by Sharon Delgado

In Advent we anticipate the coming of Christ, who is already with us but whose liberating presence is not yet fully revealed. Early Advent texts vividly portray apocalyptic images, warnings to keep awake, and John the Baptist’s fiery calls to repentance. This year, as we reflect on these texts “with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other” (Barth), they come to life in contemporary scenes of war and slaughter in the Holy Land. Such images, together with mass shootings, persistent injustices, and climate breakdown, make clear the violence and destructiveness of what Walter Wink called “the domination system” and Marcus Borg calls “the normalcy of civilization.”

The texts then turn to the stories of Mary and Joseph in the lead up to Jesus’s birth. What is often missed is the overtly political nature of these stories, which shed light on how the gospel writers understood the meaning of Jesus’ birth in the context of the powers that dominated the world in their day. According to Matthew, wise ones come from afar bearing gifts fit for a king, indicating Jesus’ universal significance. King Herod tries to trick them into revealing the whereabouts of this rival “king.” Mary and Joseph later flee with their infant son into Egypt as political refugees to escape Herod’s genocidal attempts to hold onto his throne (Matt 2:13-15), which leads to the “slaughter of the innocents” and “Rachel weeping for her children.” Rachel’s cries resound in events today.

Luke’s gospel portrays Mary as a young unmarried woman who nonetheless celebrates her pregnancy with the remarkable words of hope for the poor and oppressed that have come to be called the “Magnificat” (Luke 1:47, 52-53):

My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones

and has lifted up the lowly;

he has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty.

Mary’s words could hardly have been more political or threatening to the powers. Soon afterward, Matthew tells of Mary and Joseph travelling to Bethlehem to be registered by Rome, presumably for reasons of taxation or conscription.

Advent culminates on Christmas Eve, with the story of Jesus’ birth. An angel appears to the shepherds and announces the coming of “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Then “a multitude of the heavenly host” praise God and proclaim the meaning of his birth: “Peace on earth and loving mercy towards all people!” (Luke 2:14, World English New Testament).  

This is a glorious vision of hope for the world, which is relevant in the context of the Advent texts and our current global situation. Herod was not wrong! The coming of Jesus does challenge the ruling powers, but not through violence or domination. Rather, the coming reign of God is based on the values that Jesus lived and proclaimed. One way to demonstrate these values is to work with people everywhere to build an intersectional global justice movement, a “movement of movements,” a “people’s globalization,” a “globalization from below” with power to bring about systemic change. This movement is growing in strength in the UMC and beyond. It includes MFSA, which has been working with partner organizations for over a hundred years to support intersectional issues of peace, justice, and the flourishing of creation.

During Advent, we anticipate the coming in power of the one who shows us what God is like and what human life and community can be when lived in the presence of God, the one who teaches us to pray and work for God’s reign to come (that is, God’s will to be done) on earth as it is in heaven, the one who calls us to live in the direction of the world as God intends it to be--a world of “Peace on earth and loving mercy towards all people!”

The Reverend Sharon Delgado is the Convener of Fossil Free UMC. She is author of The Cross in the Midst of Creation, Love in a Time of Climate Change, and Shaking the Gates of Hell. She blogs at sharondelgado.org.