Every year, millions of people sing the beautiful hymn “Silent Night,” with its phrase “All’s Quiet, All’s Bright.”
We all know that the Christmas story is one of peace and joy that permeates our celebrations, family gatherings and gift-giving. Countless Christmas cards depict the Holy Family – starlit, in a quaint stable, comfortably settled in a quiet hamlet.
However, when I began researching my book on Jesus’ childhood, The Boy Jesus: Judaism grew up in turbulent timesthose hymns began to seem blatantly wrong regarding the actual circumstances of his family at the time of his birth.
The Gospel stories themselves tell of turmoil and danger. For example, the “manger” was actually a smelly donkey feeding trough. Placing a newborn baby in one is a profound sign given to shepherds who were guarding their flocks at night from dangerous animals of the field (Luke 2:12).
Take King Herod for example. He enters the scene in the nativity stories without any introduction at all, and readers are supposed to know that it was bad news. But Herod was appointed by the Romans as a trusted client governor of the province of Judea. He remained in office so long because he was, in Roman terms, doing a reasonable job.
Jesus’ family claimed to be descended from the kings of Judah, descended from David, and expected to produce a future ruler. The Gospel of Matthew begins with Jesus’ entire genealogy, and that was very important to his identity.
But a few years before Jesus was born, Herod had violated and plundered David’s tomb. How did this affect the family and the stories they would tell Jesus? How did they feel about the Romans?
A time of fear and revolution
As for Herod’s attitude towards Bethlehem, which is remembered as the house of David, things become more serious and complicated.
When Herod was first appointed, he was ousted by a rival ruler supported by the Parthians (an enemy of Rome) who was beloved by many of the locals. Herod was attacked by these people near Bethlehem.
He and his forces responded and killed the attackers. When Rome defeated its rival and restored Herod, he built a monument to his victorious massacre at a nearby site that he called Herodium, overlooking Bethlehem. How did that make the locals feel?
Far from being a sleepy village, Bethlehem was of great importance as a major city Canal construction Bring the water to its center. Fearing Herod, Jesus’ family fled their home there, but they were on the wrong side of Rome from the start.
They were not alone in their fears or their stance toward the colonists. The events that unfolded, as recounted by the first-century historian Josephus, show a nation in open revolt against Rome shortly after the birth of Jesus.
When Herod died, thousands of people seized the Jerusalem temple and demanded its liberation. Archelaus, son of Herod, killed them. A number of Jewish revolutionary kings and rulers controlled parts of the country, including Galilee.
At this time, in the Gospel of Matthew, Joseph brings his family back from his refuge in Egypt – to this independent Galilee and a village there, Nazareth.
But independence in Galilee did not last long. Roman forces, under General Varus, marched from Syria with the allied forces, destroyed the nearby city of Sepphoris, burned countless villages and crucified large numbers of Jewish rebels, eventually putting down the revolts.
Archelaus – once officially installed as ruler – followed with an unbroken reign of terror.
Christmas story for today
As a historian, I would like to see a film that shows Jesus and his family immersed in this chaotic, unstable, and painful social world, in a nation under Roman rule.
Instead, viewers have now been shown Ibn al-NajjarA film starring Nicolas Cage. It is partly inspired by an apocryphal (non-biblical) text called Bedika Esso – The childhood of Jesus – called later Infancy Gospel of Thomas.
You might think that Bedica It will be a throwback version of the popular TV show Smallville from the 2000s, which followed the boy Clark Kent before he became Superman.
But no, instead of the film being about Jesus wrestling with his amazing powers and destiny, it is a short, deeply disturbing work of literature made up of bits and pieces, put together over 100 years after Jesus’ life.
the Bedica The young man presents Jesus as a kind of demigod whom no one should mess with, including playmates and teachers. It was very popular among the non-Jewish masses and the pagan converts to Christianity who sat in a precarious place within wider society.
Jesus is a miracle worker who crushes all his enemies – even innocent people. At one point, a child bumps into Jesus and cuts his shoulder, so Jesus beats him dead. Joseph says to Mary: “Do not cast him out of the house, lest those who anger him die.”
Such stories are based on the problematic idea that one may never incite God’s wrath. Jesus shows this young man instant deadly rage. He also lacks much of a moral compass.
But this text also relies on the idea that Jesus’ childhood actions against his playmates and teachers were justified because they were “the Jews.” “Jew” appears as the accused only a few lines later. There should be a warning about the content.
The nativity scene from The Carpenter’s Son is certainly not peaceful. There are a lot of horrific images and screams of Roman soldiers throwing children into the fire. But, like many films, the violence is somewhat sinister and arbitrary, and not actually about Judaism and Rome.
The larger contextual story of the birth and childhood of Jesus is certainly of great relevance today, in our age of division and “otherness,” where many people feel controlled by the inexorable forces of this world.
In fact, some churches in the United States now reflect this contemporary relevance Adaptation of nativity scenes To depict arrests and deportations of immigrants and refugees by ICE.
In many respects, true Christmas is not just a birth of peace and joy, but a birth of struggle – and yet a bewildering hope.
This edited article was republished from Conversation Under Creative Commons license. Read Original article.