World without Children: Voices From and Around the Manger
Christianity around the globe traditionally reads and reflects the life enhancing activities in the birth narratives of Jesus in the Gospels. Characters that fascinate us during such reflections are baby Jesus, Manger, Crib, Christmas-tree, Star, Angel, Joseph, Mary, Shepherds, Wisemen with expensive gifts, and animals in the stable. Most of our celebrations and greetings are not without their depiction. They have projecting the Christmas as only ‘celebration’.
While it is not at all completely off track itself to ‘celebrate’ Christmas, one’s reading of the scripture should span the peril that Jesus and other children around the time of Jesus’ birth went through. Children below two years of age became an endangered lot instantly. Forced migration and escape for life certainly add new dimensions to theological, missiological, and social thinking of the churches.
In fact the popular superficio-mystical religiosity and spirituality locks up our senses to give importance to children at risk in India and elsewhere in the society when we read the birth narratives of Jesus in gospels. But the reality is that, all our religiosity and spirituality have to base on our very socio-existence and socio-witness of lives which would bring meanings. Many girl children who are raped and killed during this advent should provoke our superficial spiritualities and materialistic celebrations that we are drawn into.
In our pluri-faith, multicultural and ideological contexts, life and death rub each other every moment, and it is a reality to reckon with. It is the blur line that one has to recognize in the face of violation of child rights especially when Christians thinking of Christmas. Therefore addressing child rights issue in India is also a matter of pluri-faith interaction. That’s where Christmas become relevant.
The Context of Jesus’ Birth: As recorded in the gospels, at the time of Jesus’ birth, the prophetic voice had already seen and foreseen such discrimination against children by Empiric imperial forces. The birth of a Child called Jesus threatened and questioned autocratic powerful rulers like Herod and made him to fear a new born child. He believed that, even a child would one day overthrow him from the power and authority though it would not have been at least immediately. Almost a generation of the surrounding locality was massacred. This is where the presence of children itself turns into a matter of recognition. It is Herod’s shrewdness that saw a significant challenge through an unknown or a lesser known child.
Secondly, the manger where Jesus was surrounding not only by Joseph, Mary, star, wisemen, shepherds, angels, animals and heavenly carols but, there were death cry and commotion among the parents. The community was under turmoil and restlessness. Hundreds of male children below 2 years were assassinated and buried. The prophetic vision that there would be wailing in Ramah was not responsibly heeded to. Such prophetic voices go unheard even today.
Thirdly, the child Jesus was forced to migrate to another place for survival and safety. Being brought up in a completely new culture against one’s wish provokes rights issues. The question of acceptability, access to livelihood as new citizens in an unknown land, deprivation of a safe and healthy childhood was most probably the situations that Jesus went through. While we know that Jesus survived all the challenges, it is possibly the scarred psyche that triggered Jesus to debate with teachers in the temple and to garner a movement in his youth. He probably did not want children to go through that harsh life anymore. This puts the verse, “Unless you become like children, you will not enter the reign of God” in a Rights perspective. A Reign that was conceived in a young mind one day began to challenge the empiric motives of Rome.
And fourthly, all humane communities are created in God’s image. If so, the image of God is reflected in children too. It is the adult conception that God looks like a fully grown male adult. None of us have seen God. But God has given us an opportunity to see God in each other- through a child, through a woman, through a disabled person, through the creation around, and through big and small creatures. The infant Jesus did carry the image of God, which many of his times failed to see as do many of us today. This demands our rethinking on doctrinal issues as well.
The Challenges of our Context at Christmas
According to UNICEF, child mortality rate in India is about 1.83 million -- the highest in the world. In 2009, at the world level, child mortality aggregate was 8.1 million. In a statistic of WHO, around 1000 children- below the age of 5- die every hour. UNICEF goes on to say that around 70% of the total child morality happens in developing countries of which 66% is preventable. They are preventable because they are caused by malnutrition, malaria and acute respiratory infections.
Several hundred female children die in their mother’s womb: the womb of mothers become tombs of these babes. They do not see the light of day.
Several hundred innocent Children are either infected or affected by HIV/AIDS and die in younger age.
There are several million children forcefully migrated different places as Child Labours, Sex and Tour escorts and exploited.
The world looses several generations by not snatching children from the clutches of untimely death. Of those who survive, the childhood of many come with a heavy price: the cost of childhood itself. Young girls are raped and killed to satisfy human greed.
World without children are unimaginable! At the same time, the world with children at risk should be equally unimaginable!
Is it untimely response that costs the lives of many potential messiahs of our time? Yes, it is! Would the birth of children today challenge some of the traditional notions of our faith and society? Yes it does, if we patiently wait to hear the voices of the lowly from the manger! They come as prophetic voices if they are discerned.
Prophetic voices galore! A significant prophetic voice of change through a child’s coming could not be better expressed than in the words of mother Mary famously know as the Magnificent. “The womb of Mary becomes a site of protest” and reestablishment of children as powerful beings in their own rights amidst multifaceted risks.
Christmas is the time when the life and presence of ‘children at risk’ turn into a point to be ministerially recognized and missiologically responded to. All our theological and missiological thinking on the issues of children have to be propelled by Right-ful missions. The cries from many mangers around that of Jesus were just not heeded to by the communities to garner resistance and to save children from destruction. We are surrounded by host of prophetic voices on behalf of and from children themselves. Christmas should listen to children to make Christmas more meaningful. Only that leads us to child Jesus and Jesus- like children towards a holistic salvation.
Wishing you a meaningful Christmas and the Child Right Protecting New year 2011.
