There are no Christmas celebrations I heard in the Palestinian Bethlehem as they mourn the death of innocents, especially children killed in Gaza. But maybe that’s because we celebrate Christ’s birth thinking wrong thoughts or doing the wrong things.

Because violence also marked the birth of the Lord 2000 years ago: Even as shepherds and wisemen gathered around the infant in the manger, the wise men were warned in a dream not to go back and report the birth of the Messiah to King Herod. A furious King Herod once he knew he’d been tricked, slew all Jewish children under the age of two.

Not a great beginning, and like the wailing in Gaza, mothers wailed as their children were killed around that first Christmas long ago. A bad beginning, you may think, for the one who was supposed to change the world.

On the contrary, violent acts against the birth of Christ or the celebration of Christmas reveal only one thing, and that is fear!

The kind of revolution that Jesus brought about is one that no dictator, ruler, or country with unjust laws can withstand. You don’t have to go far back in time to see how true this is.

Mahatma Gandhi, used non-violence and principles from the Sermon on the Mount, to win against a formidable England. Today India is free because of those non-violent techniques, and a victory won through methods the same Babe in a Manger brought to the world two thousand years ago.

Martin Luther King Jr, used the same. His civil rights movement, just over fifty years ago, completely transformed the lives of African-Americans in the United States. The blacks who were treated like the dregs of society, were made to sit in the back of public transport and were scorned and called derogatory names. They were segregated and made to feel less than animals.

Today, they are equal and even voted in a black President!

On Christmas Day, we need to rejoice and celebrate the ‘distribution of these beautiful weapons’ that can win against any dictator or unjust monarch.

Revolutionary weapons of love, and turning the other cheek!

More than cancelling the celebrations in Bethlehem, the people there should dig deeper into the true meaning of Christmas and present it vividly to the terrorist organisation, the powerful USA and a vengeful Israel.

Vengeance by the Israelis should be stopped, and solutions that are just and people oriented should be called for. The way to peace is long and arduous but revenge gains no victory, but provides a retreat for a future war.

It is in the midst of violence that Christmas makes more sense. So, celebrate today even more, not through imbibing spirits and revelry, but by practising the thoughts, and principles, that the God above sent through His son, the Messiah!

Happy Christmas my dear friends, let us celebrate today..!