As we come to the last few couple of days before Christmas, our thoughts are on many things.
It may be about the presents we have prepared for our loved ones, the parties that we will be attending, the food that we will be eating, the weight that we will be gaining.
In our minds are many thoughts. But in our hearts, there is one longing, and it is that we want to be home for Christmas. As it is often said: Home is where the heart is.
And there is even a song that goes “I’ll be home for Christmas”.
Already quite a number of people have wished me “Merry Christmas” in advance because they will be going back to their own countries to be home for Christmas.
Anyway who doesn’t want to be home for Christmas. As the song goes: I’ll be home for Christmas. And for those who can’t be home for Christmas, then they can only dream about being home for Christmas.
But besides the time of Christmas, thoughts of home give us a warm and nice feeling.
Because home is where we feel secure and where we can be ourselves. Home is our refuge and our shelter from the cold hard world.
Home is private space and not open space. We don’t really welcome a stranger to our home, nor can we treat other people’s homes like ours, even though they may say “make yourselves at home” (say only).
The Christmas story is about the birth of Jesus Christ, and the gospel begins with this line “This is how Jesus Christ came to be born”.
But after that was an incredible story: Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but then she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph thought of divorcing Mary, and then an angel appeared in his dream and then Joseph woke up he did what the angel told him to do. It was really an incredible story.
But the most incredible thing in this is that Jesus, the Son of God, left His home in heaven to make His home in the immaculate womb of Mary, and He also needs a place to call home.
And so it was Joseph, the man of honour, after that dream in which the angel appeared to him, made that important decision of taking Mary to his home. And with that, Jesus, the “God-is-with-us”, is now at home with us.
Truly the Christmas story is a dramatic story about how the Son of God made His home with us.
There are many stories about being home for Christmas. But looking for a movie with that “home for Christmas” theme, what we will get is “Home Alone” and the two other sequels.
I accidentally came upon this movie although it is not a movie about being home for Christmas. The title of the movie is “The Way Home”. It is a 2002 Korean movie and we can watch that movie with English subtitles on the Internet.
The story is about a 7 year-old boy from the city whose mother had to be away to look for a job and so took him to live with his 78 year-old, mute but not deaf, grandmother who lived in a remote and rural village.
That 7 year-old boy came with his junk food and electronic toys and had not desired to stay with nor respect his grandmother, especially as her house has neither electricity nor running water.
Alone with his grandmother, the boy ignores her and calls her names and detested her.
When his Game Boy ran out of batteries, he pestered his grandmother for money to buy batteries, and when she couldn’t give him money, the boy caused havoc in the house.
One day the boy demands Kentucky Fried Chicken. The grandmother only understood “chicken” and so she took some melons from her little garden and trudges off to the market to buy a chicken. Bringing back a live chicken in the rain, she prepares a home-made boiled chicken instead of fried chicken. The boy sees the boiled chicken and got angry and threw it away.
The boy remains angry and confused by the unfamiliar environment and repeatedly rejects his grandmother’s attempts to appease him. But her unconditional love slowly touches his heart. One day, the boy gets up early and goes with his grandmother to the market where he sees how hard his grandmother persuades passers-by to buy her vegetables.
Eventually the boy begins to love his grandmother, but because she is unable to read or write, he makes some simple greeting cards, so that she has some letters from him. His depth of love for his grandmother is revealed when he has to leave and he bid his grandmother a tearful farewell.
The film closes with the grandmother continuing to live alone in the thatched-roof house but with the letters of love from her grandson.
The movie is not about Christmas, but as the title goes “The Way Home”, it is about how an arrogant young boy found his way home and it was his 78 year-old mute grandmother who showed him the way. It is a very touching movie, and we can watch as a family or alone.
It may make us think about how Jesus came to be with us and to make His home among us, but what He faced was rejection and persecution.
It may make us think about our family relationships. We may stay in the same house but is it a home where there is kindness and forgiveness, understanding and patience?
If home is where the heart is, then let charity and the spirit of Christmas begin at home.
We turn to Joseph, who gave us this courageous example of taking Mary to his home and thereby letting Jesus be part of his life.
May we also let Jesus make His home with us this Christmas.