Adapted from Salim Munayer’s “When Christmas is Threatening”
The Christmas message is far more powerful and relevant to our pain-racked world than we often recognize. The Christmas story in popular western culture is one of comfort, simplicity and kindness, but the original Christmas was unveiled in a context of discomfort, complexity, and oppression.
The people of Israel in the first century were under occupation, oppression and despair. The Roman Empire dictated every aspect of life and enforced its will by the sword. The emperor Augustus was considered a god and required worship from Roman citizens. In addition, the local Jewish leadership at the temple were fixated with maintaining the position and influence they had with King Herod and the Romans. By doing so, they missed what God was doing, expecting instead the Messiah to overthrow the Romans with military force. This is not dissimilar to today when many people are obsessed and drawn to political power which demands a certain amount of loyalty.
It is in this story of political, religious and social unrest that God decides to reveal himself in human skin. Moreover, he revealed himself not in the palaces or the temple of Jerusalem, but in a small household in Bethlehem. And those who attended his birth were not the elite or powerful, but the marginalized, oppressed and different. It was a young woman who was considered by some to be unfaithful and her husband who was a carpenter, shepherds who were at the bottom of the socio-economic class, and foreigners from afar. An unexpected and unusual company to welcome the king of kings who was to liberate them.
The context of the first Christmas – among the outcasts of political and social power – is often overlooked by modern western Christians. Many Christians emphasize the birth of Christ and completely ignore its contextual message. Christmas is a story that gives hope to those who are ignored, live under oppression, and are marginalized.
Christmas is a story that gives hope to those who are ignored, live under oppression, and are marginalized.
The contextual and theological story of Christmas is full of challenging messages to how we live our lives among the oppressed. Are we going to continue celebrating the holiday in a superficial manner? Or are we going to allow the hopeful message of Christ to reach the most oppressed, marginalized, and voiceless people in our respective contexts?
When we embrace this Christmas message of hope and liberation for these communities, we join the Kingdom of God which opposes every wicked authority and leadership. There is a danger in our time to miss the work of God in history and maintain our gaze on political and religious individuals or trends like many did during the Christmas story. As the Kingdom of God works like yeast and a mustard seed, its impact and effect are not seen immediately. And this message is far more threatening to political, religious and social powers than any Christmas tree you will see.
Reflection questions:
- In what ways does my observance of Christmas reflect the way that God entered into the world on the first Christmas?
- Does my Christmas observance include the oppressed and the marginalized in any way?
- What steps can I take to observe Christmas in a way that lessens my fixation with political power and embraces liberation and hope for the powerless?