Mary & Joseph are Questioned Tough at the Census Registration
As the Magi returned to their place after worshipping
baby Jesus,
Mary & Joseph heard a knock on the door of their
manger,
“Oh, dear yet another visitor tonight, another
stranger?”
This time it was expectedly an unexpected visitor, ‘Census
Enumerator’,
Commissioned by the office of Roman Emperor Caesar
Augustus,
Census Enumerator(CE) enquires Mary & Joseph of
their details to fill in the Census forms,
CE: Your name
Joseph: Joseph
CE: Where are you from?
Joseph: Nazareth of Galilee
CE: Then why did you come to be enumerated at Bethlehem?
Joseph: Because I am descended from the house and family of
David, and had to come to this city of David Bethlehem to register
CE: ok fine, what is your profession?
Joseph: Carpenter
CE: Who is she in the manger with you?
Joseph: my wife Mary
CE: Are you married?
Joseph: well, we are Engaged
CE: Who is this child?
Joseph: Our Child
CE: What is his name?
Joseph: We are told by the angel to name him Jesus
CE: Oh Jesus, is he going to be a saviour?
Mary: Yes, for sure, he is born to deliver people from the
bondage of oppression
CE: (laughs out loudly) are you gone crazy? There is no
opposition to the Roman empire, hail Caesar!
CE to Mary: By the way what is your name?
Mary: Mary
CE: what is your native place?
Mary: Nazareth of Galilee
CE: Marital status?
Mary: Well,
you wouldn’t understand whatever I say?
CE: What is that I don’t understand? Tell me the truth? Have
you eloped from your town and have conceived a child illegitimately?
Mary: Please stop speaking as you wish, I am a virgin and
am conceived by Holy Spirit and bore Jesus, for he will save his people from
their sins.
CE: Ha ha ha ha, this is the joke of the year and the
years to come. I don’t care whether you bore a child illegitimately or by any
spirits, all I need to emphasize is that there is no other emperor than Caesar,
and there is no other kingdom then the Kingdom of Rome. All you say is cock and
bull stories and will not appeal to anyone in this context.
Mary: My son Jesus is going to bring down the powerful to
become lowly, will establish Kingdom of God very different from the ethos of
your kingdom and is bound on love, peace, justice and equality and his kingdom
has no end.
CE: I have come here not to listen to your spineless
sermons, let me do my job and register you as virgin/unmarried/engaged/homeless/ and profile you and your family as
insurgents, and mind you with this red tag on your family, you cannot cross
borders or escape from the wrath of Roman empire. I am going to alert all the
check-posts in our empire and no one can save you and your family.
Mary & Joseph depended on God and said, “For nothing is impossible to God”
Christmas challenges us to
remember people who are struggling to fill in their documents,
remember people who are struggling with ambiguous
identities,
remember people who are crossing the borders and
oceans,
remember people who are profiled unjustly as
insurgents for contesting empire,
remember people who are branded unpatriotic for
expressing dissent,
remember people who are vulnerable and pushed into
margins…
Christmas inspires us to participate along with God
who in Jesus pitched his tent among such people in their quest for life, peace,
justice and liberation and in striving to bring them to realization.
For with God everything is Possible
Wishing you A Very Meaningful Christmas & A
Challenging New year
Jai Ho, Jubi, Shiny, Raj Bharat,
Indira & Deva Raju Patta,
Gnana Kumari & Rajaratnam Budithi
Christmas 2016,
Manchester
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