This is obviously one of my favourite times of the year for many reasons. Principally, the commemoration of the convergence of divinity and humanity in the person of Jesus. It’s also, interestingly, a season where unfruitful narratives would be flying around. You will hear things like: Christianity is a white man’s religion. Is Christmas a pagan celebration? Was Jesus dark-skinned or Caucasian? Was Jesus really born on December 25th?
Like clockwork, these psyops emerge just in time in an attempt to sway and conflate issues for the uninitiated. I have been around long enough to know what constitutes a culture war and what doesn’t. When a narrative is not self-existent or built on its own merits but almost solely on discrediting another narrative; such narrative feeds off its ability to degrade others. In other words, that type of narrative tells you what it is against more than what it is for. These are constructs created to serve as pseudo parallels to an actual culture.
For example, if someone says that a lion is a cat, that statement isn’t totally incorrect – it’s incomplete because it suggests a lion is a regular pet that can be domesticated. Yes, the lion belongs to the Felidae or the cat family but more specifically, the lion belongs to the Panthera genus, which has big cats like tigers, leopards and jaguars. So when some people say certain things that are clearly misleading, it’s mostly intentional – designed to rile up the audience. It’s amusing to see how folks try to be more catholic than the Pope. On the matter of Christmas, I took the liberty to share some insights with a sprinkle of exegesis on FAQs that folks have been splitting hairs over. You’re welcome.
Jesus Is God
The concept of the trinity quite honestly isn’t something that can be taught, it’s a revelation that has to be caught because it transcends the human mind and natural logic. No matter the level of elocution and erudition anyone may possess, it will never do justice in terms of a proper rendition. When Jesus told Peter that flesh and blood (a metaphor for human or earthly intelligence) had not revealed him as the Christ, he was effectively saying that grasping the deity of Jesus is not derived from human logic, natural understanding or generic science because it’s a metaphysical truth. The natural mind can only discern natural things; it’s on brand for those who are operating by flesh and blood to perceive Jesus incorrectly. So such a narrative about Jesus being just another figure in the pantheon of prophets isn’t a new one, Jesus debunked it himself – it’s almost a waste of energy on my part to litigate the matter. We observe, we don’t judge.
Solomon was the wisest man of his day but his wisdom was limited to things “under the sun” – a metaphor for natural intelligence. Jesus would boldly declare, “A greater than Solomon is here (in wisdom)!” As he was intercepted on the road to Damascus for religious terrorism, Paul of Tarsus would submit that he encountered a light brighter than the sun at midday (a metaphor for the height of natural intelligence). As Jesus was revealed to him on that trip, his natural eyes were closed as a symbol for the opening of his spiritual eyes. So when you hear Paul, an intellectual in his own rights, an astute scholar and a protégé of the great Gamaliel, say something like, “that I may know him” – he clearly wasn’t referring to knowledge from books but revelatory insights. No surprise that the Pauline Epistles are considered in certain circles as the constitution of the ecclesia.
The triune God simply means one God with three distinct manifestations, not a three-headed God or three beings fused into one as erroneously posited in certain circles. God manifests as Father in creation, Son in redemption and Holy Spirit in regeneration. A lot of the misconceptions about Jesus come from that appellation of being “the Son of God”. Denotatively it may suggest a valid argument but connotatively, it in no way means that Jesus is the offspring of God. The Son of God means that Jesus is God manifested in human form, it also means that he speaks and acts in the capacity or authority of God. That’s why Jesus would say things like, “he that has seen me, has seen the Father”. Moses documented in Genesis that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”. John’s gospel, which thematically speaks to the divinity of Jesus, lets us know that the beginning was the Word that created everything and who ultimately became flesh in the person of Jesus.
This is an imperfect example but it sheds some light. Think of God as water; water has three distinct forms – liquid, gas and solid. All three forms have the same properties: each molecule of water contains two atoms of hydrogen joined to a single atom of oxygen (H20). Water in liquid form isn’t considered less water than water in solid (ice) or gaseous forms. At the beginning of documented history, God introduces himself as a creator in Genesis. The first Adam fumbled the bag so another Adam had to come into play and take care of business, so Jesus entered the chat and did what only he could do. Jesus is God introducing himself as the redeemer. After the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus – there was a need for the Christos (the anointed one) that was contained in Jesus’ physical or earthly body to be democratised or distributed to everyone who believed in him. So, Jesus tells his disciples, “It is expedient for you that I go away” and “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth”. That spirit is known in the Greek language as the Allos Parakletos – loosely translated as another helper of the same kind or source. In order words, it was time for God to introduce himself as the regenerator. So Jesus is not junior God; Jesus himself did say that if anyone who didn’t believe in him didn’t believe in God. Even doubting Thomas, the notorious sceptic, couldn’t help himself when he interacted with Jesus in his glorified body – he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” I hope this helps.
