X Humanity for all

Anthony Tenorio, one of the Teno/Sophia grandsons, and of late, one of CNMI Little League Baseball pitching sensations, took me to task last year when I wrote “Xmas” on our classroom chalkboard. “X” as the unknown factor in the algebraic equation, he claimed, was not a fitting designation for the Jesus Christ of his childhood piety.I explained that Chi Rho, the letters “X” and “R” in the Greek alphabet, were used by the early Byzantine Church to designate Christo Rai, Christ the King. It must have sounded lame to Anthony for he continued to protest the use of the “X” for the Christ in Christmas, and for those who knew Anthony last year, he was not then given to passionate expressions in academic pursuits or intellectual discourse. Nevertheless, his point was well taken.

This week, there was a news item about a Christian Church group in the continental U.S.A. whose clergy was asking his members to boycott commercial shops who take advantage of the season’s holiday spirit without acknowledging Christmas and its message. Scanning multicultural America’s religious celebrations and remembrances from November to January, one finds the Muslim Eid-ul-Fitr, the end of Ramadhan; the Baha’i Ascension of Abdu’l-Baha, and the Nineteenth Day; the Jewish Chanucah and the Tu B’Shevat; the Hindu-Sikh Lohri (Winter festival); the Japanese Ganjitsu (spoil the kids for a day); the Christian Christmas; the secular Boxing Day invented by the Brits; Kwanzaa of African-Americans, and the various New Year celebrations. Anyone claiming proprietary rights to this season of holidays is at best, dangerously reductive and perversely parochial.

Nor is the celebration associated with December 25 solely Christian in spirit and particularly Christian in origin. Pre-Christian Mithras of Persia (now, Iran) known as the Son of God and the Light of the World, was born this day. (When he died, he was also buried in a rock tomb, and rose again in three days.) December 25 is also the birthday of the Greek god Adonis, the Egyptian hero-king Osiris, and the gods of wine, Roman Bacchus and Greek Dionysius. It marks the Winter solstice when the sun seems to stand still in the northern hemisphere as the earth begins to tilt away from the equator. The Roman Emperor-turned-Christian Constantine worshipped the sun god, forever changing the Sabbath celebration in the Christian liturgical calendar from its Jewish origins on Saturday (Sabalu, Sabado, Sabbath) to Sunday.

The Christian Christmas does have a compelling story in the birth narratives of Jesus. Later, the story would birth the notion that the Supreme Power of the universe deigned to appear in flesh to save the world. This has tremendous appeal to a world waiting for a Messiah. For indeed, every human being longs and hopes for something or someone external to oneself to extricate one from the vicissitudes of human existence, however that is perceived. Everyone thinks they deserve to win the sweepstakes of life, and in my case, I do the longing even if I do not purchase a lottery ticket. The yearning for a Savior is universal.

To the Christian Church’s credit, it did not call the celebration of Jesus? alleged entry into the plane of history, Jesusmas. It called it Christmas. Now, to many, “Christ” is considered Jesus? last name, or family name. Not so. It is the role He played, ascribed to Him by his followers. In any of the gospel narratives, He is never quoted as claiming such title to himself. Thus, it is a consensus among biblical scholars that there is one Jesus but many Christs. The early fathers of the fourth century Christian Church choose four authoritative Gospels as canon or authoritative standard of holy scripture. There were 80 some gospels floating around southern Europe, the Levant and north Africa by then. The leaders of the Church had to choose. They exercised their freedom. They made choices.

In the last century, the quest for the historical Jesus revealed that each picture of the Christ is conditioned by the culture of the perceiver. It is in the eye of the beholder. Thus, a Bolivian Jesus Christ is depicted, not only in physique but also in emotions and thoughts, to be Andean Latino. The same would be said of the Jesus Christ image originating from Shanghai to Sri Lanka, Tokyo to Timbuktu, Manila to Milan, from the wadi of the Memphis by the Nile to the suburbs of Indianapolis.

The current popular image of Jesus as the Christ is that of a meek Clark Kent who would turn into the S-T-shirted Cristo Rei on Easter morn. Not unlike the capsule-carried child from Krypton, the Jesus of Bethlehem of gospel myth was also heaven sent through a human medium though by the mysterious means of dessert wind. I caricature the image, but it is fundamentally the evangelium of the last two centuries of missionary work.

Images that we choose of Jesus are the images we choose for ourselves. Reflected by the looking glass of Jesus Christ, we discover the deep images that we harbor for ourselves. Some have seen darkness, desolation and terror while others encountered light, transformation, and possibilities. My favorite is John’s witness of Jesus confronting an ill person lying by the Sheep Gate pool of Beth-zatha. Jesus asked: “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man replied that each time he makes his way to the stirring and healing waters of the pool, someone else steps in front of him. No one helps him to get ahead. Jesus said to him: “Stand up, take your mat, and walk.”

The Jesus of my acquaintance is a no-Messiah Messiah. He goes around asking, “Are you waiting for someone to relieve you of your troubles? Like, a son of David to drive the Romans out for you? Well, I have good news for you. No one is coming. Pick up your life, and walk.” It is as if the Christ role is fundamentally to affirm the humanity of everyone, to invite each to appropriate their heritage of who they are, embracing their nature and nurture as truly their own. Miraculously, those who do pick up their lives and walk, graciously journey into a life of fulfilling self-expenditure into the glorious end of their years. What is common about the Jesus Christ story of the Christian gospels is the affirmation that one’s humanity is worth living, enough that the creator, preserver and destroyer of it, in the fullness of time, came to be unconditionally and truly one, also.

In one sense, Anthony was right in insisting that the “X” in our Christmas be made specific and not left to the vagaries of the unknown. It would be limiting, inauthentic, and downright unchristian, however, to think that the Christ of my tradition and imaginings is the only right and appropriate one.

As Gandhi once declared to a Hindu fanatic who objected to his dealings with the Muslims: “I am a Muslim, and a Hindu, and a Christian, and a Jew.” The Christ in my Christmas is a role for anyone, one that affirms, consecrates, dedicates and celebrates what is human.