Luis Tapia Rubio shares that Jesus comes for the lowly and oppressed in the Christmas story of Luke 2 and what that means for everyone else to celebrate Christmas and follow Jesus.
Photo by Kristen Swartley.
Luis Tapia Rubio is a Ph.D. candidate in theology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (the Netherlands). He holds a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Chile and a Master of Divinity in theological studies from the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, in Elkhart, Indiana. Luis is an adjunct professor at AMBS, where he also serves as director of practical leadership training. He lives in Portland, Oregon, and attends Portland Mennonite Church.
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Every year, around this time, we prepare for Christmas by celebrating Advent. We read and listen to the Christmas story, and many churches have Christmas pageants to remember Jesus’ birth. Congregants often participate in these pageants, because they want to be part of the story. It seems that we all want to be characters in the Christmas story. After all, the story is about Jesus coming to save us. It is a story about Jesus and me, about Jesus and us.
However, the Christmas narrative in the Gospel of Luke challenges our place in the Christmas story.
According to Luke 2, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Judea. In that region, shepherds were watching over their flock in the field at night. These shepherds received the good news about Jesus’ birth from a messenger of the Lord: “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:11 NRSV). It is “to them” that Jesus was born. Jesus was born to and for these shepherds and to and for people like the shepherds. Shepherds ranked low on the scale of power and privilege. They lived in vulnerable conditions. Most of them were taking care of herds that were not theirs. And even if they were the owners, being a shepherd was one of the lowest jobs one could ever have, because having flocks was mainly a means of survival.
Unlike the shepherds, other people did not have to take jobs at inconvenient places and inconvenient times just for survival. Emperor Augustus was among those people. That night, Augustus probably was in Domus Augusti, his palace in Rome. Augustus is mentioned in Luke’s narrative, although he is not really a character in the Christmas story, because he was not in Judea. Working in the fields of Judea at night or in a manger in Bethlehem were not places that Augustus or people like him would be. There was no place for the emperor in this small and marginal town. A child, wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger in Bethlehem, would not have been news for the emperor. For people who lived in palaces and who were in control of Jerusalem or Rome, Jesus’ birth was not good news; it was a threat to their power. Emperor Augustus didn’t need a Lord; he was a lord. And as such, he wasn’t receiving news, he was making news, but his news was not good news for the people: All the world should be registered! (See Luke 2:1.) Augustus didn’t need a deliverer; he needed to know how many people were living under his power and how much tax he should get from them. The emperor had control over his empire and received all the benefits from that control. Augustus was the “savior;” he didn’t need a savior. It was the shepherds and the people like the shepherds who needed a savior.
The emperor was not the only one who wouldn’t be in the fields that night. There were others, including Jewish people, who, according to Luke 6, were rich, full and laughing, even under Roman occupation. Those people didn’t need a Messiah either, they were already receiving their consolation (Luke 6:24-25). But the shepherds, and people like them, surely needed consolation, and it was to them that Jesus was born. It was to them that the angel brought good news of great joy. It’s no wonder they rushed to meet the Messiah: “They went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger” (Luke 2:16 NRSV).
Advent is a time of expectant waiting and preparation for Jesus’ birth, for the Christmas celebration. However, Luke tells us that the good news is that Jesus is not coming to us; he is not coming for us; Jesus is coming for the shepherds and for people like the shepherds. God has a preferential option for that kind of people, for people that the world does not prefer. As Luke says, “those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Luke 5:31). It was for the sick, the poor, the oppressed, the needy, that Jesus came, comes and will come.
So what about us? This Advent, we are expecting Jesus with open arms, but Luke tells us that he passes right by us on his way to Bethlehem, to be with the shepherds and people like shepherds, because of God’s preferential option for them. But on his way to the manger, he turns around, looks at us and says, “Follow me.” Christmas is for the oppressed, the excluded, the marginalized. Yes! But we can celebrate it, too, if we follow Jesus. If we follow him to the manger, to that village that nobody cares about, where there are people nobody cares about. We can celebrate Christmas if, following Jesus, we become part of his people. In that sense, a mere symbolic identification with God’s people is not enough. God is our example, coming down from the highest heaven to earth to be part of the flesh of his people through Jesus Christ.
In the U.S. today, the emperors and want-to-be emperors are still issuing decrees — decrees about mass deportation, taxes, tariffs and wars. They are issuing decrees that show that they do not care for the least among us. However, God, in the voice of diverse messengers, still says: “Do not be afraid … I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10 NRSV). “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” (Luke 2:14 NRSV).
Glory to God, who dwells in the highest heaven, but who also decides to dwell in a manger in a small town, away from the center, the capital and the temple.
Glory to God, who does not bring Pax Romana, with its decrees that make life harder for people but who, instead, decides to bring real peace for shepherds and people like them.
If we really want to celebrate Christmas, being a character in the Christmas pageant is not enough. As Mennonites, we are called to put ourselves in the Christmas story. For that, especially in the current American context, we must take a stand and decide with whom we will identify ourselves. This identification, this belonging, determines our true identity as God’s people. We already received the invitation to be part of God’s people. “Follow me,” Jesus says. Do not hesitate; put yourself in the story!
The views and opinions expressed in this blog belong to the author and are not intended to represent the views of the MC USA Executive Board or staff.
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