BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
WHEN Jesus of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem more than two thousand years ago, it was a miracle that he and his mother survived.
It was not a happy birth. Saint Luke tells us that it was an awful experience. Mary and Joseph were not allowed into the hostel, and with the birth of Jesus imminent, they had to take shelter in a dirty, smelly cave on a hillside.
Jesus was born in dire poverty, surrounded by dirt, animal dung and bad smells, without sanitation, water, light or medical help. The weather then was bitterly cold. They probably had little food.
Mary, an unmarried pregnant woman promised in marriage to Joseph, was like an outcasts in Bethlehem. They were unwelcome migrants, barred from getting warm shelter in a place not their own.
It was the worst time for Mary. She was nine months pregnant, and she and Joseph had traveled 90 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem to register for the census. That was a rough journey of four days and nights on a donkey because of the cruel order of the Roman emperor Augustus. He was an egotistical dictator who abolished Roman democracy and ordered a census of the Roman Empire so he could boast about how many humans were under his harsh rule. Everyone had to register in their ancestral hometown, and Joseph had to do that in Bethlehem, the birthplace of his ancestor, David.
Mary and Joseph were already exhausted and hungry when they arrived. They had no friends or relatives in the town to welcome and take them in. It was a humiliating experience; Jesus’’ entry into the world was only witnessed by some of the poorest of the poor: shepherds.
He was to be called the Son of God, so why was he born in such poverty? Mary and Jesus barely survived; he could have died soon after, like the millions of impoverished newborns who die every day due to lack of sanitation, among other miserable conditions.
The answer to that question is the message above all messages. It was a calculated, vital statement for all history. Jesus of Nazareth was born into the world as one with the poor, for the poor and of the poor. That message is loud and clear: God became man and chose to be a poor, deprived person in solidarity and oneness with the millions of deprived, suffering poor people, especially children.
He was born among the poor, lived like them, with them and for them, and died, as many of the poor throughout history die: innocent and unjustly accused, made to suffer and branded a criminal and executed for trying to replace social inequality and injustice with freedom, justice, love of neighbor, trust, compassion and friendship.
He stands today with the tens of millions of Filipinos in dire poverty and will continue to do so. His invitation to the leaders and the wealthy of the world to change and share their vast wealth with the poor and the abused and bring social justice to all — especially the children — has been ignored and ridiculed. They choose not to repent their sins, and it seems the world today — with five wars ongoing and millions of people near starvation — has done the same.
Has the mission of Jesus of Nazareth failed these millions of people, including 700 million starving poor who cannot survive on $2.5 a day? Some say there are 3.5 billion poor people in the world today, and millions more continue to join their ranks.
No, Jesus has not failed the starving and downtrodden people. We have. Society has. Governments have. The rich have. The Church, as an institution, has. That’s because too many people are complicit in human exploitation, not sharing wealth with the poor and working to create a just and fair society, which Jesus lived and died for.
Too many well-off people with economic and political power — with the ability to transform society into a just one — have ignored or rejected Jesus’ values, ideals and message. They have, in fact, condemned 700 million men, women and children in extreme poverty and 3.5 billion poor people to a life of misery, hunger, pain and early death.
Jesus took a stand and challenged the roots of injustice, and so should we. It is not the dedicated social activists working for the Gospel values of social justice and equality who are the enemy of the people. It is the rich, selfish, exploitative and corrupt industrialists and politicians who are the enemy of the people and the poor.
Jesus of Nazareth has called on them to repent and change if they want to be forgiven. He said it clearly: “The time has now come, the Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the Good News” (Mark 1:15). “I have come… to call those that know they are sinners and need to repent.” (Luke 5:31–32) “Unless you repent, you, too, will all perish”. (Luke 13:5)
This man of God, born an outcast in a cave, son of a carpenter, a person of pure intent and having fearless integrity, defended the poor, the vulnerable and the abused. He made it clear that children are the most important of all: “They who accept a child in my name accept me.” (Mark 9:37) And he had tough words for child abusers: “Those who cause one of these little ones to lose faith in me, let a millstone be tied around his neck and he be thrown into the deep sea.” (Matthew 18:6)
When celebrating the birth of Jesus, we must know his message and mission and accept his invitation to follow him./PN
