Stockholm Effect

The first days of advent have brought snowflakes, Christmas music on the radio, and Rudolph on tv.  The exteriors of houses are garnished with wreaths and garlands and lights of every size and color that are twinkling, blinking, chasing.  Inflatable snowmen, Santas in sleighs, and creches with the Holy family, shepherds, angels and wisemen surrounded by a menagerie.  It's the most wonderful time of the year!

The first days of advent have also brought controversy at the Lincoln tunnel of all places.  A billboard features the three Magi approaching a stable in which Mary and Joseph kneel on opposite sides of a manger with the star of Bethlehem shining brightly overhead.  The image is a familiar representation of the birth of Jesus as recorded in Luke.  However, the words accompanying the representation are far removed from the Gospel writer and represent the view of a society know as American atheists and insist that, "You KNOW that it's a myth...this season celebrate reason."

How should I respond?  Disbelief?  Anger?  I recalled the words and tears of Jesus as he looked at Jerusalem from a distance and cried "how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing."  No, disbelief and anger are not how Jesus would respond.  He would (and does) shed tears of sadness.

Non-believers in Christ are not the enemies of those of us who have accepted the invitation to follow him.  Instead, we should see them for what they truly are, prisoners of war held in captivity by many guises of Satan including their sense of intelligence, their self-will, and their pride.  Truly, they are no different than any Christ-follower was before they accepted the free gift of salvation.

The liberators of the Nazi concentration camps were amazed that many of the camps were unguarded with open gates at the time of liberation, yet the prisoners remained inside.  Battered women remain with their abusers and victims of child prostitution with their pimps; this senseless phenomenon is seen in victims of the Stockholm Syndrome.  Psychologists report that people who exhibit this syndrome believe that their captor is giving life simply because he doesn't take it from the victim, allowing the captor to become the person in control of the captive's basic needs and even his life.

The group that paid $20,000 for this billboard deserve one thing from all Christians: our prayers that their hearts will be softened and our love.  And should they recognize the freedom of living, truly living, that following Christ allows, then they too will celebrate the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!