Dear Leaders of the Christian Community in India,
Greetings of peace, love, joy and hope - to each of you as you prepare to celebrate my birth once again!

I have just come across an invitation from some of you who are planning to celebrate my birthday on December 23, 2024, in Delhi. A great idea indeed – congrats!! My birth as the Saviour of the world must be celebrated! Do go ahead and enjoy yourselves. However, I must confess that your choice of Chief Guest at my birthday party confuses me tremendously; I am aghast! Obviously, you will point fingers at me and say to me that during my life on this earth, I was wining and dining with tax collectors and prostitutes and damned sinners of every hue on the horizon. I have absolutely no doubt that you would conveniently say this to me. Besides, you would also take me on my own words, unhesitatingly quoting me, "I have come for the sinner…!"

Having said this, I would like to state clearly, firmly and unambiguously:

For my birthday, INVITE as Chief Guest…the small farmer(s). You are aware of the suffering that he has been subject to these past years. Their lands have been snatched away; they are given a raw deal for the crops they produce and are denied a just Minimum Support Price(MSP). Remember the four anti-small farmer laws, currently in cold storage, designed to help the big corporates who have already built huge granaries? Even today, several small farmers are fasting; they want their voices to be heard. I would have been delighted if you had invited one of them for my birthday and given them a voice to express their woes, just listened to them. You seem to forget that the shepherds were the first to be invited to celebrate my birthday. They were the chief guests - poor and straightforward, excluded and exploited, living on the peripheries. They came in haste to worship me! Mummy Mary and Papa Joseph had time for them and received them with warmth, love, and joy, which profoundly defined that first Christmas night.

For my birthday, INVITE as Chief Guest…the Human Rights Defender(s). Umar Khalid, Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira and others. My Father had a clear plan; he chose the Magi, the ones who were relentlessly pursuing the truth, the ones who had the courage to follow the star despite all odds. The Magi took a stand against the wiles of Herod and refused to toe his line and fall into the trap of his machinations. They took a visible and vocal stand for truth and justice as they took a calculated decision to go home by another route. There are so many Human Rights defenders who are silenced, hounded, harassed, incarcerated and even killed. Remember our beloved late Fr Stan Swamy? How nice if one of these, who so meaningfully epitomises the spirit of the Gospel, was accorded the place of pride at my birthday party!

For my birthday, INVITE as Chief Guest…the peacemaker(s), someone who dares to internalise and actualise peace, justice, harmony, joy and fraternity. There are millions of them in India today – simple, ordinary, voiceless, sensitive people who have a genuine concern for others. who reach out to others. That first Christmas night, the angels sang in one voice, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests." On his first Christmas as the Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis referred to the song of the angels as "a song that unites heaven and earth." He invited everyone to join in this little song. He called it "a song for every man or woman who keeps watch through the night, who hopes for a better world, who cares for others while humbly seeking to do his or her duty." Pope Francis said, "The song of the angels gives praise and glory to heaven while at the same time promising peace to earth and all its people." It is, indeed, a song of peace.

For my birthday, INVITE as Chief Guest…the 'other(s)!' Remember the people of Egypt? They provided me, my Mum and my Dad shelter, safety and security. They accorded us a warm welcome. They treated us like them, integrated us into their society, and gave us all we needed. It was not easy being refugees, strangers/foreigners in a distant land. Today, we tend to discard these people easily. They are discriminated against, their houses are bull-dozed, and the most derogatory language is used against them. My mother always wore a hijab – an integral part of her culture and tradition. Today, we have reached the lowest rung of pettiness as we determine what to wear, eat, see, and read. Having one of them as the Chief Guest at my birthday party would be an excellent choice!

For my birthday, INVITE as Chief Guest…the tribal(s)/the Adivasi(s). The indigenous people are the soul of any nation. The natives – the original inhabitants of the land. Their jal, jungle, zameen – all their natural resources are being snatched away. Their identity is being destroyed. Actually, having a Kuki-zo tribal would be ideal. Since early May 2023, they have been bruised, brutalised and battered; most of them have lost everything. Many are dead, others just surviving in make-shift refugee camps. Their plight is terrible – unbelievable – a classic case of man's inhumanity to man. Imagine how wonderful it would be if one of them was invited to be the Chief Guest!

For my birthday, INVITE as Chief Guest…the poor and the vulnerable: there are so many of them in the country today: the casual labourers, the migrant workers, the fisher folk and other indigenous coastal people, the vegetable vendors and slum-dwellers, the ones who are trafficked, the unemployed, the Dalits, the OBCs, the women and the other gender, the bonded persons and abused children. The list is endless indeed. Besides, you forget that I was born in Palestine – wow, it would have been terrific to have a Palestinian as the Chief Guest and take a stand against the ruthlessness of the Israeli fascists.

Sadly, you seem to miss the spirit and message of Christmas as you concentrate on power, privilege, position, possessions, and pride. One can never invite someone as Chief guest who has tried to destroy the sanctity of the Constitution, prevented people from freely practising and propagating one's religion, and even suffocated freedom of speech and expression.

Lies, corruption, hate and violence are mainstreamed in the country today. Minorities and other vulnerable sections of society are at the receiving end of a brutal regime. I took a stand against the Caesars, Pilates and Herods of my time. Can you learn from me? You forget that my birth took place in a stable. I am aware that you will do absolutely nothing to change things. That is the tragedy! In 'God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas,' Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds us, "Who among us will celebrate Christmas correctly? Whoever finally lays down all power, all honour, all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism beside the manger; whoever remains lowly and lets God alone be high; whoever looks at the child in the manger and sees the glory of God precisely in his lowliness." 

Finally, enjoy my birthday bash!
I'm sorry, but in conscience, I will NOT be in your midst! (Oh yes, I am not even invited!) I prefer to be with those I have truly come for—the least, the lost, and the last!

Happy Christmas!
Your Brother, Friend and Saviour,
Jesus