Christmas – Arrival of a New Order

Christmas – Arrival of a New Order

In the birth of Jesus Christ we find the arrival of a new order in the place of an old order. Birth of the Messiah portrays God’s journey to dismantle the structures of the old order and to bring a new order in that place.

Why rage, anguish and pain in the arrival of the New Order? We could hear the cry of the mothers whose children were murdered by King Herod. Joseph’s face is with full of anguish and pain as he face a death threat to his son. Even though gospels are silent about Mary’ emotions at the time of Jesus’ birth we could see a Stressful, worried and tired Mary’s face, in our imaginations. 

1. Rage of the Old Order against New Order

When the new divine order inaugurated in Jesus the agents of the old order (Herod) came up with terror and imposed misery. It was a desperate attempt to hold the old order and it created pain and anguish to those who were waiting for the new order in the Messiah. The anger and anxiety of Herod (symbol of old order) created lamentations, tears, fear, in the social space of that time. 

2. Arrival of the Real King against the Pseudo King:

In Herod we find a Pseudo King but in Jesus we find a real King. When the Pseudo King engages himself in the destructive actions, the real King engages himself in life giving actions. Arrival of Jesus depicts the God’s clear standing against the Pseudo powers of this world and also it exposed their helplessness in the divine interventions.

Old order wants to maintain the same by using power and its cruel forms. The inevitable new order survives even in the midst of threat and murder and thereby gives great hope in the midst of despair and anarchy. But those who engage in the process of new order face the pain, threat and violence and it is vivid in the life of Joseph, Mary and Jesus.

3. Holy Family and the New Order:

The Holy Family bears the deep pain and displacement for many years till the death of King Herod (after the death of Herod they came back and lived in Nazareth). Journey of the Divine New Order happens through the people who are ready to bear pain, anguish and sufferings like the Holy Family of Jesus. 

 Do we carry the vision of New Order inaugurated in Jesus?

Do we ever felt the insecurity in the coming of new order in our lives, families and social spaces?

Where all we see the actions of the Pseudo Kings who create anguish, pain and tears in the lives of innocents who wait for the divine new order today?

Do we ever know about an individual, family, group, community faces threat like the Holy Family faced?

Are we ready to bear the pain, agony, anguish, tears, displacement, for the sake of the new order inaugurated in the birth of Jesus?

Let us remember: 

1. God entrusts the responsibility of the divine new order in to the hands of the people who are ready to live for the new order even in the midst of pain, agony, anguish, tears, and displacement like Joseph and Mary.
2. Temporary tears will be wiped out and the shout of joy will be heard from them at the time of new order.
3. Jesus takes birth only in a family (community/space) which is ready to obey divine words other than the words of the Pseudo Kings of today.
4. Holy Family became a holy family because of their approach towards the new order(don’t forget that they were considered as enemies in the sight of the Pseudo Kings)

Christmas is the time of the proclamation of the new life and new order. Are we ready to receive the real King so that we may experience the new life and order in our lives?