from the bondage of sin, and the Lord (and master) who is sovereign over our lives whatever happens around us and to us. It is “for all people,” starting with the lowly shepherds on their night watch, and includes us all in the second line of blessing that was first promised and given to Abraham and his descendants. Dr. Luke emphasized in his well-researched “gospel” document of the life of Jesus that Jesus came for all those who know they are lost, even those who do not (e.g. The three parables of the lost in Luke 15.) Therein lies the “good news.” The celebration of joy is “before the angel of God over one sinner who repents.” (Lk. 15:7, 10, cf. 32)
Yes, we have bad news as we are in the worst of times. But we also have good news, and we are indeed in the best of times. May this Christmas that is not normal be the Christmas we really go back to the old old story of the birth of Jesus Christ the Saviour and Lord at the crossroad of history (from BC to AD) and crown Him with many Crowns in the New Year.
Your servant in Christ
Pastor Simon