R. Christopher Rajkumar
Christianity around the globe traditionally reads and reflects the life enhancing activities in the birth narratives of Jesus in the Gospels. Characters that fascinate us during such reflections are baby Jesus, Manger, Crib, Christmas-tree, Star, Angel, Joseph, Mary, Shepherds, Wisemen with expensive gifts, and animals in the stable. Most of our celebrations and greetings are not without their depiction. They have projecting the Christmas as only ‘celebration’.
While it is not at all completely off track itself to ‘celebrate’ Christmas, one’s reading of the scripture should span the peril that Jesus and other children around the time of Jesus’ birth went through. Children below two years of age became an endangered lot instantly. Forced migration and escape for life certainly add new dimensions to theological, missiological, and social thinking of the churches.
In fact the popular superficio-mystical religiosity and spirituality locks up our senses to give importance to children at risk in India and elsewhere in the society when we read the birth narratives of Jesus in gospels. But the reality is that, all our religiosity and spirituality have to base on our very socio-existence and socio-witness of lives which would bring meanings. Many girl children who are raped and killed during this advent should provoke our superficial spiritualities and materialistic celebrations that we are drawn into.
In our pluri-faith, multicultural and ideological contexts, life and death rub each other every moment, and it is a reality to reckon with. It is the blur line that one has to recognize in the face of violation of child rights especially when Christians thinking of Christmas. Therefore addressing child rights issue in India is also a matter of pluri-faith interaction. That’s where Christmas become relevant.
The Context of Jesus’ Birth: As recorded in the gospels, at the time of Jesus’ birth, the prophetic voice had already seen and foreseen such discrimination against children by Empiric imperial forces. The birth of a Child called Jesus threatened and questioned autocratic powerful rulers like Herod and made him to fear a new born child. He believed that, even a child would one day overthrow him from the power and authority though it would not have been at least immediately. Almost a generation of the surrounding locality was massacred. This is where the presence of children itself turns into a matter of recognition. It is Herod’s shrewdness that saw a significant challenge through an unknown or a lesser known child.
Secondly, the manger where Jesus was surrounding not only by Joseph, Mary, star, wisemen, shepherds, angels, animals and heavenly carols but, there were death cry and commotion among the parents. The community was under turmoil and restlessness. Hundreds of male children below 2 years were assassinated and buried. The prophetic vision that there would be wailing in Ramah was not responsibly heeded to. Such prophetic voices go unheard even today.
Thirdly, the child Jesus was forced to migrate to another place for survival and safety. Being brought up in a completely new culture against one’s wish provokes rights issues. The question of acceptability, access to livelihood as new citizens in an unknown land, deprivation of a safe and healthy childhood was most probably the situations that Jesus went through. While we know that Jesus survived all the challenges, it is possibly the scarred psyche that triggered Jesus to debate with teachers in the temple and to garner a movement in his youth. He probably did not want children to go through that harsh life anymore. This puts the verse, “Unless you become like children, you will not enter the reign of God” in a Rights perspective. A Reign that was conceived in a young mind one day began to challenge the empiric motives of Rome.
And fourthly, all humane communities are created in God’s image. If so, the image of God is reflected in children too. It is the adult conception that God looks like a fully grown male adult. None of us have seen God. But God has given us an opportunity to see God in each other- through a child, through a woman, through a disabled person, through the creation around, and through big and small creatures. The infant Jesus did carry the image of God, which many of his times failed to see as do many of us today. This demands our rethinking on doctrinal issues as well.
The Challenges of our Context at Christmas
According to UNICEF, child mortality rate in India is about 1.83 million -- the highest in the world. In 2009, at the world level, child mortality aggregate was 8.1 million. In a statistic of WHO, around 1000 children- below the age of 5- die every hour. UNICEF goes on to say that around 70% of the total child morality happens in developing countries of which 66% is preventable. They are preventable because they are caused by malnutrition, malaria and acute respiratory infections.
Several hundred female children die in their mother’s womb: the womb of mothers become tombs of these babes. They do not see the light of day.
Several hundred innocent Children are either infected or affected by HIV/AIDS and die in younger age.
There are several million children forcefully migrated different places as Child Labours, Sex and Tour escorts and exploited.
The world looses several generations by not snatching children from the clutches of untimely death. Of those who survive, the childhood of many come with a heavy price: the cost of childhood itself. Young girls are raped and killed to satisfy human greed.
World without children are unimaginable! At the same time, the world with children at risk should be equally unimaginable!
Is it untimely response that costs the lives of many potential messiahs of our time? Yes, it is! Would the birth of children today challenge some of the traditional notions of our faith and society? Yes it does, if we patiently wait to hear the voices of the lowly from the manger! They come as prophetic voices if they are discerned.
Prophetic voices galore! A significant prophetic voice of change through a child’s coming could not be better expressed than in the words of mother Mary famously know as the Magnificent. “The womb of Mary becomes a site of protest” and reestablishment of children as powerful beings in their own rights amidst multifaceted risks.
Christmas is the time when the life and presence of ‘children at risk’ turn into a point to be ministerially recognized and missiologically responded to. All our theological and missiological thinking on the issues of children have to be propelled by Right-ful missions. The cries from many mangers around that of Jesus were just not heeded to by the communities to garner resistance and to save children from destruction. We are surrounded by host of prophetic voices on behalf of and from children themselves. Christmas should listen to children to make Christmas more meaningful. Only that leads us to child Jesus and Jesus- like children towards a holistic salvation.
Wishing you a meaningful Christmas and the Child Right Protecting New year 2011.
R. Christopher Rajkumar
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