Thy Kingdom Come!

Jesus Christ was born during turbulent times. The Holy Land was under the Romans and the Jews, God’s Chosen People, were feeling oppressed. As if to add to their miseries, the Jews were required to go back to the towns where they were born to register in a Roman-ordered census, in the dead of winter.

The Jews resented this display of authority of a foreign power … it does not help that the census is another means of controlling their lives. Hmm… shades of a national ID, perhaps. With everyone trying to comply with the order, there were a lot of out-of-towners trying to get rooms at the local inns.

But there were no more rooms at any inn, even for a pregnant woman about to give birth at any time. And so Joseph and Mary found shelter in a barn, where she delivers her child and lays him in a hay trough. That was the first Christmas, the time when the angels from on high were said to have sung Glory to the newborn King… Peace on Earth and mercy mild… God and sinners reconcile!

Ah! The Good News. God has heard the prayers of His people to redeem them from their sufferings and lives of sin. Thy Kingdom Come on earth as in Heaven! And God has sent his own Son into this troubled world because as a Father, He cannot keep a blind eye on the miserable condition of His children.

Thus, Jesus was born into this world not as we would normally expect a King would. He was born into a family at the lowest rung of the social ladder of an oppressed people, homeless and very soon after, a fugitive from a mad earthly king named Herod. From day one, Jesus knew all about social injustice and political persecution.

If he came today, he would recognize all the problems that face our nation and the world. He would probably weep because it would seem after 2000 years, his message of love and salvation fell on deaf ears. Nothing has changed in the human condition from that First Christmas Day.

It is a pity the essence of our savior’s birth had been lost through the centuries and reduced to a pagan celebration today. That probably explains why the Peace that the angels proclaimed that night has remained elusive to us. We have to sit back and think about that child named Jesus, why he came into this world and the choices he has given us and we now have to make.

One way of looking at the essential Christmas is to think of it has God’s answer to our prayer, even before we asked. It was only later that Jesus himself taught us to pray the Our Father, where we ask… Thy Kingdom Come.

With Christ’s birth, God’s Kingdom has indeed come into this world. God has given us the means to enter his heavenly kingdom. Jesus after all, has said that he is the way, the truth and the life… no one arrives at his father except through him. One enters heaven only through the avenue of love and Jesus who said, I am the way, is love personified.

The Good News of Christmas is proof of God’s love, not anger for us sinners. "Such was God’s love for the creation that he gave his only-begotten Son to keep anyone believing in him from perishing, to have a life eternal" (John 3:16).   

Christmas is all about giving us a choice to unite with the Father by uniting with Jesus, who says, "I am in the Father, and you are in me, and I in you" (John 14.20).  Or choose the path of money and power of earthly realms that have made us forget that Christmas is all about the Essential Jesus, our King.

Let us hear it again in the words Jesus himself left us.

"Remain in me, as I remain in you. As a branch cannot be fruitful on its own, without remaining in the vine, so you can bear no fruit but by remaining in me. I am the vine, you the branches. The one remaining in me, as I in him, will be richly fruitful; but severed from me, you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain in me is like a severed branch that withers, the kind that men gather and throw to the fire, where it burns. If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you desire and it will be given to you. My father’s glory consists in this, in your being richly fruitful, in your being my followers. As the father loves me, so I love you. Remain in that love. You will remain in it if you follow my instructions and remain in his love. I have told you this to make my joy yours, and to complete your joy. This is my instruction: Love one another as I have loved you." (John 15.4-12)

Yes, Lord, Thy Kingdom Come, indeed!

A very Merry and Blessed Christmas to you all!

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]