In a recent New York Times article, entitled “The Hypocrisy of Hanukkah” (Dec 1, 2018) Michael David Lucas uncomfortably confronts the original meaning behind the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah. Lucas begins his article recounting a conversation he had with his 3-year-old daughter. Here is his opening account verbatim:
It’s the question that Jewish parents instinctively dread.
A few months ago, I was sitting on the couch with my 3-year-old daughter, watching YouTube videos about animals in space, when out of nowhere she looked up at me and asked:
“Dada, can we celebrate Christmas?”
“We don’t celebrate Christmas,” I told her, putting on my serious voice. “We celebrate Hanukkah.”
Like generations of Jewish parents before me, I did my best to sell her on the relative merits of Hanukkah. True, Christmas might have those sparkly trees, ornaments and fruitcake. But we have latkes, jelly doughnuts and eight nights of presents.
“Do we have Santa?” she asked, hopefully.
“No,” I said, and her face dropped. “They do.”
I tried to reiterate the part about the jelly doughnuts and the eight nights of presents. But she wasn’t having any of it.
Okay, allow me to briefly summarize what I think is the point of Lucas’s article about the modern-day American version of Hanukkah: Hanukkah for many American Jews has become (pardon the analogy) the Jewish version of the American Christmas—at least culturally speaking that is.
But Lucas later admits how uncomfortably surprised he was to learn the actual historical background behind this minor annual Jewish holiday. Lucas learned that Hanukkah has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas (not that it ever did) but was instead an 8-day long celebration of the victory of religious fundamentalism and violence.
Writes Lucas:
"More recently, as Jews have become assimilated into American society, the holiday has evolved into a kind of Semitic sidekick for Christmas, a minor festival pumped up into something it was never meant to be so that Jewish kids won’t feel bad about not having a tree."
Indeed the rediscovery of Hanukkah’s original meaning has the potential to shed new light on this minor Jewish holiday.
But what if we Christians, like Lucas, took a deeper look into our own foundational Christmas story, particularly the birth stories found in Matthew and Luke. What if we were to challenge the modern -day perception that these stories were all about humble beginnings and strained hospitality portrayed on glossy Hallmark cards; stories acted out in children’s plays in church.
This is exactly what author Tricia Gates Brown has done in her excellent *essay (“The Subversive, Confrontational, & Emboldening Stories of Christmas”) on the original meaning of the Christmas stories, as found in Matthew and Luke. Brown’s discovery is shocking to most modern-day American Christians—shocking because most of us have never heard this version of the Christmas story before (I had not until my mid-fifties).
Matthew and Luke are the only two Gospel writers that begin with a birth narrative of Jesus. This is not a coincidence nor is it an accident. They were designed, each in their own way, to let the first century Christians know that God has acted in Jesus’s birth to establish his eternal reign (Empire) on earth.
A new government has been established. A new Ruler has been installed. A new King has been coronated. A new way of life has appeared that stands in stark contrast to the ways of Empire (Rome or the United States).
In other words, both Matthew and Luke use the birth story of Jesus (as a prelude) to set up their Gospels in order to critique and challenge the pagan Empire of Rome (or any Empire for that matter). It was their way of subverting the prideful claims of both the Empire and Cesar.
As Tricia Gates Brown reminds us: “These [birth] narratives offer a scathing critique of imperial methods of controlling people, holding onto power, conquering territory, and advancing/protecting the empire’s survival.” In other words, the non-violent kingdom of Christ stands opposed to the violent nature of worldly Empires—including our own nation.
The stories of Jesus’s birth demonstrate to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear that lasting peace is brought about by the non-violent ways of Christ as opposed to the violent ways of the Empire. It is with great intent that the Gospel writers refer to Jesus as "The Prince of Peace" and not Cesar.
Read in such a manner, these birth stories of Jesus, the stories that have been overly sentimentalized by the Hallmark industry, remind us all of who our true Lord is. Read in this way we are reminded of the real significance of our baptismal confession:
“Jesus is Lord!”
And because Jesus is Lord it only stands to reason that Cesar isn’t—nor any other worldly ruler who desires to lay claim on Christian lives.
It is time for American Christians, as well as American Jews for that matter, to hear our annual holiday stories as they were told in their original context. I believe if we make such an effort we will experience a deeper and richer Christmas and Hanukkah and the annual mantra will take on new meaning:
“Peace on earth and goodwill to all!”
*https://triciagatesbrown.net/2018/11/15/the-subversive-confrontational-emboldening-stories-of-christmas-2/
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