While Tikkun is the preeminent intellectual and spiritual magazine of Jewish progressives, it is also the interfaith and secular humanist voice of progressives who are inspired by our New Bottom Line commitment to a world of love, kindness, generosity, environmetal sanity, social and econmic justice, and awe and wonder at the grandeur of the universe. We've just finished celebrating Chanukah, and now many in our community will be celebrating Christmas. We want to honor them in the observance of this holiday. For that reason we turned to Rev. Brooks Berndt * whose writing has appeared in Tikkun and asked him to share some thoughts in honor of this holiday. As you will see, the Christmas message is very aligned with my interpretation of the message of Chanukah which I published in our
Tikkun magazine
two weeks ago.-- Rabbi Michael Lerner rabbilerner.tikkun@gmail.com
The "True Meaning of Christmas" Is Not What You Think*
In the Roman Empire, taxes were, to a significant extent, a form of legalized theft of the poor by the rich. The extraction of taxes under the threat of violence was central to the means and purposes of the empire. Not by coincidence, taxes form a critical part of the backdrop for the Christmas story. According to the Gospel of Luke, Mary and Joseph head to Bethlehem in response to a decree from Emperor Augustus for a tax census. Scholars such as John Dominic Crossan have underscored the symbolic literary significance [
bustedhalo.com/features/busted-john-dominic-crossan/2
] of this, as Jesus is born amid the pervading, tyrannical power of Roman rule. For those in the United States, the tax situation is different today, but as we recently saw in the U.S. Congress, taxes are still about power and wealth. In this light, the Christmas story has a particular resonance and relevance in the present moment.
The "true meaning of Christmas" has never been the stuff of Hallmark sentiment. Indeed, the interpretative key to the birth of Jesus evokes far different connotations. The interpretive key is to be found in what is known as Mary's Magnificat [
www.biblegateway.com/passage/?...3A46-55&version=NRSV
], the pregnant Mary's hymn of celebration over the coming of Jesus. With words that evoke the song of Hannah before the birth of Samuel, Mary crystallizes the significance of Jeus's birth: the liberating God of ages past is still at work and shall once again become manifest. As such, Mary proclaims a God who "brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly." She extols a God who "has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty." In essence, Mary's Magnificat is a manifesto. It is about nothing less than the overturning of an empire.
Despite popular fixation on the iconic imagery of wise men and shepherds, Mary has always been the one who best captures the meaning of Christmas. In a year that has witnessed the Women's March and the #MeToo movement, it is perhaps time to fully recognize this. Moreover, Mary's words serve as a poignant reminder for any who might feel defeated and demoralized due to recent political battles, whether those involve taxes or environmental protections. Ultimately, the birth of Jesus in itself is not "the story". Rather, it is "the beginning" of the story. Much more is to come.
When it comes to resistance, this past year is best viewed as the beginning of a story, a story that will have ups and downs, setbacks and disappointments, but a story that will continue and persist nonetheless. For people of faith engaged in resistance, the story is a reoccurring one. It is the story of a liberating God who has become manifest generation after generation. In this way, the Christmas story in its truest and best sense has not ended. Indeed, it lives again today.
*
The Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt is the Environmental Justice Minister for the United Church of Christ. Recently, he reflected upon Mary's Magnificat in relation to the current struggle for climate justice
[
www.ucc.org/pollinator_mary_s_...e_for_eachgeneration
]. "
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