Fr. William Horo
(frwilliamhoro@gmail.com)
Today is Christmas, the celebration of Jesus’ birth. He was a Jew by birth because he was born in the lineage of King David, a benevolent king of the Jews. He governed a united Jewish kingdom of Israel, which he established by uniting the 12 tribes of Israel under a single monarch. Jesus was a legal descendant of David through his legal guardian, Joseph, who was of the house and line of David. However, Joseph was not his biological father but a foster father. Mary was betrothed to him, but they were yet to be married. They had yet to share their conjugal love, and yet she was found with a child. Mary was still a virgin when she conceived her son, Jesus. She is called the Virgin Mother, for Jesus had a miraculous birth.
In the sixth month after Elizabeth (88), a relative of the Virgin Mary and the wife of Zechariah, conceived a son in her womb, the angel Gabriel visited Mary in Nazareth, a Galilean town. In his greetings the angel told her, “O favoured one! The Lord is with you.” Mary was perplexed; she wondered what that greeting could mean. However, the angel, soothing her fear, said, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.
Mary retorted to the angel and said, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel assured her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God.” Still in confusion, Mary surrendered herself; she consented to the message in great faith and said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word,” and she conceived Jesus, the Son of God, in her virgin womb. This is how Jesus, the Word of God, became flesh and lived on earth. About him, the prophet Isaiah had said, “For a child has been born for us, a son is given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders, and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Even the multitude of angels sang on his birth, saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace among those whom he favors.” The Jews expected the Davidic peace they had enjoyed in the reign of their benevolent king, David.
However, there is a sword instead of peace in the world. Since February 24, 2022, the Russo-Ukrainian War has been carrying on. As if the lesson was not learnt from the Russo-Ukraine war, on 7 October 2023, Israel invaded the Gaza Strip of Palestine, and as of early December 2024, over 46,000 people, including 17,492 children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip, and over 1700 people have been killed in Israel. Is it meaningful to celebrate Christmas, the birthday of the Prince of Peace?
However, as Eleanor Roosevelt said, “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” There is an urgent need to take a proactive approach to peace. It is better to take action to solve the problem of lack of peace than to just complain about it. And Jesus teaches us the way to peace. He advocates forgiveness and reconciliation for peace. In his sermon on the mount, he says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” In this way he promotes forgiveness and reconciliation for peace instead of retaliation and fighting. When asked by Peter, the first Pope of the Church, how many times to forgive if someone repeatedly offended me, Jesus had replied to him to forgive seventy times seven. By this phrase, Jesus meant that forgiveness should be limitless; one has to go on forgiving. Peace is ensured where a sense of forgiveness prevails.
Further, Jesus champions non-violence to foster understanding and peace. He says, “If anyone strikes you on the right, turn to the other also.” He further asserts, “Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison.” Non-violence and negotiation are time-tested means to achieve peace. It was the non-violence movement of Mohanlal Karamchand Gandhi that freed India from British rule. Jesus teaches non-violence and negotiation to build a culture of peace, where conflicts are resolved through dialogue, understanding, and cooperation. The nonviolence fosters empathy between the opposing sides and breaks down the stereotypes and creates a more conducive environment for peace.
The universal truth is that you cannot give what you do not have. To give peace to the world, one needs to be at peace within oneself. Jesus teaches not to be anxious. He encourages us to let go of worries and anxieties, trusting in God’s provision and care. He says, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than them?” Reflecting on Jesus’ words, Mother Teresa of Calcutta says, “Peace begins with a smile.” In the midst of the ups and downs in life, one who has a strong faith in the providence of God can truly smile and spread peace in his or her vicinity.
Jesus was against the dictatorship, the suppression, and the oppression of citizens by the government of his time. He pitched for servant leadership. At his trial, the Roman governor Pontius Pilot of the occupying government asked him, “So you are a king?’ And Jesus answered, “Just as you say, I am a king.” “My kingdom does not come from this world. If I were a king like those of this world, my guards would have fought to save me from being handed over to the Jews,” he continued. Thus he opposed the brute force of the Roman rule to usher peace in the region. Instead, he proposed servant leadership for peace. Washing the feet of his disciples, he said, “If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash each other’s feet.” The authorities have to administer justice for peace in the world.
The message of Christmas is that God became a man in Jesus to save the world from sin and death. And he accomplished his mission by the sacrifice of Calvary. On Good Friday, Jesus shed his blood on the cross for the ransom for many. Through his sacrificial death and resurrection, Jesus offers forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life, bringing peace with God and humankind. This is a unique peace Jesus promises to the world when he says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” The current war and conflicts could be settled easily if we were to apply the means of peace Jesus proposes.