The Nature of The Salvation

But, what is the nature of the salvation this child brings? This, I suggest, is the most important question that needs to be answered....Luke tells us the story of Mary’s conversation with the angel Gabriel because he expects us to understand that however beautiful the concept of virgin birth might be in theory… in reality, virgin mothers are indistinguishable from adulteresses. The last nail has been hammered into the coffin of her social respectability. This event propels her beyond the outer margins of community life and turns her into a complete social outcast.

Jesus will be born to a Jewish mother in the midst of an empire that paints Jews as backward savages. He will be born to a Palestinian mother while Palestine is under military occupation by imperial troops. He will be born to a Galilean mother in a world where Galileans are stereotyped as ignorant bumpkins. He will be born to a poor mother in an era when poverty is interpreted as divine punishment. He will be born to a teenage mother at a time when young people are expected to be seen rather than heard. He will be born to an unmarried mother in a culture where women have no social standing apart from their husbands. He will be born to a mother who looks very much like an adulteress in a world where adulteresses are ostracized and sometimes even killed. How much closer to the bottom of the social heap can Jesus go? We will only know the answer to that question on Good Friday when he dies the death of a violent criminal on a Roman cross.

My friends, we have to move beyond our portrayals of the Christmas story as something sweet and nice. The Christmas story is set into a context that is ugly, abusive and violent. But, thank God that it is. The salvation that Mary’s child brings is more than an interesting theological concept. The birth of Mary’s child is an event that makes a difference because it offers hope to those who have no hope in the world. When Mary says to the angel: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word,” she does so knowing the danger it will bring to her child and to herself. Her words are words of courage. Her decision is an act of faith carried out in the strong conviction that God is indeed at work in the world to save the poor, the oppressed and the outcast. Even more, she understands that salvation never comes in the form of a benevolent acts performed by those who hold wealth and power. Salvation never makes itself known in the palaces of emperors and kings, in the field tents of generals, in the justice halls of judges, in the markets of the wealthy, or in the temples of priests. God’s salvation always grows out of the hopes and dreams of communities that know they need to be saved.

[via Yeasty Words, HT: Jesus Politics]