7. Christmas

On the night of the Resurrection as on Christmas night, something happened which escaped the wise and the powerful, something which is only revealed to the simple and to little ones, and which could only be perceived by the naked and wounded aspect of one's being; something which one never receives except at the core of an ignorance that is dazzled and ecstatic.

There one meets God, but it is another God!

From its very beginnings, humanity has been saturated with representations of the divine. There have been gods of thunder, of war, of love; deesses with ample bosoms and multiple arms. Human sacrifices continue: genocides and massacres, without forgetting the "absolute" assassins such as macro economic equilibrium, racism, territorial integrity and all the other modem idols which function as non declared deities.

However, in the absence of clergy of every kind, away from Temples and altars, at the heart of the countryside, the Christmas crib offers a profane picture, the simplicity of which has reversed the idols and false representations; here is a family picture which poses in its very existence, in flesh and in blood, the question: who is God?

The one who approaches and discovers the Child, is immediately baffled with questionings; whether intellectual or not, he is confronted with this reality. If he is a believer, he recognises in the wailing babe, in this tiny parcel of human flesh, the One who is sent, the Son of God, the Word made flesh: the very expression of the living God. And the question arises: is this manifestation of a fragile, dependent, vulnerable child a mere appearance? (And we are all aware of the recommendation not to judge by appearances!). Is it then, a mere appearance, or a phase or a moment of history, later to be contradicted when God reveals Himself as He really is, that is to say as we imagine Him to be: strong, self sufficient, invulnerable, insensitive, omniscient, all powerful, the centre of everything etc. Is this Child who is unable to speak, who cannot feed himself on his own, is he already God "such as He is"? Is God playing tricks with us by using a pedagogical method which only He can find amusing: birth in an irresponsibly dangerous milieu, on straw, not a very hygienic cradle, and death on a Cross like a common law criminal... painless? Is He really present there, or will He not resume His true identity after His Ascension into heaven?

Here is my question: at Christmas is He really Emmanuel? God with us! Yes, you will reply. But the question surfaces once more: God as He really is, or God who plays the child to present us with a rather charming tableau? God in flesh and blood, or God who is pretending? In our hedonistic societies, Christmas has been hi jacked as a sentimental pageant Disney Land style. It has become the ritual of another religion, for Santa Claus is the central figure; just a fairytale moment, before life is resumed as before.

Even if this event is over 2000 years old, and even if oceans of piety have reclaimed its return, the real Christmas is still a scandal for the Jews and for their tradition, Just as it is for the Greeks and their philosophy, a scandal which is like an electric shock to the reflexes of the religious world. The Christian God is like no other! He does not fit into the categories of the divine nor into those of this world as it "goes on its way". It is not just in the inn that He is refused accomodation, but in the sacristies also! He is in fact, outside all categories, and even when He attains manhood, the "Son of Man" has not even a stone on which to lay His head.

At Christmas, a new universe, fresh and free, comes to birth at the heart of the old world. The desire of the peoples, the dreams of the prophets, nourished by the Covenant, refined by centuries, assumes a body of human flesh, so as to become accessible, tangible, concrete. Emmanuel, God with us, perfection in the making at the heart of our history, from this very moment and in this very world!

When the raw force of the Empire takes a census of its power, it catches in its blind nets this tiny germ of the future, about which it is totally ignorant. Here however, in flesh and blood, begins a world of sharing, of forgiveness and brotherhood, of communion and friendship, of which this cruel old king, latched on to his power, has not the vaguest idea. Just like the old Darwinian ape of our beginnings, Herod waves about furiously, but will never understand the extraordinary change that has come about discreetly in this little being, so human that He is divine

Has this face-to-face contact of two worlds, so different, so incompatible and so opposed, ever really been measured? To which of them do I belong? Am I ever sure of having made a choice? There is no middle road: I am an anachronism and past history, or I have changed. The error would be to imagine that these two worlds confront each other like two armies, fighting one against the other as equals on the same field. In fact, they have nothing in common. The One who comes to us at Christmas to take charge of our destiny, needs no forceful weaponry. His word alone suffices, without the slightest constraint or persuasion, save the simple evidence of His truth. The nature of His power is such, that arguments from authority find no place in His action.

As the tiny seed grows and develops by assimilating the reserves accumulated around it, so too the new world which points from the cave in Bethlehem, is called upon to fill the whole universe. Those who reject it are like lifeless shells, and are condemned to rot and die. Hatred leads to death, but fraternal love opens up the way to life.

This is how I understand the joy of the poor and the persecuted in the final Book of the Bible, when - on the day of reckoning - everything will be revealed. All one has to do is to wait faithfully, for it will all become clear. Violence carries within itself the roots of self destruction. Unjust, oppressive and lying societies, produce within themselves the poisons which stifle them, generating those very plagues which sooner or later, will lead to their downfall. There is no need to imagine here the intervention of some heavenly policeman. Justice, or rather inherent logic is sufficient proof

While meditating on the peaceful silence of the Nativity feast and its impressive discretion, I look ahead to the day of the great return, that day when everything will be brought to light, when "we shall see God even as He is". He came, He will return. How? In thunder and noise? I don't think so. What I do think is, that He will come in the same calm, the same peace of Christmas night and the night of the Resurrection.

Contrary to popular belief, appearances are not deceptive. The living God does not hide His splendour in order to be simple: He is simple! He does not sacrifice His riches in order to be seen to be poor: He is poor! And if He is not recognised, that does not prevent His being a truly wonderful creator. He is discreet. Two minutes of true meditation turns appearances upside down and makes one see that when one is God, great strength is required to pass by unperceived! That is His way, that is how He is, near us and vulnerable: "Just as He is".

When there is no longer rivalry, desire recovers its freedom. No longer does it need to emulate the All Powerful so as to emerge the conqueror. Now we must pose the question of our thirst: thirst for what? Thirst for whom?