Once upon a time there lived a young man who did not believe in Jesus, Christmas, Church stuff, and so on. He declared himself as a non-believer but he was a nice good willing guy who never stepped back when somebody needed his help. One night, the 24th of December he was walking down the road and it was just freezing. He was not interested in entering a church but it was the only place open where he could shelter himself from the cold. He said to himself “This is not bad at all, nice singing, beautiful lights, welcoming hugs and most important of all it is free and quite warm."
It did not take long for the preacher to appear and start his meditation on Christmas. It went something like this. “Some two thousand years ago there was a very generous and holy woman by the name of Mary who was asked for a big favor by God Himself. She was asked to deliver a baby who would be the savior of the world. She did not understand much of what was going on, but since it was God’s wish she thought that it should be ok to say yes. The baby was born and his name given, Jesus. Jesus grew up like a normal human being but very soon his profound and Godly wisdom started to call attention and started to gather crowds around him like nobody else was able to. So what was the attraction? Well he was courageous enough as to talk openly about love, justice, peace and a lot more; like loving the enemy, prostitutes and sinners to enter God’s kingdom before the high priests, blessed are the poor in spirit, think about your neighbors’ needs before your own, sell all your belongings and give it all to the poor, feed the hungry, heal the sick, cloth the naked, visit those in jail, and on, and on, and on… More over he did not only speak, he did in fact give sight to the blind, healed the crippled and the deaf, fed thousands with bread and fish, walked on water, stopped storms, he even gave life to the dead. On top of it all he gave his life as a ransom for the forgiveness of all human sin… and afterwards he rose from the dead. By the way he was not interested in decorated trees, special cakes or hot chocolate, special lights or fireworks, gifts and so on. He only came to teach us the way to live in peace with others and with ourselves. He came to tell us where he came from and where we are all going to… his Father and our Father. This is what it means to believe… to follow Jesus struggling daily for justice and peace. This is what gives sense to the joy and the celebration of Christmas the world over. A world that struggles every day to build justice and peace… in other words, to build God’s Kingdom on Earth. Happy Christmas."
The young man said to himself, “Perhaps I too believe then. Perhaps I too follow Jesus and all he said and did because I too help others with what I can every day.”
And as all the stories that start with “once upon a time”, the young man “lived happily ever after.”
May all of us too accept Jesus and live happily ever after. Happy Christmas!
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