Watching a lot of television these past days I have seen Christmas interpreted in so many ways. The opulence in the stores, the parades, the church services with their picturesque liturgies, the many stories and tales about Scrooge, Santa Claus, Rudolph and Jesus. Few of them seemed to me to hit the true meaning of darkness turning to light, the real Solstice, understood literally or metaphorically.
A quote from Scripture was often referred to. In the so-called Beatitudes Jesus were quoted, saying, “Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom, blessed are the meek for they shall see God!”
It seems to be a good way to counteract all the excessive shopping for gifts and the subsequent returning of same.
However, the more I listened to the quote the more it dawned on me. Of course! Some of our politicians in Washington are the true Magi of Christmas! In their view the poor and the meek are blessed because they are poor and meek. So keep them poor and meek, increase their number and we will make more people ready for the kingdom to see God! Don’t create jobs for them! Remove them from unemployment compensation. Health insurance? Don’t apply it to them! The more poor and meek we can make here and now the merrier it is going to be in heaven!
Somehow it seems that our politicians in Washington neglected to read the rest of what is attributed to Jesus: “Woe to you who are rich, you may be happy, satisfied and prosperous now, but a time will come when you are hungry and your laughter will turn to mourning.”
Happy New Year!
Jake Hjorth
Grand Marais
Leave a Reply