Bondi and Christmas
A dark shadow of evil has again been cast across our city. There is no other way to characterise the events that took place on Sunday in Bondi. The deliberate targeting of Jewish people during a festival of light and hope is abhorrent and disgraceful.
I spoke with my cousin’s wife, a Jew living in the Eastern Suburbs and amidst an outpouring of grief, she said,
“This abhorrent terrorist attack is gutting and shocking to all Australians. It is simply not who we are.”
The behaviour of those involved is despicable and I stand against anyone who seeks to maliciously inflict violence on any other person for any reason. I also find myself in utter dismay at the antisemitism that is on the rise in Australia and have written to express my support for our local Jewish community here in St Ives. Any attack on people worshipping is an attack on the principles of freedom of religion, association and conscience which are foundational for our multicultural and cohesive society.
Archbishop Kanishka Raffel began his comments on this whole situation by quoting John 1:5: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
As we approach Christmas, the truth of John 1:5 offers more than just comfort; it offers a defiant reality. The shadow cast by these murderous acts is undeniably heavy, but the message of the incarnation is that God did not leave us alone in the dark. He entered it.
The birth of Jesus marks the dawn of a shining light that no amount of violence, hatred, or terror can extinguish. In the manger, we see God’s answer to the world's pain. And it is not a distant sentiment or slogan, but a person. God came to dwell with us, to suffer with us, and ultimately, to defeat the darkness that seeks to divide and destroy.
God stepped into a wounded world, not standing at a distance from our pain but entering it. He came into real darkness but he did not add to it; he exposed it, resisted it, and ultimately overcame darkness with love. The birth of Jesus announces that evil does not have the final word, that death and terror are not the deepest truths about our world. In Jesus, God’s light shines and calls us to hope when life feels fragile and to love when hatred seems loud.
So this Christmas, while we mourn with our Jewish neighbours and weep for our city, let us not despair. The darkness is fierce, but it is not final. Look to the manger. The light of the world has come, and the darkness has not, and will never, overcome Him.
