“…. HIS NAME SHALL BE CALLED THE PRINCE OF PEACE.” Isa. 9:6
The land of the headhunters that was, is today a land of the Christians is it? The barbarous the sane Christian? The Nagas are surrounded by non-Christians and they are a small people. But God discovered them as an apple of His eye; why? God must have had some reason I believe. A Christian state was formed in December 1963. The churches of Nagaland made a Covenant with God to set aside Nagaland’ for Christ, and pledged to make Nagaland a Missionary country and to send 10,000 missionaries to different parts of the world. Perhaps, the Naga Churches are aware that the Covenant/vow/pledge they have made with God will surely require it of them and it would be sin if they fail to do what they covenanted and pledged for (Deut. 23:21).
Although the Nagas do not deserve, God has gracious1y stooped down once again to bless them with another Season of Goodwill – the Christmas! It is a very serious matter, for it is a question of life and death, blessing and curse and good and evil. 2006 Season of Goodwill has brought to the Nagas these issues once again and God is confronting us with these issues. We have absolute right to choose anything we want or desire. But God’s only option offers us to choose LIFE – Deut. 30: 15,19. Then where is the Life that God is offering? The answer is given in John 5:11, 12. he who has Jesus has life, he who has no Jesus has not life; This is the Christmas Gift. The NAGAS have this unique privilege to receive JESUS and ETERNAL LIFE – Peace and Joy – IF THEY WANT!
The uniqueness of the Nagas is that they belong to a Christian State and that it is set aside for Christ, in which they can live in Peace and harmony and let others also live as they do. Do we Nagas as Christians realise the tremendous responsibilities that we have for the world for which we are accountable to our God (Lk.16:2)?
For this beautiful Season of Goodwill, it is quite obvious that the gifted artists will make colourful attractive Christmas cards with inspirational messages. Business and commerce will boom, lots of money will be earned and spent. Instead of a Spiritual feast Christmas will become a pleasure-hunt. Tragedies will strike many people; many will fill the graves and many will sustain sufferings. As Churches, families, groups celebrate Christmas in which Jesus will be only an unseen guest. God designed Christmas to make Jesus Christ as the CENTRE of it, but the church programmes will crowd out Jesus. It is indeed a pity!
Christ broke into the human history; He was already in the midst of World history but humanity did not know He was there nor did they accept Him. Reading Mathew 2:2 and Lk 2:7 it is revealed that neither the Church, nor the government of the day, nay the society knew that Christ was with them. The Jews waited for thousands of years for the Promised Messiah, the Emmanuel but when He came to the world they knew nothing about His birth. In the same way even today, the birth of Jesus Christ is a mere formalism, it is a great leap forward to a carnal commercialisation only. The real meaning of Christmas is distorted, the joy of life, the blessing of peace and goodwill are utterly far removed from the hearts of men and seeking temporary pleasures in the things that do not satisfy one’s desires exchanging the truth of God with lies and worshipping and serving the creatures and not the Creator.
The present Naga generation will fondly remember that, nearly 150 years ago, the old generation of the Nagas were touched by God’s love and peace. God offered them the Prince of Peace. Our ancestors opted for the Peace and Reconciliation. But how come in our new generation we are exteriorizing the old habits of wickedness and evils in various civilised manners which are making our lives miserable, worthless and condemnable before the Holy God?
The Nagas have forgotten God who loves and cares for them, therefore He has allowed them to be torn into pieces and we Nagas are regarded by Him as “grievous revolters, slanders, like brass arid iron, all corrupters. Though the billows are burned, lead is consumed of the fire, the founder melts in vain for the wicked are not plucked away.”
We are sick at heart because we are not reconciled with God neither with each other. We are desperately searching for Peace, we even kill each other for the sake of peace, but peace is evading us for many years. Why? Perhaps the Nagas are on the sycamore tree – the tree of Naga Pride, whereas Jesus, the Prince of Peace is only on the LEVEL. If they want the Prince of Peace, then they must dismount the pride. The disciples asked Jesus: “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Jesus answered: “Whoever shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” The Nagas must dismount from the pride and become humble before God so that God can come to their rescue. The Source of real Peace for the Nagas is the Cross. God can reconcile with man only through the Cross. All our sins must be crucified on the cross to be reconciled with God and our fellow men. All the walls of hatred, prejudices, ill-feelings, hurts, jealousy, tribalism, groupism, factionalism, violence, bloodshed, terrorism, suspicions, misgivings and killings must be crucified on the cross of Christ and be filled with the real peace and joy of Christmas.
Do the Naga Christians and the churches have any real concern for the down-trodden, the orphans and other less fortunates of our people and others?
Once upon a time, a unique and striking Christmas Card was said to be made with the title – “If Christ has not come”. The card represented a clergyman falling into a deep sleep in his study room on a Christmas morning. In his dream he went out to a world into which Jesus had never come.
In that country he did not find any church, no preparation for Christmas at all, no signs of Christmas at homes or shops. On his return, he tried to locate a book that tells about the Saviour in his library but he could not find any.
In a little while, there was a knock at the door. He opened the door and a boy was there who requested him to go and visit a poor dying mother. Hurriedly he went and told the sick mother of the boy and said, “I have something here that will comfort you.” The clergyman opened his Bible to look for a familiar promise, but it ended with Malachi, there was no Gospel, hence no promise of hope and salvation. He could not comfort the sick mother. He returned home in shame and bitter despair.
After two days he conducted the funeral service and again he could not utter a word of consolation and hope for the future. All that he could mumble was, “Dust to dust, ashes to ashes.” Soon he realised that Christ had not come. With bitter tears he suddenly woke up and he heard the shouts of joy and praises being sung by the choir of his church.
O come all ye faithful,
O come ye to Bethlehem,
Come and behold Him born
King of the angels,
Come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
Whereas the pith and power of the Gospel are the death and the resurrection of Christ, the Christmas is the invasion of man’s heart with the love of God to give Christ as a Gift so that man may have life, joy, peace and goodwill. Can we dare to miss Him again? GOD FORBID!
For nearly half a century, the Naga-boat is caught up in fierce and terrible storms in the midst of the sea. We look for peace and security. All our efforts have ended in utter futility. The reasons are obvious, we have turned our back on God – the Prince of Peace who alone can stop the storms. If the Nagas want to survive as a people then peace is the only option, but reconciliation is an absolute prerequisite imperative. If we continue to do all negative and wrong things that negate our efforts to achieve peace we will be back to square one. Nothing that is morally wrong can be religiously or politically right. The Word of God says, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” In other words, God will bless all those with whom He is pleased. He will bless them with peace and goodwill. May the Gracious Lord have mercy on the Nagas to make the 2006 Christmas as a Day of Reconciliation with God amongst the Nagas themselves so that an era of real and lasting Peace may be the summum bonum of the Christmas.
RC Chiten Jamir
