In recent years, Christmas has been something of a poor relative of the festivities. It is true that the festival is Catholic and, therefore, for those who profess this faith, it has a very different meaning than for others. But it is no less true that Christmas is much more than the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ – it has become, over the decades, a cultural festival in which we all have more fundamental values for the development of a more generous and fair society.
We talk about sharing, love, rebirth, care, attention, empathy. Values that should accompany us every day, of course, but that it doesn’t hurt to pay particular attention to at certain times. However, more and more movements are emerging against the celebration of Christmas, as if ignoring a festival that crosses Christian and pagan traditions was one of the biggest sins of a society – interestingly, something that generally only happens with celebrations that also symbolize joy and communion.
Now, the birth of Jesus Christ is, in itself, an event full of symbolism that can only be interpreted as a metaphor for those who do not have any type of faith: a man who is born in the simplicity of a manger, after his parents have been rejected by those who said they were good people, surrounded by those considered less worthy of society – animals, shepherds, and who is visited by kings of various peoples when he has not yet emerged from the straws in which they laid him. A boy who brought peoples, nations and stars together, who grows up in a non-traditional family – after all, José is not his father! – and who teaches, throughout his life, that dignity can and should be found in every being. In tax collectors, in prostitutes, in invalids, in sick people and in misbehaving children.
Jesus Christ appears to us, in fact, as a rebel of society, when he expelled money changers from the temples, when he refused the temptations of the Devil and when he challenged a crowd to stone a woman, under the guarantee that they themselves had never sinned – no one did! In this Christmas season that we are now preparing to celebrate, perhaps it would be good to look at the entire story that the Bible tells us – seeing it as a Grimm’s tale or a historical record – and see if we are not too similar to those who closed the doors to Mary and Joseph the night before their birth. Because, after all, Christmas is precisely about this. About the opportunity to give ourselves the gift of rebirth.
Happy Holidays!