A man holding a large sheep. Photo: By FOYN on Unsplash.
Getting the message: Tony D’Souza imagines the Christmas shepherds
‘Can you see how revolutionary this message was?’
I will tell you what I know. I never speak about it, but because you have asked, I will tell you.
I was a shepherd on the hills that night. A small group of us were minding our sheep on the hills above Bethlehem. Suddenly a great light appeared before us, and we understood immediately that we should follow it down the hill to the small stable on the edge of town. I carried a young lamb on my shoulder as I felt that I should bring something.
We got to the stable and I saw the child. And when I saw the child something was changed forever.
What changed? How can I explain it to you? Our whole world in those days, just like yours today, was convulsed in war, hatred, and death. The only belief we had, and the one that everyone believed, was in revenge. Try to imagine that. It was all we had. Our religion taught us that as individuals we should avenge ourselves on other individuals, paying back an ‘eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’. It was equally permissible for an entire nation to avenge itself on another. An offended nation could take up arms against another and obliterate it from the face of the earth. It was morally acceptable to kill everyone who resisted, steal anything of value, and enslave the women and children who survived the initial onslaught. All this was done in the name of God and blessed by our religious authorities.
We were taught to follow God’s law, but this was largely a matter of convenience, and murder was permitted provided it was done in God’s name. However, the people who carried out these murders did not mean to do evil. Unbelievably, most of them thought they were doing good. They were just filled with misunderstanding.
It was into this world that Jesus came, just as he comes into your world at this time of year. Can you imagine how everything changed? He told us to forgive our enemies. More than that he said we should love our enemies and pray for those people who persecuted us. Put yourself in our shoes for a moment. Can you see how revolutionary, how utterly new, this message was for us? In the darkest time of the year God sent us a son to teach us compassion and forgiveness. We had never heard anything like it before.
The child was born to teach God’s true messages of love and peace to a weary, chaotic, pain-filled world. This is the true gift of his birth and his life. Then, as now, many scoffed at the message and remained deaf to it. They carried on in their old ways of grievance and revenge, but even for them the eternal gift of forgiveness is forever offered if only they will repent and accept it. Even those who do evil serve a purpose because where the dark is made darkest the light must shine the brighter still. And the light will always triumph. That too is the message of Christmas.
Humanity was lost before Jesus came. He came to teach us perfect love. Only perfect love could have done this, and only perfect love would have been able to teach such love to others. If he had not come, the world would have remained in darkness. In all your revels and in your annual rituals this year, remember this, for this is the true meaning of Christmas.