Immaculate Conception
The Bible was not originally documented in the English Language, so most of the meanings of words were lost in translation. For example, the word, ‘birth’ doesn’t apply to Jesus but for ease of understanding, it is used in communicating the nativity story. The more apposite word is incarnation. If Jesus is God, then it means that his origin story couldn’t have been in Mary’s womb or in a manger. Isaiah in his famous prophecy uttered some things that flew over many heads. Yes, he did say, “unto us a child is born” but in the latter part of that verse that is usually ignored, Isaiah gave us some important footnotes which serve as context: “his name shall be called…The mighty God, The everlasting Father”. Isaiah said the child that would be ‘born’ is actually God. Micah would co-sign that in his own prophecy of Jesus when he said, “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting”. In order words, Jesus’ existence predated the circumstances of his earthly emergence.
I also shared this in a previous essay: the wise men didn’t come to pay obeisance to a kid, they came to see a king – that’s why they brought gold which alluded to the royalty or deity of Jesus. The incarnation of Jesus is critical because he couldn’t have been fathered by a human being, or else his mission to Earth would have been null and void. Mary was just his surrogate mother because he had to operate on the earth as a human being, not a spirit. Physically, it may look like it was Mary carrying Jesus but it was really Jesus as God carrying Mary; it was the humility of God as creator to subject himself to his creation and take up an earth-suit for salvation. God had to become a man to save mankind because he couldn’t redeem what he wasn’t relative to; Jesus as the redeemer is God manifested as a man. This is why Paul of Tarsus would say, “the man Christ Jesus”. Just like Jesus was slain before the foundations of the word but was physically crucified some two thousand years ago, the same logic applies to his immaculate conception.
Jesus Is NOT One of The Prophets
Jesus is the main character of the bible; everything points to him because he is the ultimate prophecy. In the Old Testament Jesus is classified and in the New Testament, especially in the Pauline Epistles, he is declassified. Every prophet had a message; In Jesus’ case – he is the message. It is why the prophets would preface their speech with the phrase, “Thus says the Lord” – a phrase Jesus never used but would say, “verily, verily I say unto you”. All the prophets pointed to Jesus; Jesus himself reiterated this in his homilies: “Search the scriptures… they testify of me”. I shared recently how Isaac wasn’t the promise of God to Abraham, it was ultimately Jesus. Isaac was just a shadow, archetype or metaphor to communicate a truth that was classified at the time. The same argument applies to all the characters in the bible.
Jesus conducted a vox pop on his disciples by asking them, “Who do men say I am?” The disciples to their credit, accurately responded with what was a pervasive yet erroneous narrative about Jesus: “Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.” When Peter responded that Jesus was the Christ, Jesus would then say something very instructive: “Upon this rock (the revelation of Jesus as the Christos) I will build my ecclesia”. In order words, the ability to distinguish Jesus from others who walked the earth before him is critical. Even John the Baptist, a great prophet in his own right, who was referenced in those responses would himself point to Jesus as, “the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”. On the mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah, two of the greatest prophets that walked God’s green earth appeared alongside Jesus. Peter, still moving in his religious thinking, tried to set up three tabernacles – effectively equating Jesus with Moses and Elijah. No surprise that both prophets are immediately taken out of play, leaving Jesus standing alone, followed by a voice from heaven saying: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” Translation: don’t ever equate Jesus with any other prophet because Jesus is HIM.
Christ Is The Centre-Piece Of Christmas
Culture is a very powerful thing because it not only describes the way of life of a people but more importantly, it is the ability to effect social engineering. One underpinning for culture is its soft power, its ability to define what is acceptable or not. That’s a critical point because a synonym for culture is normal, thus to be counter-cultural then means to challenge the norms. One thing the media, a virile subset and driver of culture is exceptionally great at is labelling certain narratives they don’t agree with as not being politically correct or worse, controversial. Over time, certain narratives have tried to shape what Christmas is and should be, a lot of such narratives appear innocuous but fundamentally Christmas is what it is – the mass celebration of Christ as a gift to the world. There’s nothing controversial about that; every other thing such as holidays, festivities or commercial activities that are commonly associated with it are at best ancillary. If you walk into a restaurant and you’re served pounded yam but are told that it was prepared without using any slice of yam, just know you’re eating something else – it’s definitely not pounded yam.
Merry Christmas!
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