Monday, July 9, 2018
608 - Cage Match
Spirituality Column #608
July 10, 2018
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
Cage Match
By Bob Walters
Critical thinking took a religious, political, and media holiday
last week when an Indianapolis church put caged figures of Joseph, Mary, and baby
Jesus in its front yard.
Most of the
world sees Holy Family figurines like these only in Christmas displays. But
when an opportunistic, tone-deaf, cynical liberal political point arises – such
as, “Let’s blame our government for the spectacle of foreign children separated
from irresponsible, criminal, or nefarious alien adults who have put them at
risk” – then those who typically ignore or repress Jesus are suddenly thrilled
to play the “Jesus-in-a-cage” card; biblically, historically, and
contemporarily incorrect …and slanted as can be.
My prayer would be that these
“Jesus as a political news prop” folks had as much enthusiasm to read their
Bibles and understand and know Jesus, and maybe show up for true worship and Christian
fellowship once in a while. Perhaps then
they’d understand the deep folly of this particularly mismatched protest. What’s so wrong?
Oh my. Where to start? Luke 2? Taxes? Bethlehem? Wise
men? Herod? Egypt? Never mind modern
politics; the Christmas baby Jesus was not a refugee.
The short course is to simply read
Luke 2:1-7, the first stanza of the Bible’s famed “no
room in the inn” Christmas story that ends in v14 with “Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men”
(er, “persons,” but not the point).
Anyone who truly understands the
first two chapters of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke – the story of the birth
of Jesus – knows that Joseph and his family, from the line of David, were called
on official business (census and taxes) from their home in Nazareth to the City
of David (Bethlehem) where, with their Davidic lineage, they would have been
received as honored family members. And
Mary being near-term pregnant? The women
of the village would have gathered to midwife and assist with the birth in any
way they could. It’s the Semitic way. Mary and baby very likely were well cared
for.
The faux Christmas Crèche “Holy
Family as refugees” narrative emanates not just from modern liberals and progressive
globalists but from a very, very old and mostly non-factual, extra-biblical
legend developed in the late second century that comprises most of what modern culture
thinks it knows about the nativity of Jesus.
The Bible mentions no Bethlehem
innkeeper. The Wise Men didn’t show up
for another year or so. Jesus was not
born in a lonely stable or cave but in someone’s home, with the “inn” (Greek
word katalymati, which means lodging
place, not hotel) being the home’s main area and the “stable” being a barn-type
room on one end of the house where animals were kept inside for protection from
thieves and the warmth of the family. A manger, or feeding trough, would have
been in there; warm and well-attended.
Yes, the Holy Family members were
refugees in Egypt, briefly, a year or two later when Herod tried to kill Jesus
(read Matthew 2), but Jesus then was no infant in a manger. As an adult, the wandering Jesus was a
missionary, not a refugee.
A fascinating book, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes” by
Kenneth E. Bailey wonderfully describes the cultural details of Jesus’s
birth. No, that birth didn’t make
international headlines, but back then the faithful weren’t trying to make
political hay.
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