The season of Advent is spiced by so many themes and characters in the Bible that are thrown to us by the Church to ponder. All these are geared towards the Nativity of Jesus Christ (Christmas), which is history’s determiner. God coming to dwell among men and, of course meddle in the affairs of men was unequivocally captured in Greek mythology. There were myths of Greek gods coming to have affairs with humans, which resulted in the birth of some, or better still, most of their legends.
But the birth of Jesus Christ was neither a myth nor a concept. His birth was prophesied long ago when our first parents (Adam and Eve) committed the first sin, the original sin. God promised a Messiah who would come and set humanity free, and this was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ birth brought peace to the world and peace to our disordered relationship with the evil one. No wonder the prophet Isaiah names the coming Messiah as “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Is 9:6)
It is against this backdrop of the Messiah as the Prince of Peace that the birth of Jesus Christ reveals Him to us as the “Peace Child” who brings true spiritual harmony, peace with God, reconciliation among people, and ultimate world peace through His reign.
This article is inspired by the homily Most Rev. Gabriel Edoe Kumordji, SVD (Bishop of Keta-Akatsi Diocese) gave during the Priests and Religious Christmas Celebration and Get-Together yesterday, 23rd December, 2025, at the Pastoral Centre, Akatsi Torve. In his homily, the Bishop narrated the ordeal Don and Carol Richardson had to go through in proclaiming the Gospel to the Sawi people of New Papua Guinea. In fact, they risked their lives to share the Gospel with the Sawi people, who were headhunters and cannibals who valued treachery through fattening victims with friendship before slaughter. In all these, the ultimate peace child becomes the penetrating factor that melts the hearts of these people. And the Bishop said, although Don and Carol used the mythology of the Peace Child among the Sawi people to evangelize them, there is something more than the Peace Child. He is Jesus Christ, whose advent and eventual birth we are celebrating.
My musings…
Listening to the Bishop quickly reminds me of the Marvelous Exchange at Christmas. The mystery of the Incarnation (God becoming flesh) is a wonderful exchange between divinity and humanity.
In fact, for the first-time hearing about the Peace Child among the Sawi, I quickly read around it and even watched some documentaries and films adapted from the ‘missionary journey’ of Don and Carol Richardson among the Sawi people.
In context, Don Richardson was a Canadian Christian missionary to the cannibalistic Sawi tribe. And when Richardson told them the story of Jesus’ betrayal and crucifixion, the Sawi people cheered for Judas, because Judas had coldly betrayed Jesus. Unusual to Richardson’s Christian mind, he struggled to explain to them the Gospel, but God is always with us (Emmanuel). One day, Richardson watched in horror as the Sawi people met with an enemy tribe, and the Sawi chief took his only child out of the arms of his screaming wife. He gave out the child to the enemy chief, who, in turn, gave his only child to the Sawi chief. Richardson narrated how the Sawi tribesmen later explained to him that these children were peace children given as a sacrificial offering between two warring tribes in order to ensure peace. Therefore, betraying or hurting a peace child was forbidden as long as the peace children live, the tribes would be at peace. Richard realized that God had already prepared the hearts of this tribe to understand His Word and that Jesus was the ultimate peace child. The Sawi people understood the reality of the Messiah when their own peace child reality was used to evangelize them.
In Jesus Christ, God accepts us.
The analogy and the reality of the Peace Child resonate the whole reality of the Marvelous Exchange. God comes from heaven just to make peace with men by giving us His Son, who came to take on our human flesh. What a marvelous exchange! Humanity in exchange for Divinity? In order to resolve the ancient enmity, God sends His only Son, Jesus Christ, to take on the sins of mankind, redeem them, and help them reestablish their relationship with God. Jesus Christ does this perfectly more than the Peace Child among the Sawi people. It is not by mere giving or touching that the Peace Child (Jesus Christ) comes into our race, but He now becomes one with us so that we can call God, Father (Rom 8:15)
As we celebrate Christmas, the Church evokes in us the remembrance of the Angels singing in the sky the glory of the newborn child; of the shepherds who came to adore at the manger; of the Magi who hastened from the East to offer Him their donations, which they have presented.
In fact, Jesus is more than the Peace Child who brings both spiritual and social revolution from within. He Himself is the Prince of Peace who comes just as a baby to help us humble ourselves so that we can be exalted. From a ‘helpless’ child in the manger to the universal King. He not only brings peace among a race but radiates peace in the universe and, of course, peace among all created things.
By Rev. Fr. Michael Selasi Combey
