Joseph and Mary were not homeless

Joseph and Mary’s Egyptian sojourn, carrying their young son with them, is not a fitting comparison to the plight of today’s Middle East “migrants” as they have been dubbed. Syria’s refugees are being forced from their homes by a bloody battle between ruthless ideologues and craven leadership, their houses leveled and livelihoods destroyed. These unfortunates are not the targets of the conflagration, they are mostly bystanders caught in the middle of a political tug-of-war.

These expectant parents were not suffering discrimination, just overbooking

Christ’s birth story is not about homelessness or even acts of war (Luke 2:1-20). The circumstances God orchestrated to place Jesus in a manger included an empire’s census to institute a tax, and an evil king’s fear of losing his marginal throne. Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem to fulfill a command of Caesar Augustus for all to return to their native city and submit to a census. They were not abandoning or fleeing their home. However, when they arrived they found no rooms available, having been hired by others returning to fulfill the same edict. Most of us have found ourselves in a similar pickle, coming into a town where a convention already occupies all lodging. These expectant parents were not suffering discrimination, just overbooking. When the Christ child was born – God had Him on a strict schedule – what had become evident to the visiting wise men of the East, God later made clear to Joseph. The gift-bearing magi had concluded that Herod sought to dispatch the child of prophecy, incorrectly assuming the youngster would eventually usurp his throne. That knowledge revealed, these wise men bypassed Jerusalem and Herod’s further inquiries on their return journey. (Matthew 2) Herod knew enough of the prophets that he feared the birth of the “King of the Jews.” What he and the Jewish leaders of the First Century did not recognize in scripture was that this king would inherit a spiritual realm, not an earthly one. When the princes did not reappear, Herod ordered a mass murder of male children under the age of three, and this was why the Lord hastened Joseph to take his young family to Egypt for a time.

---

In their hurry to makeover the Muslim refugees in Joseph and Mary’s image, they forgot the most important aspect of His coming… as the King of the heavenly domain He brings to earth

Migrants? No. This was a temporary evacuation to avoid a dire situation and Joseph always intended to return home, which he did upon the Lord sending His messenger to inform him of Herod’s death. When these words are bandied about – homeless, migrants and discrimination – by every liberal ideologue crying about the political calamity of their creation that has blazed across the Middle East for six years, it does not equate to the Nativity story. The refugees Islamic fanatics have generated across North Africa through Syria and Iraq are pawns in a struggle for hegemony. It’s not about faith, but using a religion as a disguise for establishing political power. The missing element from these reckless comparisons listed above, is that of deity. In their attempt to pressure the world to submit to the concept of equality (in effect equal poverty) they disparage the one component that sets apart the story of Christ: Emmanuel, God among us. In their hurry to makeover the Muslim refugees in Joseph and Mary’s image, they forgot the most important aspect of His coming… as the King of the heavenly domain He brings to earth. Jesus was no ordinary man having need of redemption. He was and is redemption for everyone else. Those fleeing the firefights, bombings, torture and murder are seeking redemption and it is not to be found on foreign shores. Escape from the mayhem without solving it exports it to other nations. And the fruits of that ill-conceived policy is blanketing Europe and Scandinavia. It has already raised its ugly head in America.

---

Support Canada Free Press

---

Jesus was born to be the light in a dark world; the hope in a bleak place; the life in a deathly scene

Ironically, the comparison that is not comparative supplies the answer to these war-devastated people, but not in the way that even the Pope has stated. Yes, Christians are called to be charitable, for we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves. In sharing the Gospel by deed (giving supply to those in need where possible) we offer an example of what Christ offered us. But the only true redemption is obtained by Faith, not works of tearing people from their homeland to settle uncomfortably under others’ roofs. It is helping them find comfort where they are, in the midst of hardship. Changing one’s outward circumstances, relocating them and supplying unending welfare will not change their hearts. It, instead, may harden them against understanding and receiving Christ’s rescue because only supply for the body has been provided and not the spirit. Christ brought His kingdom as succor amid the adversity in the world. Moving individuals from one place to another without addressing the needs of the spirit breeds contempt, and contempt is what has spread among the refugee enclaves in the West. For the most part, they have become discontented immigrants, compelled to resettlement when they pine for their homes. Jesus was born to be the light in a dark world; the hope in a bleak place; the life in a deathly scene. Christmas is the celebration of God’s light, hope and life walking among us, encouraging us, healing us and instructing us to share this with “all the nations.” (Matthew 28:19) And that requires us to step out, give and speak the message of Christ that our family, friends, neighbors and people of the world can hear and receive to fill and complete their hearts. There will be no other Joseph and Mary who nurtured God’s Son to manhood. There is none, nor ever will be another to compare to Christ.