“Go tell that fox!” A Christmas piece appearing in local newspapers this weekend

“Go tell that fox!” A Christmas piece appearing in local newspapers this weekend

By Ray Hartle

It's not the time to be jolly; it's time for serious reflection on the state of our country. That's the gist of the message of the Christian clerics who issued a statement challenging the morality of South Africa's leaders - and they fingered political and business leaders as being a big part of the breakdown in values.

Of course the ANC-led government of Jacob Zuma was having none of the Christian criticism. To date, I have not seen the business sector reject the censure - a case of 'if the cap fits, wear it'?

For those of us wishing to be 'heppie heppie' for the festive season, it is perhaps unfortunate that Mangaung happened a few days before Christmas. Had the ANC elective conference taken place in the middle of winter, say, and had the religious leaders felt constrained to call for a new, morally upright corps to lead the ruling party, perhaps the sober message would have been better received by many of us.

By the same token, it's fair to say that the Old Testament prophets would have had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the New Testament. No Good News town criers, these. They were a miserable lot, although tough-as-teak - and with good reason. If a big part of your job is keeping your fellow citizens in check and they're intent on going down in history as God's chosen but disobedient people, you've got to have hair on your teeth. Get used to being called party poopers wherever and whenever you happen to find yourself; even as you try to prepare them for the coming of the Messiah, who will restore God's kingdom. 

Miserable lot or not, the birth of Jesus Christ as re-told by the writers of the Christian gospels is always reflected upon in churches at Christmas-tide with reference to the words of the prophets who lived hundreds of years before. Partly this is so because, amazingly, they got the circumstances of Jesus's birth so spot on. Their utterances also provide a neat set of juxtapositions against which to pitch the teachings of Jesus during his short ministry. Not that the prophets got any of it wrong. They were spot on, again. But their understanding, for example, of a warrior king leading his people to freedom was different from how Jesus envisioned his role.

Thirdly, I think it’s necessary to keep the prophets’ overview of the dark times in which they lived – their admonishments and heart-wrenching tales of broken humanity - alongside the glorious celebration of Christ the Messiah being born among us, God living with us.

In this sense, the binary of good and evil is established, as is darkness with light, death with life, sadness with great joy, in keeping with TS Eliot’s verse: “I believe the moment of birth is when we have knowledge of death; I believe the season of birth is the season of sacrifice.”

My favourite prophet, Amos, rails against those who lack compassion, abuse the poor and needy, deny justice to the oppressed, plunder and loot, take bribes, hike prices and even use dodgy scales to weigh the daily produce. His word to the people is: watch out, the day is coming when all this will change.

Then there is Mary, young and unmarried, whose song of celebration upon hearing that she is pregnant with Jesus, is rich with the imagery of God’s justice: he has scattered the proud... brought down the mighty... exalted the humble... filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.

Most religions – even the humanistic faith of philosphers down the ages - can agree on the need to take care of the downtrodden and oppressed, although religious faith is never a pre-requisite for good deeds.

But, if you're looking for an easy religious sop this Christmas, the Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate now, is not that. His is a much tougher option. He made social justice a key part of his message of individual salvation.

Foxy President Jacob Zuma is lucky, he only has to endure the criticism of mere mortal church leaders, who confess their own flaws and sins even as they bring against him a charge that his government is corrupt and self-serving. He is no Herod, the ruler of Israel-Palestine, who had to face the wrath of Jesus himself, far removed from the gentle and mild imagery we associate with "Away in a Manger".

The Gospel writer Luke records Jesus tearing into Herod. Jesus had been under sustained pressure for usurping the accepted roles of religious and secular leaders. Some pharisees, unhappy that he was healing people on the Jewish Sabbath, came to him warning him of Herod's plan to kill him. Jesus did not mince his words when he said:

“Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal'."
Go tell that fox. Damn, that’s the thing with Jesus. He’s always sending us into tough situations when we want to relax at home, telling us to speak out against bad people when we want to catch a quiet 40 winks, calling us to go to the rugged cross with him when we just want to stay here unwrapping the Christmas gifts next to this other, prettier tree.

Our country continues on a downward spiral as a result of the failure of leaders in many spheres, as a result of your and my complicity in bad decisions, as a result of our active lying and thievery, our abuse of the downtrodden, in treating the poor as if they are not fully human, in hiding taxes and even using dodgy calculators when we pay our workers, in the disgust we heap on women and children, the murderous comfort we bring to our elderly, our poor ethic of work and service and our inability to get beyond the other’s race and our own.

In all these things, Jesus Christ the Messiah judges us, stands willing to forgive us; heals us and empowers us to go forth and heal our country.

That’s the full message of Christmas for our country this year. This is both the season of misery and the season of re-birth. And, that’s what makes it possible for Christians to celebrate; be jolly even.

* Hartle is a journalist and writer based in the Eastern Cape.

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