25/12/2024
I was thinking that if the monarchy and the Church can issue a Christmas address every year in the UK, well so can I. So here it is:
In the name of the Most High, the Most Merciful.
Many will gather today, surrounded by the warmth of family and friends, to reflect on a season of light, love, and mercy - principles that resonate deeply in the tradition of the great patriarch, Abraham. May God’s peace and salutations be on all His messengers who illuminated the path of truth and peace.
On this day, as many celebrate the miraculous birth of the Jewish Israelite prophet, Jesus the son of Mary, let us reflect on his faithful mission, a profound and noble legacy deeply rooted in the primordial Abrahamic tradition. Jesus wasn’t sent merely as a sign of divine power, but as a call to the Jews of Roman Palestine in the 1st century CE with an invitation to renew the covenant established between God and their forefather, Abraham.
Jesus was the Israelite Messiah, “the Anointed One”. The term “Messiah” is not a mystical title devoid of meaning. It signifies being chosen and consecrated as a leader, a king among his people. This anointing was to guide the Jews under Roman occupation back to serving God and the righteous path of the Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The recent Christian cry “Jesus is king” is true – he was the anointed king of the Jews. His kingship was an offer to renew the Israelite covenant amongst the Jews of Roman Palestine in a reminder to uphold God’s law, to establish justice, and to swear fealty to the Sovereign Creator:
"The most important commandment is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’” (Mark 12:29-30)
At the time of Jesus’s mission, the Jews had become mired in a world of Roman subjugation and internal strife. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes had strayed from loyalty to God and corrupted interpretations of God’s will to maintain the façade of power. Jesus proclaimed:
“Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions…Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.” (Mark 7:6-13)
In this milieu, Jesus appeared as a beacon to his people, urging them to rise as a light to other nations that would inevitably dismantle the yoke of the Romans. He disparaged the Jewish Pharisees with scolding rebuke (Matthew 23:13-39), calling them to repent, to cleanse their hearts, and to realign themselves with the values of Abraham and the Patriarchs.
“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me.” (John 8:39-44)
However, as history bears witness, most were not willing to heed his call. These leaders, the Pharisees who later created Rabbinical Judaism (3rd-6th century CE), who were entrenched in their positions of power and blinded by pride, saw Jesus as a threat. They refused to accept his divinely appointed leadership and instead of submitting to God’s will, they plotted against God’s word. Their machinations were not victorious, for God’s plan is always supreme.
Jesus’s disciples, those few righteous souls among the Israelites, embraced his message and strove in the path of God. These few men and women, humble in spirit yet strong in their loyalty to God, upheld their pledge to carry forward the covenant. Through them, the essence of Jesus’ call to serve God alone and uphold the code was shared. Today, the faithful are called to emulate them:
“You faithful, be God’s helpers. As Jesus, son of Mary, said to the disciples, ‘Who will come with me to help God?’ The disciples said, ‘We shall be God’s helpers.’ Some of the Children of Israel believed and some disbelieved: We supported the believers against their enemy, and they were the ones who came out on top.” (Quran 61:14)
Jesus’s story is not one of defeat but of triumph. His mission highlights the perennial struggle between truth and falsehood, between submission to God and rebellion against His guidance, between the party of God and the party of Satan. It reminds us that the righteous, even if few, will always and eventually prevail by God’s grace.
Jesus warned the Jewish leaders of the consequences of failing to uphold God’s covenantal law – that it would be passed on to others. Speaking to the faith of the Centurion (Matthew 8:5-13), Jesus proclaimed,
“Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
In the Parable of the Tenants, Jesus said to chief priests and the Jewish elders:
“Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed. When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them.” (Matthew 21:42-45)
In the final revelation, sent to His Ishmaelite messenger, Muhammad, God tells us that thereafter:
“Jesus, son of Mary, said, ‘Children of Israel, I am sent to you by God, confirming the Torah that came before me and as a bringer of good news of a messenger to follow me who will be referred to as the praiseworthy.’ Yet when Jesus came to them with clear signs, they (the Jewish leaders) said: ‘This is obviously sorcery.’ Who could be more wrong than someone who invents lies against God when called to submit to Him? God does not guide the wrongdoers: they wish to put His light out with their mouths, but God will perfect His light even though the rejectors hate it. It is He who sent His (final) Messenger with guidance and the true code to cause it victorious over all other codes, even though the sovereignty usurpers hate it.” (Quran 61:6-9)
And thus, the final messenger of God, Muhammad, the descendent of Ishmael and Abraham from the tents of Nebaioth and Kedar dwelling in the desert of Paran, arose with the covenant of his forefather and the legacy of the Messiah. Our allegiance lies with God and His noble servants, from Adam and Noah to the patriarchs Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac and Jacob and their righteous descendants who notably include Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon, Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jesus amongst the Israelites, and Muhammad from the Ishmaelites. God tells His messengers that “This community of yours is one and I am your Lord so be loyal to Me, but they (the rebellious) have split their tradition into sects (religions), each rejoicing in their own.” (Quran 23:52-53) Today we see pitiable leaders calling to paths that diverge from Abraham’s covenantal tradition, the Church in perpetual fail and violating the very messianic message it claims to uphold – it has become the incarnation of the leaders whom Jesus was sent to oppose.
On this day, let true Christians who are sincere to God be done with the corrupt elite and instead honour the legacy of Jesus by reflecting on an adherence to the Abrahamic covenant and examining whether God’s covenantal code is being upheld. Do we strive for justice, embody the spirit of God’s covenantal law, and serve Him with steadfast devotion? Let this be a time to renew a commitment to God’s eternal values, pledging to follow the path of the Prophets who upheld His sovereignty, resisted the unfaithful, and opposed the tyranny of men. In true commemoration of the life and mission of Jesus, whose rejection by the Jewish leadership ultimately led to the Ishmaelite covenant, we pray that God guides the sincere to His true ways, grants them unwavering loyalty, and inspires them to submit their entire countenance to Him until their final breath.
May God’s peace be with those who follow the guidance.