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Christmas that beckons us

Martin Adhikary
There are two ways to religious life: personal righteous life in the eyes of God, and reflection of this life in doing justice and living in harmony with others.***
THE Old Testament book of Isaiah, a prophet of the 8th century B.C., is of great significance in understanding the birth, life, work, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, more than any other book in the entire prophetic literature. Isaiah is quoted 62 times (next only to the Book of the Psalms) and is frequently alluded to in the NewTestament.
One of the most attractive verses in the Bible for me is in this book: "For this is what the Lord -- He, who created the heavens. He is God; He who fashioned and made the earth. He founded it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited — says: 'I am the Lord, and there is no other' (Isaiah 45:18)."
The eternal, true and holy God created the universe; He created it not in vain, but to inhabit it. He dwells in the human heart. However, as we celebrate Christmas today with merriment and festivities we must also celebrate the judgment of God upon the human race.
We have made lives of people hard by our selfishness, our greed and lust. The baby Jesus confronts us with the glory
and the justice of God. There is so much commercialism, wanton destruction of God's good creation and a sheer lack of stewardship of His creation today. We destroy the resources of the cosmos; creating chaos and confusion that God cannot live in it, just as there was no room in the inn for the new-born baby Jesus two millennia ago.
The Jewish people were hoping for the Messiah, who would be a political or military ruler to subdue all the nations that humiliated them in their past history. But Jesus Christ did not fulfill that expectation. So he was not the kind of Messiah that that they were praying for.
Today, we are getting increasingly concerned about the future of the earth, ecology and all that they imply. We need to be saved from all the wanton destruction of nature and its resources. God created us in His image, the Bible says. This means that God has shared with Man His communicable moral attributes of love, holiness, justice and intelligence. He gave us the responsibility to glorify God and work for peace and harmony. This is what the angels sang at the birth of Jesus: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on
whom his favour rests (Luke 2:14)."
But due to the sins of pride and lust Man has distorted or marred that image. This lies behind the alienation that all of Mankind today suffers from: the alienation from God, the alienation from one another, from nature and even from Man's own inner-self. This alienation or estrangement is on both the vertical and the horizontal planes.
The subjective result is what is theologically called "total depravity." This concept means man is spiritually depraved or paralysed. Because of this, man on his own cannot satisfy God's standard; all his so-called righteousness is like filthy rags before holy and just God. He cannot help himself. He needs a saviour.
The sinless Son of God Jesus Christ came to the world to pay the ransomprice for sinful Man to redeem him from the captivity of sin. As Christmas confronts us we must realise today that man is a sinner. This picture of man, though very harsh, is absolutely true, nevertheless.
There is so much pain, suffering, envy, jealousy, hatred, strife, war and selfishness in our lives, our societies, among nations, among the rich and the poor. Our parents do not teach those things to us. We have inherited them from Adam and Eve. This is our fallen nature, our original sin.
God sent His only begotten Son, Christ, to the world to reconcile the
alienated world to Himself. But we must share this message of reconciliation, the good news, among people, among nations and among societies and communities. We must do this not by means of lip-service, not only in liturgies but also in real life situations. We can do this authentically only if we can establish right relationship with God and with others.
There are two ways to religious life: personal righteous life in the eyes of God, and reflection of this life in doing justice and living in harmony with others. God said this through Isaiah: "When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, punish the oppressor (Isaiah 1:15-17)."
We hold summit talks on so many issues, like the recently held UN Summit on Climate. But we do not like to sacrifice a little for the good to the global human family; we do not like to do something that might transform the lives of many.
Our minds and wills are in bondage, our freedom and emotions are captivated by our depravity. One name of Christ given through Isaiah is "Immanuel," meaning "God-with-man." The God-incarnate Christ came to the world asahuman.
On the one hand he exposes the human predicament, and on the other he supremely reveals the outreaching love of God for the lost creation.
In the Christ-event we know of God’s great concern for the good of mankind, from Him we have the greatest Commandment, to love God and to love others, of him we receive the greatest commission to preach his life and in him we possess the greatest comfort of his co-existence with us in
our real life situation.
We can worthily magnify God's name as we sincerely seek to discover Christ and obey his commands. Let the true joy and transforming power of God-in-Christ pervade in our lives and experiences, in our words and deeds right here in our real and mundane life.
Reverend Martin Adhikary is a Christian Theology teacher and Director, Bangladesh Leprosy Mission