Hanna Nasser, remarked, Bethlehem is a sad town. i Anyone who. Jerusalem by an imposing security wall, with heavily armed guards

Transcription

1 1 Christmas Homily 2015 A few years ago, the Catholic mayor of the city of Bethlehem, Hanna Nasser, remarked, Bethlehem is a sad town. i Anyone who has visited the city of Christ s birth would know why she made this observation: The ancient city of David is now divided from Jerusalem by an imposing security wall, with heavily armed guards patrolling the gates between the two cities. Many Palestinian Christians were forced to sell their businesses in Jerusalem after the wall s construction because of the long hours of delays they experienced at security checkpoints. A young, newly married couple I met in Bethlehem shared with me their own challenges of trying to find work, to begin having children and the even greater obstacles they faced in attempting to get the right documentation to leave and begin a new life in America. The Bethlehem of today, marred by violence, missile attacks, economic hardships and seemingly hopeless futures, continues to experience what happened on the night of Christ s birth when a

2 2 powerless, young married couple found themselves without shelter, about to bring the Son of God into our world. That Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem was in and of itself a consequence of the oppression that the Jewish people faced under Roman occupation. When St. Luke recounts for us the birth of Christ, he mentions 4 times that Mary and Joseph were forced to go to Bethlehem to be registered. St. Luke s description of this worldwide registration of the conquered peoples of the Roman Empire is longer than the entire narration of Christ s birth, since he wants his reader to understand the very difficult situation that the parents of Jesus found themselves in. ii The reason for the registration was to generate tax revenue for the Roman war machine and to demean the people they had conquered by forcing them to pay tribute to their hated rulers. One Roman general in 70 AD described what the Roman tribute accomplished: We, though so often provoked, have used the right of conquest to burden you only with the cost of maintaining peace. For

3 3 the tranquility of nations cannot be preserved without armies; armies cannot exist without pay; pay cannot be furnished without tribute. iii Thus, the coming of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem was the result of a powerful state looking to oppress its conquered citizens in the name of maintaining national security and achieving lasting peace. Similar arguments have been made for the large security wall that cuts through modern day Bethlehem, that such measures are needed to prevent further terrorist attacks while also serving as a daily reminder of those who have power over the powerless. And yet it was because of this oppressive registration and exercise of the powerful over the powerless that allowed God to fulfill all of the ancient prophecies about the birth of the Messiah. Had Joseph not been forced by the Romans to return to his ancestral town of Bethlehem, for being of the House of David he was expected to return to the birthplace of the beloved king of Israel, we can only speculate how Joseph would have found the right reason to bring

4 4 Mary to Bethlehem to give birth to Our Lord as opposed to doing so in their hometown of Nazareth? How unexpected and wonderful was the providence of God as He compelled the great Caesar Octavian Augustus, the emperor of the known world, to have a worldwide census so that the true Emperor of the world and the entire cosmos, Our Lord Jesus Christ, could be born in the city where the prophecy of Micah would be fulfilled: But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient of Days. (Mic 5:2) The Virgin Mary had once sung that God will cast down the mighty from their thrones and lift up the lowly (Lk 1:52). This was what occurred when Christ was born in Bethlehem; for his birth would bring about the salvation of the world and the transformation of human history, so much so that one day the mighty Caesars, who had murdered tens of thousands of the followers of Christ, would

5 5 one day see their Empire crumble and from the ashes witness the Church become the new light in the world, one that sadly continues to be persecuted for proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ and whose members too often cause scandal and bring dishonor to the Church. We might rightly hope and pray that a similar freedom would one day come to the modern day citizens of Bethlehem; that the wall that divides their city would be torn down and opportunities would flourish once again for the Christians of Bethlehem to support their families and to know a similar peace that we experience. Christmas provides us with the opportunity to not only enjoy time with our families, to celebrate the birth of Christ and pray for peace and justice for the oppressed, but it is also a call for us to become those agents of peace and opportunity for the needy. In particular, there is a dire need for us to speak out concerning the persecution of Christians around the world. Syrian Christians are still being executed by ISIS, Christians in India are harassed and often killed by Hindu fundamentalists,

6 6 Christian refugees in many instances are denied asylum by our own government in Canada and other countries who have opened their borders to refugees of other faith backgrounds, and the Christians of Bethlehem still experience the same powerlessness and oppression that Christ was born into more than 2000 years ago. As we are able, may this Christmas compel us to find opportunities to help Christians who are persecuted around the world. Through our prayers, monetary contributions and vocal opposition to unjust policies towards persecuted Christians, we can provide them the shelter, support and encouragement that were denied to Jesus, Mary and Joseph on that first Christmas Eve. i Quoted in Jesus, The Divine Physician: Encountering Christ in the Gospel of Luke by Christoph Cardinal Schonborn. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, Pg 34. ii Edward Sri, Walking With Mary: A Biblical Journey form Nazareth to the Cross. New York: Image Books, Pg. 82. iii Ibid, g. 83.