Why was Christ born in a stable? Because the Israelis bombed all the houses. Truly. Every year Jesus is born, dies and is reborn. He is reborn into our world – that is part of what makes Christian symbology meaningful. This year Christ is a brown skinned Middle Eastern man about to be born in Gaza.
First time around, Christ was born in a stable. The ruling regime at the time – Herod’s – just like the current one in Israel, was mercilessly killing babies to maintain the constitutional order. Today I see a heavily pregnant Mary, aided by Joseph, rushing through the rubbled streets of Gaza desperately escaping the bombs and the merchants of death. The Israelis and the Americans have turned Gaza into a graveyard for thousands of women and children. Nobody “forced” them to do this. It is a policy of extermination.
In the modern world Christianity is largely an emptied-out doctrine, a Sunday pastime for the dazed and confused. It doesn’t have to be. But you have to listen to Christ, not the BBC or CNN. Christ urges us to stand in solidarity with the victims of the........