Imagine this: you are born into the Roman Empire in the year zero. Oppression is everywhere. You smell it in the marketplace. You see it on the tired expressions of the friends around you. You hear it in the clamor of armor on the soldiers marching through your streets. Every day, the threat of violence looms over every child. The empire’s iron grip crushes dissent and enforces the order of brutality. While the elite live opulent lives, most people are stuck in grinding poverty. Anyone who seeks change, love and progress is subjected to public execution.
During this, one of the most vile periods of human history, our loving God looked at wretched humanity and became one of us. Human history was altered forever by the birth of a young baby, Jesus Christ. Thanks to years of wonderful tradition, it is natural for us to view this event as the majestic introduction of our king. However, this year I need you to reflect on the profound humility demonstrated by Jesus’ birth and how it is in stark contrast to the Christian nationalism, greed and addiction to power and control that is on the ascendancy in our nation.
At a time when the Emperor and society controlled the lives of the vast majority of people, it might have seemed to make sense for God to enter the world as a conquering king. The people cried out for a Messiah that would overturn the world order, perhaps with violence and a new ruling system. Our human minds can only imagine replacing one powerful hierarchy with another powerful hierarchy. This of course does nothing to end our greed, control and tribalism. Instead, Jesus entered the world not as a conquering king or a but as a completely vulnerable young baby, born to a poor, barely teenaged mother in a barn. Reflecting on this during the Christmas season can show us the wide gap between the nature of what God values and the values of humanity.
Christ begins life in humility. Where is the humility in our society today? The two most powerful men in America are two of the most prideful billionaires in the world. Neither can so much as admit a simple mistake. They demand fealty from all around them. Yet they continue to be celebrated — even by many who call themselves Christian — because our society glorifies power, wealth and status in stark contrast to the obvious lessons of nativity story. Our king is not a selfish billionaire who confers power upon friends and family. Our king is a little baby who challenges us to embrace a spirit of humility recognizing that true greatness and authority comes from service, compassion, love of God and love of neighbor.
Christmas calls us back to the divine message. Jesus followers should see this as a call to action individually and in community to prioritize the needs of the oppressed rather than seeking power and influence. The role of Christians in society is not nationalism. God‘s lines do not follow a constitution or borders on a map.
Micah 6:8
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
In recent years more and more Christians have replaced loyalty to this humble Christ child with loyalty to ideologues, news commentators, conspiracy theorists and fringe podcasters. They have somehow mistaken their Christian identity with their national identity. Idolaters have put the US Constitution inside their Bible editions. They promote a national religion intertwined with political power, bigotry, hatred, exclusion, and values that stand in direct opposition to those of Jesus.
The birth of Christ was not for the powerful it was for the shepherds. It was for the marginalized. Inclusivity was the most fundamental aspect of Jesus’ mission.
These Christian nationalists do not worship any Christ that is recognizable from the stories in our scripture. Instead, they elevate power and the nation-state above Christ. This reinforces exclusionary practices and bigotry that contradict the core gospel message. By ignoring the message of Christmas, nationalists ignore what it means to be a Christian.
It’s tempting to turn Christmas into a safe holiday that asks little of us. But that would ignore the prophetic, subversive life of Jesus. Christians honor him on this holiday — and the rest of the year — only if we risk the scorn of the powerful to stand with the undocumented immigrant, the Muslim family viewed with suspicion, the refugee fleeing injustice. Jesus brought the margins to the center and welcomed outcasts to the table.
— John Gehring, Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life
God’s love is universal for all people, not one nation or group. God doesn’t care which border you cross over because we are citizens of a different kingdom, the Kingdom of God. The Christ Child does not promote earthly power and dominance, certainly not any political agenda. Jesus followers are called to love even our enemies. There is no us against them for a Jesus follower. There are no outsiders. We are not called to rule and get our way, we are called to sacrifice and serve. That is the selfless love Jesus exemplified in the manger.
Arise, your light has come!
Fling wide the prison door; proclaim the captive’s liberty, good tidings to the poor. Arise, your light has come! All you in sorrow born, bind up the broken hearted ones and comfort those who mourn.
Ruth Duck, Evangelical Lutheran Worship #314
During this Christmas season, if we could only return to the humble nativity story we would see how it emphasizes inclusivity. The birth of Christ was not for the powerful it was for the shepherds. It was for the marginalized. Inclusivity was the most fundamental aspect of Jesus’ mission. Our faith is rooted in love, justice and humility, all qualities that stand in opposition to Christian nationalism. God chose to be born as a poor baby, not an heir to a real estate fortune or an emerald mine. God chose to be born in the middle of systematic oppression, not in alignment with political power.
The faithful living in the Roman Empire might have expected God would break into human history with a violent king and take over the earthly throne. Instead, God showed us a completely different way of salvation through humility. At best Christian nationalists are silly and naïve, ignoring the call of Jesus. At worst, Christian nationalists are just another flavor of the Roman oppression that Christ was born into. Jesus explicitly gave us the path to follow which stands in direct opposition to what Christian nationalism stands for.
- Love God
- Love your neighbor as Jesus loves us
- Forgive everyone abundantly, never throwing stones, never returning evil for evil
- Treat others as you want to be treated
- Feed the hungry
- Visit and comfort the imprisoned
- Clothe the naked
- House the homeless
- Welcome the foreigner and the stranger
- Care for the sick
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