Are we losing the true meaning of Christmas?

People all over the world know of, if not celebrate, Christmas. For Christians, 25th December, Christmas Day is the birthday of Jesus Christ and as such, Christmas is a sacred day- a time of celebrating the birth of Christ as well a celebration of their relationship with Jesus.

However, over the years, the day and its religious significance seem to have evolved into something more secular rather than spiritual. So diluted the celebration that it has become in general more of a shopping-merrymaking-presents-lights-decorations holiday. The occasion is now celebrated by both Christians and non-Christians, many of them without knowing its true meaning and significance.

On top of the confusion of the season, the BJP-led government of India had incidentally in 2014, announced that December 25, Christmas Day, which is also the birth anniversary of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, would be commemorated annually in the country as Good Governance Day with a view to foster awareness among the people of accountability in government. In keeping with this principle, the government of India had decreed the day to be a working day for the government.

Many people and Christian organisations across the country, including in Nagaland, reacted strongly against this move of the government of India, particularly more so this year.

Amid the hue and cry, Dr. Kethoser Kevichusa, a speaker and trainer at Ravi Zachariah International Ministries, has, refreshingly, seen an ironic aptness to Christmas day being declared Good Governance Day. Less than two weeks ago, at the pre-Christmas programme of the Nagaland Legislators’ Christian Fellowship, he delivered a sermon on the theme ‘the Good Governance Day that Christmas is’, based on the Book of Isaiah 9:2, 6 and 7, which talks about the birth of Jesus Christ and relates the birth of Christ to the rule of God’s government, and the role and responsibility of human governments as a result of Christ’s birth.

He is said to have shared on three points from the said passage- the person and personality of God’s government; the purpose and responsibility of God’s government; and the permanence and stability of God’s government.

Dr. Kevichusa had pointed out that Jesus Christ is the person and the personality that is at the centre of God’s rule and reign on earth through His humanity, divinity and royalty. According to him, the purpose and responsibility of government that Christmas reveals is – to end perplexity by ending chaos and confusion, to end idolatry by upholding a government where God is God and there is no competition nor comparison, to end insecurity by giving correction and comfort, and to end enmity by ending conflicts and confusion.

Dr. Kevichusa articulately illustrated that God’s government is a permanent one because it is a government without corruption, and based on justice and righteousness. To quote him, “In the same way, when a human political government is upon the shoulder of Christ, when a government is upheld and established by righteousness and justice, there is stability and longevity”.

This Christmas, when (almost) everything around us seem to be in chaos, let us ask ourselves if we are losing the true meaning of Christmas. Most of us know the words, or some, the tune of BoneyM’s popular Christmas song ‘Mary’s Boy Child’ (written by Jester Hairston). Instead of just singing the song, let us reflect on its lyrics:

Mary’s boy child, Jesus Christ, was born on Christmas Day
And man will live for evermore, because of Christmas Day.