Ladies and gentlemen, did you see the mayor of London this week?
A random Muslim migrant might be forgiven for not knowing the lyrics to "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," but the mayor of London, who was born in London in 1970?
Whether it was out of ignorance, laziness, or a distaste for Christ the newborn King, Khan ruffled the feathers of his countrymen because Christmas means something.
Modern depictions of Christmas as a season for goodwill, kindness, and charity point back to Charles Dickens, who was tired of the way Christmas was celebrated in Great Britain.
For centuries, Christmas was essentially another Mardi Gras. People would go around "wassailing," a word which used to mean farewell (literally "be in good health") but came to be associated with drinking (like the word "cheers") by the year 1300. Englishmen would go "wassailing" in different ways. Some, on the 12th night of Christmas (the one from the song), would sing a hymn to scare evil spirits away from their cider trees. Feudal lords would also give peasants a "wassail," or exchange of food and drink for their blessings and support.
By Dickens' time, this had long devolved into mobs of rowdy men knocking on the door of wealthy families' homes to demand alcohol and snacks, similar to trick-or-treating on Halloween.
Even after Christmas became more family-oriented, the practice influenced caroling, where some songs like "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" involve demands for "figgy pudding."
Dickens wanted to reclaim the spirit of Christmas away from the drunkards and misers alike. He did so in the early days of Queen Victoria, after the brutal decades of war in the Americas and with France, on the heels of the Second Great Awakening, a time when Christians were reinvigorated to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. In the century before him, great Christian leaders like Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, John Newton, and William Wilberforce had been reforming England and the colonies with a fervor for God. Missions movements were springing up to take the Gospel from Europe to the entire world, spreading Christianity into every corner of the globe.
There was something special about his moment in history, and something special about Christmas. As a devoted disciple of Christ himself, Dickens authored a book called The Life of our Lord. When he wrote his famous A Christmas Carol, he wrote it to prick the Christian consciences of a Christian nation where even the poorest ploughboy had been steeped in Christian teaching from birth.
For Sadiq Khan, that spirit cannot be captured, because he is not a Christian. He does not believe in Christ. Muslims believe in a Christ of their own making, one who is very much the opposite of the testimonies of Matthew, John Mark, James, and John, not to mention the rest of biblical prophecies across thousands of years.
We like to say that Christmas is a time to be welcoming and kind, and that is very true, but Christmas is not a tolerant nor inclusive holiday. Christmas is the story of a hostile takeover. Christmas is the story of God who came to earth to live as a human in order to die in our place for our sins.
This is not a story of a "god" among "gods." The is the story of the one true God, who fashioned the universe. It is a wholly exclusive belief because it excludes all other gods, which means all other religions.
Claiming such intolerant exclusivity is why the Romans hated Christians. The one great religious sin in their empire was to deny pluralism and polytheism. You could have your truth, but you had to accept that everyone else had theirs (sound familiar?).
Christianity boldly declared that their God was God alone, and all others were false. In the 1st century, the Apostle Paul was accused of this on his missionary journey in the Greek city of Thessalonica. Local Jews who lived in the city and considered Paul a heretic stirred up anger among the local population. They went on to ransack the home of the man Paul was staying with.
But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. Attacking Jason's house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly. When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, 'These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too, and Jason has welcomed them. They are all acting contrary to Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king — Jesus.' The crowd and city officials who heard these things were upset.
THAT is what Christmas is about.
Turning the world upside down by defying Caesar's decrees and proclaiming Jesus Christ the king.
Do you understand that story?
Do you understand that truth?
Do you understand how much God loves you? To what lengths He went to in order to prove that love??
Christmas is intolerant of all the false ways people think they can get to heaven. It's intolerant of all the sinful behaviors and addictions we have. It's intolerant of evil. It excludes all other options in favor of the one "Way, Truth, and the Life."
To celebrate Christmas is like celebrating your marriage vows with your husband or wife. You have forsaken all others. You have pledged your allegiance to one person forever.
But it is only in that kind of pledge that true love, forgiveness, and salvation can be found. God is a Father who loves you fiercely and will not let you settle for lesser things like your career, money, spiritualism, lust, addictions, karma, false gods, or good vibes.
THAT is what it means to sing "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing." THAT is why Sadiq Khan cannot muster up the Christmas spirit to sing along.
Because Christmas means something. It means Christ is King. It means the Bible is true. It means hope has come.
Can you feel it?
Mild he lays his glory by!
born that man no more may die!
born to raise the sons of earth!
born to give us second birth!
Hark! the herald angels sing!
'Glory to the new born King!'
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Not the Bee or any of its affiliates.
