Opinion
Comment
December 23, 2025
Catholic churches have traditionally erected nativity scenes outside at Christmas time. To represent the birth of Jesus, the scenes include the baby, Mary and Joseph, together with the shepherds, their animals and the “wise men from the East” who came to witness the birth.
Despite the fact that the story is rich in meaning and symbolism, these nativity scenes often are stripped of their deeper meaning and have become quite two-dimensional and shallow.
Like the anodyne carols that have come to define the season, the portrait of the birth that emerges is peaceful, calm and bright. There is no hint of the oppressive Roman occupation that forced this couple to travel across the country to register in a new census mandated by the empire. Nor is there a recognition of the many ironies underlying the story: that this Jewish baby, who is to be a saviour, is born in a cave surrounded by animals, or that the first to come to pay homage are lowly sheep herders and non-Jewish travellers from afar.
In fact, it is these various ironies and others like them that truly define the biblical Christian narrative. It is, in reality, an upside-down faith. In Jesus’s own words, it is a faith where the first shall be last and the last shall be first. It is meant not for the rich, the satisfied or the powerful. Rather it is first intended for the poor, the hungry, the downtrodden and the rejected.
With this in mind, it is fascinating to see how, in recent years, some Christians have taken to reclaiming the challenge inherent in their faith. Just two years ago, a Palestinian clergyman in Bethlehem replaced the stable in the nativity scene with rubble in order to portray what was unfolding in Gaza. His setting of Jesus in the rubble eloquently told the story of the Palestinian people: vulnerable, stripped of their humanity and subjected to indignities. As if to more deeply develop this identification, last year, Pope Francis was shown in quiet prayer before a manger scene in which the baby Jesus was wrapped in a Palestinian keffiyeh.
In the same vein, this year, a Catholic community in Massachusetts – given the threats faced by migrants and refugees in the US – found their own deeper meaning in the Christmas story. In the nativity scene they erected outside their church, there is no Jesus, Mary or Joseph. Instead, there is a sign noting that because of concern that ICE would be conducting one of their raids, the family had gone into hiding and was seeking sanctuary inside the church.
There are reports of other similar efforts by churches to capture the challenge of the Christmas narrative with references to ICE, the detention of immigrants and the mistreatment of immigrant children figuring prominently in many of these portrayals.
In the case of the Massachusetts display, Catholic leaders in the state rebuked the church in question, accusing them of playing politics. The nativity scene, they said, was to provide opportunities for quiet prayerful reflection, not divisive politics. What these church leaders miss, of course, is that if they strip the birth story – and, one might add, the rest of the biblical narrative as well as the New Testament and the many radical injunctions Jesus gives to his followers – of its essential content, then it is they who are playing divisive politics. By not grounding the nativity in its real-world context, there is the danger that the “contemplative prayer” the leaders are advocating can become shallow and contentless.
After all, the writers of the biblical stories had a point to convey. They weren’t just painting a pretty picture to someday appear in pastel tones on a holiday card. There are reasons why the child was born in a cave and first welcomed not by the high priests but by the lowest and foreigners. Why, in the face of repression, his parents had to take him and flee into Egypt. And why, as he grew, he made every effort to challenge the stale and corrupt religious hierarchy of his day, providing his followers with a challenging message of service to the rejected, the vulnerable and those in need.
Every year around this time, our mailboxes are filled with mostly brightly decorated holiday greeting cards. About a decade ago, I was shocked to open one from a friend in Lebanon. It featured the anguished and dirtied face of a young boy in a tattered t-shirt staring out from behind a wire fence. Inside it read “Holiday Greetings”. At first, I was confused. “Why this card, with this incongruous message? And why now?”
After reflection, I realised that the plight of this young Syrian refugee, forced to flee his homeland and now trapped in a camp, living in squalor, is the perfect image to convey the meaning and challenge of the Christmas story. That story wasn’t written to give comfort to the rich and powerful. It was to give hope to the destitute and the powerless – and to challenge the rest of us to recognise that.
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Letstango.com
Started: June 2013
Founder: Alex Tchablakian
Based: Dubai
Industry: e-commerce
Initial investment: Dh10 million
Investors: Self-funded
Total customers: 300,000 unique customers every month
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
Director: Zoya Akhtar
Producer: Excel Entertainment & Tiger Baby
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi
Rating: 4/5 stars
Boris Johnson has reshuffled more than just his cabinet
There is every reason for the UAE and Britain to embolden relations
Alistair Burt: Despite Brexit, Britain can remain a world power
Coronavirus: scores of Indian medics arrive in UAE to join fight against Covid-19
Indian nurses tell of emotional farewells after answering ‘call to serve’ in UAE
Indian medics allowed to enter UAE to tackle Covid-19
‘We are betting on you – you are the future’, Gargash tells young Emiratis
‘Pursue what you love – not just a high salary’, universities minister tells young Emiratis
Young Emiratis are real target of fake news, Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis hears
Why do we shy away from talking about a politician’s religion?
What does a decline in adherence to faith say about Britain?
Here’s why even the non-believers must understand faith
1987
1954
1921
1888
Afghanistan v Zimbabwe, Abu Dhabi Sunshine Series
All matches at the Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Test series
1st Test: Zimbabwe beat Afghanistan by 10 wickets
2nd Test: Wednesday, 10 March – Sunday, 14 March
Play starts at 9.30am
T20 series
1st T20I: Wednesday, 17 March
2nd T20I: Friday, 19 March
3rd T20I: Saturday, 20 March
TV
Supporters in the UAE can watch the matches on the Rabbithole channel on YouTube
Uefa Champions League quarter-final (first-leg score):
Juventus (1) v Ajax (1), Tuesday, 11pm UAE
Match will be shown on BeIN Sports
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
Capernaum (Lebanon)
Cold War (Poland)
Never Look Away (Germany)
Roma (Mexico)
Shoplifters (Japan)
Diversity is at the heart of New York's progressive politics and Mamdani's win
US voters are changing their stance on Israel – so should political elites
Most popular today
Sam Worthington is at peace with Avatar ending if James Cameron walks away
My Sharjah Rent: University lecturer and wife have been renting Dh95,000 townhouse for 12 years
Cartoon for December 23, 2025
Bondi Beach hero Ahmed Al Ahmed presented with $1.65m collected from fundraising
UAE home ownership now affordable for residents earning Dh20,000 a month
Inside Sweden's gang crisis: the Kurdish Fox, teenage hitmen and a trail of violence
Cause of Indian travel influencer Anunay Sood's death revealed
Register now for The National’s award-winning journalism – free and tailored to you
James Cameron reshot the final act of Avatar: Fire and Ash after a crisis of conscience
How the fountain pen is rewriting its fate
More Opinion from The National