MORNING MEDITATION

“MERRY CHRISTMAS!”

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“MERRY CHRISTMAS!”
The other day a reader commented on a Morning Meditation post, “Christmas is not biblical. It’s a pagan feast. When will pastors stop propagating what the slave masters thought?” It is common to read such kind of stuff, especially on Social Media.
Another person asked that we should show proof that Jesus was raised from the dead. If only such a person can also show proof that Jesus was not raised, then maybe he can convert some believers to his unbelief!

We all have the right to what we believe or not believe.
It is wrong to consider that we are propagating what was taught by the slave masters. We do agree however that missionaries were often surrogates of colonialism or what Lamin Sanneh calls, “colonialism at prayer.”

Africa has played a very dominant role in the story of salvation. Advocates of the slave trade were eclectic in their choices of texts that justified the slave trade. When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor and heard that Ham the father of Canaan had seen his nakedness, he said, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers…May Canaan be the slave of Shem…” – Gen.9:18-27.
How come a father punishes his grandson for a supposed offense of his father? This is the text that was interpreted to see Africans as the descendants of Canaan and so justifying the slave trade. That does not of course rule out the fact that slave ownership was not a Western or American introduction to Africa. Africans owned slaves before the colonial era.

A few examples of the African role in the history of salvation may suffice. When God called Abram and he went and settled East of Bethel, a severe famine broke up in the land. Abram went down to Egypt and lived there because the famine was severe. – Gen, 12.

It is a well known story how Egypt provided shelter to Jacob and his family. Joseph even became Prime Minister in Egypt. Egypt in typical African hospiyptality provided the Hebrews with the most fertile lands. During the exodus the Egyptians offered the Hebrews with whatever they asked of them – Ex.12:36).
Moses the great liberator was raised in the palace of Pharaoh. Moses is an Egyptian name.

Coming to the New Testament the story of salvation would have taken a different twist had it not been that Egypt provided asylum to Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus. Herod would have killed baby Jesus if they had not gone to hide in Egypt.

The Ethiopian eunuch who was baptised by Philip was the first African Christian. He is the one who first founded Christianity in Ethiopia. Christianity in Ethiopia did not have any missionary adulteration from the West. The Coptic church in Egypt is direct from biblical source. Alexandria was once the hub of theology, producing some of the finest theologians and scholars.

The other point is whether Christmas is a pagan feast day or not. This is like peeling the onion and when we insist we may end up throwing away the baby with the dirty water. Jesus Christ did not bring anything new except salvation. All other things which he met, he filled them with new content.

Jesus may not have been born on 25th December, but he was born on a date. Most of us celebrate our birthdays on the days we have (un)intentionally adopted as our birth dates. Yet we know that we weren’t born on those dates. The older generations have merely declared their ages and by so doing they reduced their ages and decided on dates which suited their fancies.

The 25th of December has been set aside to celebrate the birth of Christ because as a humanbeing he was born on a date.
Happy birthday sweet Jesus! If you consider one day special than the other, fine, but if not, then fine! Let us not peel the onion, otherwise nothing will be left!
Merry Christmas to you all!

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