[This fable is from our first Christmas 1996 Grif.Net. =
Hope all will enjoy a dip into the past.]
And Jos=
eph went up from Galilee to Bethlehem with Mary, his espoused wife, who was=
great with child. And she brought forth a son and wrapped him in swa=
ddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them =
in the inn. And the angel of the Lord spoke to the shepherds and said=
, "I bring you tidings of great joy. Unto you is born a Savior, which =
is Christ the Lord."
"There’s a problem =
with the angel," said a Pharisee who happened to be strolling by. =
; As he explained to Joseph, angels are widely regarded as religious symbol=
s, and the stable was on public property where such symbols were not allowe=
d to land or even hover.
"And I =
have to tell you, this whole thing looks to me very much like a Nativity sc=
ene," he said sadly. "That’s a no-no, too." Jose=
ph had a bright idea. "What if I put a couple of reindeer over t=
here near the ox and ass?" he said, eager to avoid sectarian str=
ife. "That would definitely help," said the Pharisee,=
who knew as well as anyone that whenever a savior appeared, judges usually=
liked to be on the safe side and surround it with deer or woodland creatur=
es of some sort. "Just to clinch it, throw in a candy cane and a coupl=
e of elves and snowmen, too," he said. "No court can resist=
that."
&nbs=
p;
"M=
ary asked, "What does my son’s birth have to do with snowmen?" &q=
uot;Snowpersons," cried a young woman, changing the subject before it =
veered dangerously toward religion. Off to the side of the crowd, a P=
hilistine was painting the Nativity scene. Mary complained that she a=
nd Joseph looked too tattered and worn in the picture. "Artistic=
license," he said. "I’ve got to show the plight of the hag=
gard homeless in a greedy, uncaring society in winter," he quipped.&nb=
sp; "We’re not haggard or homeless. The inn was just full,"=
said Mary. "Whatever," said the painter.=
 =
; Two women began to argue fiercely. One said she objecte=
d to Jesus’ birth "because it privileged motherhood." The o=
ther scoffed at virgin births but said that if they encouraged more attenti=
on to diversity in family forms and the rights of single mothers, well, the=
n, she was all for them. "I’m not a single mother," Mary st=
arted to say, but she was cut off by a third woman who insisted that swaddl=
ing clothes are a form of child abuse, since they restrict the natural move=
ment of babies.
With the arrival of 10 child=
advocates, all trained to spot infant abuse and manger rash, Mary and Jose=
ph were pushed to the edge of the crowd, where arguments were breaking out =
over how many reindeer (or what mix of reindeer and seasonal sprites) had t=
o be installed to compensate for the infant’s unfortunate religious charact=
er.
An older man bustled up, bowling over t=
wo merchants, who had been busy debating whether an elf is the same as a fa=
iry and whether the elf/fairy should be shaking hands with Jesus in the cri=
b or merely standing to the side, jumping around like a sports mascot.=
&nbs=
p; "I’d hold off on the reindeer," the man said=
, explaining that the use of asses and oxen as picturesque backdrops for Na=
tivity scenes carries the subliminal message of human dominance. He p=
assed out two leaflets, one denouncing manger births as invasions of animal=
space, the other arguing that stables are "penned environments" =
where animals are incarcerated against their will. He had no opinion =
about elves or candy canes.
Signs declaring "=
Free the Bethlehem 2" began to appear, referring to the obviously expl=
oited ass and ox. Someone said the halo on Jesus’ head was elitist.&n=
bsp; Mary was exasperated. "And what about you, old mother?"=
; she said sharply to an elderly woman. "Are you here to attack =
the shepherds as prison guards for excluded species, maybe to complain that=
singing in Latin identifies us with our Roman oppressors, or just to say t=
hat I should have skipped patriarchal religiosity and joined some dumb new-=
age goddess religion?"
"None of the abov=
e," said the woman, "I just wanted to tell you that the Magi are =
here." Sure enough, the three wise men rode up. The crowd =
gasped, "They’re all male!" And "Not very multicultura=
l!" "Balthasar here is black," said one of the Magi.&n=
bsp; "Yes, but how many of you are gay or disabled?" someone shou=
ted. A committee was quickly formed to find an impoverished lesbian w=
ise-person among the halt and lame of Bethlehem.
A=
calm voice said, "Be of good cheer, Mary, you have done well, and you=
r son will change the world." At last, a sane person, Mary thoug=
ht. She turned to see a radiant and confident female face. The =
woman spoke again: "There is one thing, though. Religious =
holidays are important, but can’t we learn to celebrate them in ways that u=
nite, not divide? For instance, instead of all this business about ‘Gloria =
in excelsis Deo,’ why not just ‘Season’s Greetings’?" Mary said, "=
;You mean my Son has entered human history to deliver the message, ‘Hello, =
it’s winter’?"
"That’s harsh, Mar=
y," said the woman. "Remember, your son could make it big i=
n midwinter festivals, if he doesn’t push the religion thing too far. =
Centuries from now, in nations yet unborn, people will give each other pri=
cey gifts and have big office parties on his birthday. That’s not cho=
pped liver."
But Mary kept all these things,=
and pondered them in her heart, saying "Let me get back to you."=
=
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
[email protected] www.grif.net =
"Jesus Knows Me, This=
I Love!"