My Palestinian family gathered around our Christmas tree where we live in Nazareth. The biblical figures were made from olive wood from Bethlehem, the ornaments on the tree were from China, and the lights were made in Israel. The kids were looking at the gifts in front of the tree and I was insisting that we cannot open the gifts unless we hear the biblical story of Christmas. They complained because they know all the biblical stories! I objected and asked: “Have you heard the story of the dragon of Christmas?” The night became silent and the Spirit lit the lights of their eyes.
I opened my Bible to Revelation chapter 12 and started narrating the story of Christmas:
“. . . The Kings of the earth made an alliance with the evil dragon. This dragon was also the ancient serpent that deceived Adam and Eve. He lived for thousands of years and recruited powerful, hellish armies. The sea beast, the earthly beast, and the false prophet led his armies. They manipulated the economy and spread lies to destroy goodness, joy, peace, and justice. The dragon gave these underlings his mighty evil power and commissioned them to destroy the baby of Christmas. Political powers were under his control and religious authorities justified his evil in the name of God. Mighty countries and powerful religious communities embraced the ideology of the dragon. Who can oppose such power? But there was a Bethlehemite child who was a threat to this dragon. The dragon was superstitious. He believed the myth of the goddess Leto who was pregnant with Apollo, the son of Zeus. Her offspring had been appointed to kill the dragon.[1] The murderous dragon wanted to find the child and finish him.
“The dragon hooted, saying to his underlings, ‘Find the mother of Jesus and you shall find the child!’ The evil kings looked for the baby Jesus throughout the kingdoms and attacked his temples searching for him. Many of the people of Jesus thought that God had forsaken them. They lamented and said to God, ‘we are but worms. Can a worm fight a dragon? Can it conquer the dragon without your help?’[2] They cried out to God, saying, ‘Lord, Bethlehem is under siege and Gaza is dying. Our refugees cannot come back, governments are destroying our lands, and the dragon is blowing flames of fear into our hearts. Our young are without jobs, without dignity, and without hope! Hell is opening its evil doors and is spreading discrimination, occupation, hatred, extremism, and violating basic human rights. Our Jerusalem is becoming the capital of segregation and oppression. Our leaders are paralyzed. The beast has killed them and left their corpses in the streets as a demonstration of his mighty power.’
“The evil of the dragon grew stronger and he was able to find the mother of Jesus. Her motherhood was unlike the motherhood of Babylon. The first was godly and the other was the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth. The mother of Jesus was a beautiful lady shining with the light of the sun and the moon and crowned with glory. She was pregnant with Jesus and about to give birth. It was Christmas but the children of Babylon were drunk with evil, advocating the ideology of Satan. The seven-headed dragon with ten horns attacked the mother of Jesus at her weakest point and in the most unexpected place. Her only hope was not in a holy and safe place but in her first-born. Can a baby defeat a vicious dragon and his demonic hordes? The dragon’s plan was not to kill the woman but to kill her baby. This baby was the only hope for defeating the dragon. The motherhood of the celestial woman was her most precious identity. It is how she fought darkness, hatred, and violence. In the midst of her pain she presented the baby Jesus.
“The dragon tried to destroy the baby but the power of the baby was beyond imagination. Love conquered hatred, light expelled darkness, and hope defused despair. The baby defeated the dragon and the woman was saved from destruction. However, the war continued and the woman brought forth many babies who were committed to following the path of the first baby. These children of light, of truth, of love, and of hope defeated the dragon again and again. They were and are the stones that shall construct the heavenly Jerusalem here on earth. They will die heroes instead of living as cowards. They are looking for the heavenly city, not the hellish city. They are the children of the celestial community, not the children of Babylon who embrace the beast as their husband.
“The birth of the baby was the beginning of the destruction of the dragon. The life of the baby and the way he conquered death will lead to the fall of the city of evil, of Babylon. The beast and the false prophet will be thrown into the lake of fire. The dragon will no longer be indestructible. The celestial kingdom becomes stronger through faithful suffering. The dragon will be captured and imprisoned. The doors of hades are now locked and its prisoners can no longer hinder the coming of the heavenly Jerusalem. The birth of the baby is followed by the birth of his brothers and sisters. It paves the way for the birth of the civilization of love, of hope, of equality, and of mercy. It is the fulfilment of the dream of peace.[3]
“The new Jerusalem embodies Christmas. Its existence in our hearts is a sign of hope. The dream of love, of ending wars, of destroying the curse that has dominated our lands for generations is possible. Christmas is real and the baby Jesus is alive.”
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My children looked at me as if seeing something for the first time. This story was not like anything they had previously heard. They gathered around me closer as I finished off the telling with some final thoughts and instructions.
“In light of the story of the Christmas dragon, I encourage you, my children, to do the following: (1) Believe that killing the dragon is possible. (2) Fight the dragon and don’t give up. (3) Stand against political and religious ideologies that embody and encourage systemic evil. (4) Remember that we conquer the dragon not with his weapons but with the blood of the lamb. (5) Whenever you are exiled in Patmos like the apostle John, lift up your eyes to heaven. You don’t need to leave Patmos in order to get to Jerusalem. You just need to believe in Christ and follow him. Jerusalem shall arrive through your faith, love, and hope. Lastly, we need to fight the dragon together.”
So, remember Palestinians and Israelis in your prayers during this Christmas season.
[1]G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 624.[2]Yohanna Katanacho, Praying through the Psalms (Carlisle: Langham Global Library, 2018), 74.
[3]Katanacho, 120.
Rev. Yohanna Katanacho is a professor of Biblical Studies and Academic Dean at Nazareth Evangelical College. He is a Palestinian Israeli evangelical who studied at Bethlehem University (BSc), Wheaton College (MA), and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (MDiv; PhD). He has authored many books in English and Arabic including The Land of Christ: A Palestinian Cry, Praying Through the Psalms, Reading the Gospel of John through Palestinian Eyes, and contributed to the Palestinian Kairos Document. Rev Katanacho is an Old Testament editor for the Arabic Contemporary Commentary and Asia Bible Commentary Series.