Writer and activist Kelley Nikondeha reminds us of the location of Jesus’ birth in occupied territory:
Advent narratives reveal the Incarnation as more than God entering a human frame. They are also the revelation of God engaging with human trauma of a specific place and specific people. God experienced the excruciating reality of empires and economies from the position of the weak and powerless ones. God absorbed loss and pain in that body.
The Incarnation positions Jesus among the most vulnerable people, the bereft and threatened of society. The first advent shows God wrestling with the struggles common to many the world over. And from this disadvantaged stance, Jesus lives out God’s peace agenda as a counter-testimony to Caesar’s peace. [1]
Liberation theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez (1928–2024) encourages us to reflect on the implications of Jesus being born as part of an oppressed community:
There, on the fringe of society, “the Word became history, contingency, solidarity, and weakness; but we can say, too, that by this becoming, history itself, our history, became Word.” [2]
It is often said at Christmastime that Jesus is born into every family and every heart. But these “births” must not make us forget the primordial, massive fact that Jesus was born of Mary among a people that at the time were dominated by the greatest empire of the age. If we forget that fact, the birth of Jesus becomes an abstraction, a symbol, a cipher.… To the eyes of Christians the incarnation is the irruption of God into human history: an incarnation into littleness and service in the midst of the overbearing power exercised by the mighty of this world; an irruption that smells of the stable….
It is in the concrete setting and circumstances of our lives that we must learn to believe: under oppression and repression but also amid the struggles and hopes that are alive … under dictatorships that sow death among the poor, and under the “democracies” that often deal unjustly with their needs and dreams. [3]
Nikondeha shares the empowering hope of incarnation:
This is the story of advent: we join Jesus as incarnations of God’s peace on this earth for however long it takes. God walks in deep solidarity with humanity, sharing in our sufferings and moments of hope. Amid our hardship, God is with us. Emmanuel remains the name on our lips in troubled times.
Advent isn’t the acceptance of status-quo peace, but an incarnation of God’s peace that we live in the world. The peacemakers formed by advent are those who resist empire, who practice hospitality with neighbors, and who enter into solidarity with God in the work of liberation for everyone.
May there be calm, bright nights ahead for the peacemakers, the meek, and all people God accompanies through advent still. [4]
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Skye Jethani 12.26.24
Dec 26, 2024
The Idol of Status: Caesar’s Humiliation
We’ve been formed to view Christmas as a time for family traditions, shopping, and to remember the “good news” of Jesus’ birth. Christmas is not typically associated with revolutions, social upheaval, and the overthrow of false idols. But when we remove our sentimental 20th century lenses, and read the nativity narratives in the Bible the way the earliest Christians did, we discover a few surprises.
For example, the angel’s greeting to the shepherds outside Bethlehem is a scene we’ve encountered many times in Christmas pageants, movies, and holiday TV specials. “Fear not,” the angel said, “for behold, I bring you good news of great joy for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord….”
When we hear these words, we are more likely to conjure images of Charlie Brown in our imaginations than anything related to their actual historical or cultural context. The angel’s message has been so sentimentalized that we have lost sight of how treasonous it was. And we have so spiritualized the birth of Jesus that we ignore the political turmoil his arrival unleashed. But these ideas would not have been lost on the shepherds.
The angel’s description of Jesus’ birth deliberately used highly inflammatory, and politically charged language reserved for Rome’s emperor. Years earlier, Caesar Augustus’ birth had been announced throughout the empire as “good news” (literally the “gospel”), and he was celebrated for bringing “peace on earth” through his military conquests. He was also the son of Julius Caesar who was worshipped as a deity. Therefore, Augustus was called the “son of god.” And, of course, the way one expressed loyalty to Rome was with the declaration, “Ceasar is Lord!”
So, when the angel announced the “good news” about the birth of “Christ the Lord” who would bring “peace on earth” it was a deliberate denunciation of the Roman emperor. In a rather cheeky way, the heavenly messenger used Ceasar’s own campaign slogans but applied them to Jesus. This would have been heard by the shepherds as profoundly political and subversive. A revolution was underway. The true King and real Son of God had arrived, and all imposters were being put on notice. As Simeon declared when the infant Jesus was brought to the temple, “This child is appointed for the fall and rising of many” (Luke 2:34). In other words, Jesus was going to turn the world upside down.
We mustn’t fall into a narrow, modern, and sentimental vision of Christmas. Jesus did not come to only address the “spiritual” challenges we face. He came to be Lord over all things whether spiritual, material, temporal, eternal, or political. And to knock down every idol we have exalted.
DAILY SCRIPTURE
WEEKLY PRAYER
Soren Kierkegaard (1813–1855)
O Lord Jesus Christ, I long to live in your presence, to see your human form and to watch you walking on earth. I do not want to see you through the darkened glass of tradition, nor through the eyes of today’s values and prejudices. I want to see you as you were, as you are, and as you always will be. I want to see you as an offense to human pride, as a man of humility, walking amongst the lowliest of men, and yet as the savior and redeemer of the human race.
Amen.
