For Thanksgiving 2019 my family travelled to Thailand, a beautiful country in Southeast Asia. A very special occasion beckoned our travel—namely, the wedding of our son, Steven, and his fiancé, Carolyn. The wedding was very special for a number of reasons. It was the first wedding for any of our children. It was in an exotic and friendly country. And we are pleased beyond measure at the union this wedding formalized.
One thing we noticed early in our journey was that Christmas IS celebrated in Southeast Asia. In Hong Kong, where we landed and spent nine hours waiting for our flight to Chiang Mai, Christmas was celebrated! There were trees and decorations sprinkled throughout the airport. and even a walking New Orleans-style brass band, playing American jazz and a few Christmas classics.
When we arrived in Chiang Mai, we had a similar experience encountering Christmas decorations—trees, snowflakes, stars, and even an occasional Santa image. As we travelled to Chiang Rai, Siem Reap (where we saw Angkor Wat temples), and Bangkok—everywhere we went there were Christmas decorations.
“Why do Thai people celebrate Christmas?” we asked Winnie, a local friend of Steven’s.
“Thailanders believe in taking every opportunity to celebrate!” she declared. “It doesn’t matter whose holiday it is—Chinese New Year, Independence Day, Christmas—we celebrate them all because we love to be happy!”
Certainly the Thailand view of Christmas is very different from a Christian perspective. But Winnie was not seeing the celebration as an “attack on Buddhism,” though such a perspective could easily be imagined. I further pondered how many in the USA see any non-Christian words or greetings used during this celebratory time of year as being an “attack on Christmas.” And I wondered in my heart about the origins of these reactions.
There is no record in Scripture of the magi giving up their Zoroastrian religion and becoming Jews because of their encounter with the Christ-child. But this did not stop them from being “overwhelmed with joy” at finding the Messiah and offering him generous gifts of “gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” There was something about this little Jewish baby that incited their diligent search and homage.
I discovered that there are many things to admire about Thailand, Southeast Asia in general, and the Buddhist perspective in particular. Beauty, solemnity, quiet introspection, and the emptiness of ego—these are not qualities often emphasized in our own Christianity. But, perhaps the Christmas decorations in Thailand were a little like the “rising star” that the magi followed those many years ago. They point to the spiritual strands in our own religion that might enrich those from the East.
When the magi entered the place where the Child was staying, the text simply says “they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage.” There were no sermons preached, no theological propositions, no apologetics. There was just the Child and his mother.
This humble picture shows us that the way to power begins in humility and defenselessness. That a Child is the subject of homage by the magi is the very paradox of strength through vulnerability.
Today, in a world increasingly committed to “might makes right,” this Advent message is particularly relevant. Strength through vulnerability is a risky proposition for Easterners and Westerners. But it is the story that this Child would have us take into our hearts this season.
Offer your religious and political foes understanding and empathy and you will be surprised at how much common ground can begin to emerge. As you sit down to Christmas dinner with a variety of guests with whom you may have serious disagreements, remember—and try to enact—the humility of the little Child. You may be surprised at the updated and alchemized gold, frankincense, and myrrh forthcoming.
Now that’s advice that even a Buddhist might find useful.
Gary Huffaker is a husband, father, brother. friend, and retired Kaiser Permanente physician.