As so often happens, this year Christmas seems at odds with events in the wider world of which it is part. This time bushfires or floods do not dominate the news but, instead, the senseless killings and woundings at Bondi. The brutality of the death of innocent people there seems far distant from the lightheartedness, generosity and good will that we associate with Christmas.
And yet in the Christian stories of the birth of Christ, which are part of our inheritance at Jesuit Social Services, both celebration and danger go together. At their heart is the birth of a child with all the joy at new life, new possibilities and new relationships that a new baby can bring. Especially if the birth marks the entry of the Son of God into our human world. The Christian story, however, is also marked by harsh political realities. Mary and Joseph had to walk for days late in her pregnancy and give birth in a field to be counted in a census ordered by a resented foreign power. And they had to escape into Egypt because the chief of a local power saw the baby as it as a threat to his dynasty and so ordered it to be killed.
In any celebration of Christmas, the wonder and joy that goes with the birth of a child should dominate over fear and political convenience. The belief that God comes to us in swaddling clothes is a symbol of the value of each human being, no matter what their race, wealth, intelligence and origin of their parents. Each human being matters and deserves respect. They must not be put to use for political considerations.
In that respect, the tragedy at Bondi represents the sharp edge of Christmas. We should take time to grieve the victims as our precious fellow human beings and treasure their memories. They must not be used as a weapon in party politics, in justification for the killing of others, or for any other cause. That would be the way of Herod and the Roman legions.
