Reading the Bible Badly. Karl Allen Kuhn
But then Jesus is born. In simple, unadorned prose, we are told that Jesus is wrapped in bands of cloth, and laid in a feedbox “because there was no place for them in the inn” (2:7). Luke goes out of his way to emphasize the impoverished circumstances of Jesus and his parents. The “inn” (kataluma)—a sparse, hostel-like room for guests or travelers adjoining a house—is full. None move aside so that the very pregnant and eventually laboring Mary can give birth in the security of even these very meager quarters. So the young couple squeezes into a dirty, cramped, and likely ramshackle stable, delivers their child, employs a crap-encrusted feedbox for a crib, and wraps their child in scraps of spare cloth.24
The repeated references to the bands of cloth and manger and their function as the “sign” that identifies Jesus (2:7, 12, 16–17) keep these lowly elements in view even as he is exalted by the heavenly host and found by the shepherds. Luke’s recipients are confronted with an image of Israel’s Messiah that could not be more incongruous with the pomp and might of Emperor Augustus on his throne, commanding the world at will. Caesar and Jesus. Roman Emperor and Israelite peasant infant. One at the very top of the political and economic hierarchy of Rome, and the other among those at the bottom struggling to survive.
To be sure, the claim that the birth of this Israelite, peasant infant, and his manifestation in this desperate setting so far removed from the center of elite power, poses any sort of meaningful challenge to Caesar’s rule would be regarded by nearly all in first-century Rome as simply ludicrous. It is important that we appreciate this reality.
Yet, as the scene shifts again—from dark, dank stable to darkened field—it is this very claim that explodes into the night! The glory of God Most High engulfs a band of shepherds and a heavenly messenger stands among them to proclaim: “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” Then, adding a massive exclamation point to this startling message and most unexpected scene, as if to affirm that this really is taking place (as the shepherds rub their eyes in disbelief), an angelic host suddenly appears to announce: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” Here too we encounter another setting far removed from the domains of elite power. Shepherds, along with other agricultural workers, were among the large peasant class whose servitude fueled the economy of empire and hegemony of Roman rule. Yet is to these favored ones—and not to the Israelite priestly elite in Jerusalem—that glory of God appears. “God’s glory, normally associated with the temple, is now manifest on a farm!”25
Jesus, not Caesar, is Sovereign
The angelic proclamation about Jesus amplifies (in tandem with Luke 1:26–38) Jesus’ divine identity. The use of the titles “Savior” and “Lord” for Jesus is striking, for they are the same titles Israelites use for God. At the same time, these titles and other elements of the angles’ pronouncement compose a repudiation of Caesar and his reign. Luke shapes the angels’ testimony so that many of the things celebrated about Caesar and his birth by those allied with Rome are now attributed to this infant lying in a feedbox. In their decision to honor Augustus by beginning the new year on his birthday, the Roman provincial assembly announced,
Whereas the providence which divinely ordered our lives created with zeal and munificence the most perfect good for our lives by producing Augustus . . . for the benefaction of mankind, sending us a savior who put an end to war . . . and whereas the birthday of the god marked for the world the beginning of good tidings through his coming.26
The parallels to the angel’s announcement in 2:10–11 are apparent:
Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah Lord (my translation).
As Richard Horsley comments, “any reader or hearer of this story in the Hellenistic-Roman world, particularly in Palestine, would have understood here a direct opposition between Caesar, the savior who had supposedly brought peace, and the child proclaimed as the savior, whose birth means peace.”27
In not so subtle challenge to the prevailing Roman propaganda of the day, Luke dramatically relays this incredible claim: Jesus—the Israelite infant lying in a crusty feed box among sheep, goats, cattle, and fowl—undermines the might and authority of Caesar and Rome. Jesus is the one who is really hailed by heaven as “Savior” and “Lord” of all. In his humility and lowliness, he is the one who truly manifests the identity and power of God. For this reason, Jesus’ birthday, not Caesar’s, is good news for all of humankind. His reign, not Caesar’s, will lead the heavens to erupt in praise of God and the celebration of enduring peace: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those whom he favors” (vv. 13–14).
This, Luke shows, is how God’s plan for the redemption of Israel, and even all of humanity, unfolds. In this peasant infant, not Caesar nor any other, divine identity and purpose comes into the world and turns it upside down. Thus, already near the start of his narrative, Luke puts the recipients of his Kingdom Story on notice that what God does in Jesus significantly undermines all other claims to mastery over humankind. The true Lord has been born and revealed. Unlike Caesar and the “massive system of exploitation of the great majority by the ruling class” that he zealously directs and protects, the Lord Jesus will teach the world what it truly means to rule with the mandate of heaven, to rule with justice on behalf of the meek of the earth.
Reimagining the Birth of Jesus
Imagine a children’s Christmas program in which Caesar is a main character. Imagine a Christmas program that celebrates Jesus’ birth as an end to the political and economic exploitation of the underclass, and the hoarding of resources by a select few. Imagine a Children’s Christmas program which concludes not with “Away in a Manger” but with Mary’s hymn (Luke 1:46–55), in which she cries:
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
Then imagine yourself as an impoverished Israelite (or for that matter, an impoverished American) who has borne four children, and watched two of them succumb to disease or malnutrition or violence or injustice. Imagine what this Kingdom Story—told as it was meant to be—might mean for you.
And for those of us who are not dirt poor, who benefit from the patterns of privilege and resource distribution safeguarded by our status quo—what does this story mean for us?
Second Tendency: Misremembering Three Wise Men
The story of the magi in Matthew’s gospel (2:1–12) is one of the central narratives in the celebration of Jesus’ advent and the holy day of Epiphany immediately following the short Christmas season in the liturgical year. It has come to symbolize for Christians important elements of who we proclaim Jesus to be and what it means to follow Jesus. Yet this story serves as another example of how American Christians often misremember Christmas and forget something important about the kingdom of God.
1In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” 3When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”