By Fr. Joe Royan, C.Ss.R –
If one is abreast with the current state of affairs in our country one cannot help but be alarmed and dismayed. The situation in India is worrisome. People are living in fear of uncertainty. The civil unrest due to Citizen Amendment Act. The wide spread endemic of corruption, the alarming percentage of illiteracy, about 700 million people have no access to toilets at home, as per a UN report, 44% of the population continues to defecate in the open, sanitation, solid waste management, and drainage continue to pose challenges in India. Healthcare is a neglected issue in India. 50% of all villagers have no access to healthcare providers; Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is 34 per 1000 live births; lack of nutrition cause stunned growth in 50% of all the babies; as far as freedom and safety of women is concerned, India lags behind, every other day we hear gruesome tales of brutal rape and murder of women. The growing rate of unemployment, agricultural distress, exploitation of farmers at the hands of moneylenders, farmers committing suicide is only on the increase each year. As per the Indian economic survey 2018, the estimated data states that percentage of agricultural workers in total work force is likely to drop upto 25.7% by 2050 from 58.2% in 2001.
During this season of Christmas as we reflect on our Savior’s birth, the situation in Israel was no different to our times. The Jews of ancient Israel suffered under Roman occupation and the oppressive rule of Rome’s puppet king, Herod the Great. This spawned fear, rebellion and chaos. The Jews were forced to pay taxes. In addition to a tax on crops, the Herodian government also collected a “head tax.” Every male over fourteen and every female over twelve in a family was assessed a tax of one denarius (approximately the daily wage of a laborer). Besides these direct taxes, the Romans charged many indirect taxes, such as road tolls and port fees. The Roman military stationed in Palestine also had the legal right to force the native population to help them carry supplies for up to one mile. The government regulated economic activity in other ways. Fishermen, for example, could not merely go out and fish in Palestinian lakes; rather, they had to obtain a contract from a tax collector, who might lend them money to buy boats and nets, in return for a percentage of their profits.
The tithes collected by Jewish religious leaders were also a kind of tax. Tithes were 10 percent of a worker’s produce, including both crops and flocks (Lev 27:30-33). There were two main tithes. One tithe was to be taken to Jerusalem during the festival times, or sold, and the money spent in Jerusalem (Deut 14:22-29). Another tithe was used to support the priests and Levites, who did not work their own land (Num 18:21-32). This seems to have been a tithe on crops, not on animals.
Additionally, the people gave a first fruits offering from their crops or herds, which was brought either in kind or as a money payment to the Temple during the pilgrimage festivals (Num 18:15-19). The Torah also requires other offerings, such as a wave offering (see 18:11) and a sin offering (Lev 4:27-28). Finally, the Temple tax, required annually of every adult Jewish male, was used for the general needs of the Temple. In Jesus’ time the Temple tax was a half shekel (or two drachmas), approximately the cost of two days’ wages for a laborer. This tax was collected not only in Palestine but also in Jewish communities throughout the Diaspora.
Even in the midst of the joys and festivities of the season of Christmas, the Cross casts its long shadow over the manger where the Christ-child lays. We come face-to-face with the Cross when we are called to shoulder the burdens of chronic or terminal illness, the loss of a loved one, unemployment, loneliness, poverty, social, economic and political crisis and upheaval or any other affliction. It is at such moments when we see that Christmas wouldn’t matter without the Paschal Mystery. It would be impossible to accept the painful reality if it were not for the joy of the Incarnation and the love shown to us on the Cross on Good Friday. Christmas only makes sense in the light of Calvary and Easter morning. The manger and the Cross point to the same truth. That Christ came to die for us, so that we could have eternal life and to free us from the bonds of sin and death.
In our painful realities, the invitation the Christ-child extends to us each Christmas, is to walk the same path to Calvary. In the mysterious gift of the Incarnation, we come to see what love will cost us. It will cost us everything. This is the road to joy and the ultimate way to happiness: to die-to-self. Christ entered into the world in poverty on a cold, dark night in a cave. He invites us into that poverty of spirit in our daily lives as we learn to be emptied of our own wants and desires so that we can give everything over to God. Our lives are not our own.
This life is about surrendering in love to the Cross. We cannot enter into the mystery, awe, wonder, and joy of Christmas without giving ourselves fully to God. The joy we experience in this life and the next is dependent upon how much we are willing to give over to God. He pours His infinite love into us, but we are the ones who must choose to accept it and what is required in that Divine Love. The cost is high in our fallen state because love is the Cross and no matter how bleak or worrisome our current situation may seem, we are not alone and that He is with us as Emmanuel, God with us! The hope of glory!
Fr. Joseph Royan, C.Ss.R., S.T.L is Professor of Moral Theology and Director & Editor of Redemptorist Publications India