As we continue through the season of Advent and prepare for Christmas, one of the signs of the season is the Nativity scene. Nativity scenes take many forms to depict and convey the meaning of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago. This year the Nativity scenes outside several churches gained national attention by relating the birth of Jesus to the ongoing ICE raids in which immigrants are abducted, arrested, and detained. The two videos posted below feature churches in Massachusetts and the Chicago area that are displaying these kinds of Nativity scenes. Outside two of these churches Mary and Joseph are absent and the manger is empty, because they are in hiding from ICE. In the other church’s scene, Jesus is in the manger with his hands zip tied while Mary and Joseph wear gas masks in response to being tear gassed by ICE. All three scenes evoked responses ranging from gratitude for helping people connect their Christian faith to current realities to condemnation for making the traditional scene divisive and “political.”
Looking back to the description of Jesus’ birth in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, I believe that the three nativity scenes in the videos are faithful interpretations of the Biblical accounts. Joseph and Mary were forced to leave their home town only to find temporary refuge in a cattle stall. The newborn Jesus was placed in an animal feeding trough called a manger. The family became refugees in Egypt when the political authorities under orders by King Herod tried to find and kill Jesus. After Herod died, the family migrated back to their home town and lived under Roman occupation. While the details of the current situation in our nation are not a direct parallel to the origninal Christmas story, the essence is the same. If we domesticate the birth of Jesus into a cozy story about a cute baby, we miss the heart of the gospel. In Jesus, God chose to identify not only with humanity in general but with people living on the margins suffering from the injustice and persecution of those in power. The birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus affirmed God’ love for all humanity and calls us to honor the image of God in everyone. I am grateful for the pastors and parishoners of the three churches who risked putting up their Nativity scenes knowing that they would receive criticism and even hostile reactions. Yet in 2025, the message in the manger is clear. When we see the videos of immigrants and citizens being terrorized and traumatized by ICE raids, we hear the voice of the one born in a manger saying, “As you did it to one of the least of my sisters and brothers, you did it to me.”