Faithfully yours - We cannot use him as a poster boy
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- Published on Saturday, December 19, 2015
By Neil Strohschein
The Neepawa Banner
In last week鈥檚 column, I shared my belief that in recent years, the Christian church has put more emphasis on Jesus as the Son of God than we do on Jesus as God the Son. I also shared my belief that one of the reasons we do this is because it makes it easier to humanize and politicize Jesus.
I write these words in response to two posts that are currently making the rounds on Facebook. Both refer to the birth of Jesus and feature a photo of a Nativity scene. One goes something like this: 鈥淩emember鈥攈e was born to a homeless family;鈥� and the second: 鈥淩emember鈥攈e was a refugee.鈥� Now I understand why these posts were written; and I believe that those who posted them are very sincere in their intentions and are looking for churches to join them in urging the government to provide funds for low cost housing and increased settlement of refugees.
The problem with the two Facebook posts is that they are partially right. True, Jesus was born in a cave used for housing cattle and sheep. But that doesn鈥檛 mean he was homeless. Mary and Joseph had a home鈥攂ut it was in Nazareth, not in Bethlehem where Jesus was born. And that was the home in which Jesus spent most of the first 30 years of his life.
As for the refugee claim, that is also partially true. Jesus did spend a few months living in exile in Egypt. But that doesn鈥檛 mean he was a refugee. As soon as those who wanted to kill him had died, Jesus along with Mary and Joseph returned to Nazareth and settled there. They didn鈥檛 use the threats against Jesus鈥� life as an excuse to move to Egypt and stay there. They stayed until it was safe to go home and then they went home. That was their intention all along.
These are just two examples of a disturbing trend that has developed in recent years. We focus on Jesus鈥� humanity. We use phrases like: 鈥淗e was one of us;鈥� or 鈥淗e walked the dusty roads of ancient Israel;鈥� or 鈥淗e had to work for a living just like we do.鈥� All of these are true statements. But let鈥檚 not become so overly occupied with the humanity of Christ that we overlook the fact that the Jesus who lived among us was God revealed in human form; and that we cannot use him as a poster boy for those who wish to advance their political agendas at Christmas.
Now don鈥檛 get me wrong here. Jesus said a lot about how we help the poor. He had a great deal to say about the hungry, the strangers (refugees) and the children. He spoke at length about the need for justice鈥攂eing right, living right and doing what is right. He condemned hypocrisy, racism, prejudice, greed and all forms of abuse, especially the spiritual abuse he saw in the religions of his day.
But he consistently pointed out that these issues were all symptoms of one disease鈥攁nd that if we want to get rid of the symptoms, we have to deal with the conscious choices we have made to rebel against the authority of God and to violate the principles he has taught us in the Bible.
That is not something that can be done by political or social action. It is a personal problem鈥攐ne that you and I must personally address. We鈥檒l talk about that next week.
