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’s 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: “Remember—he was born to a homeless family;” and the second: “Remember—he was a refugee.” 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’t mean he was homeless. Mary and Joseph had a home—but 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’t 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’t use the threats against Jesus’ 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’ humanity. We use phrases like: “He was one of us;” or “He walked the dusty roads of ancient Israel;” or “He had to work for a living just like we do.” All of these are true statements. But let’s 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’t 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—being 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—and 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—one that you and I must personally address. We’ll talk about that next week.