Bishop Talbert Swan@TalbertSwan
Today we celebrate the birth of Christ—but if we’re going to celebrate Him, we need to be honest about who He actually was.
Jesus was not born in December, but He was born, so we celebrate. He was not a white man, He was brown-skinned and, by today’s standards, would be considered Black.
He was born in what was then Northeast Africa. He was African. He was a refugee fleeing state violence. He was a revolutionary who challenged empire, exposed hypocrisy, and stood with the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized.
Jesus does not belong to white evangelical theology, Christian nationalism, or white supremacy. He was not a mascot for power, He was a threat to it.
So as we celebrate Christmas, let’s stop remaking Jesus in the image of whiteness and empire, and start following the Jesus who walked with the least of these and confronted injustice wherever it showed up.
That Jesus is still good news. That Jesus is still dangerous to systems of oppression. And that Jesus is still worth celebrating.
Merry Christmas.