Catholic priest embarrasses himself with Christmas remarks on Jesus
If Christians continue to revise the biblical text to politicize Jesus as a ‘Palestinian,’ are they still worshipping the same Messiah?
Father Edward Beck politicized Jesus as a ‘Palestinian’ during a CNN Christmas morning interview
‘Tis the season to rewrite Jesus’s identity. For decades at Christmastime we have been treated to proclamations by Palestinians, both Muslims and Christians, that Jesus was one of theirs, ie. a “Palestinian.”
In more recent years, as the Christian West has become increasingly progressive, this revision of biblical history can be heard also from America and Europe.
A good example this year came from a Father Edward Beck, a religious commentator and author, who told CNN on Christmas morning that “the story of Christmas is about a Palestinian Jew born into an occupied country, having to flee as refugees into Egypt.”
Father Beck was almost giddy at the prospect of how closely his revision of the biblical text parallels current events.
“What I’m so struck by is that the story of Christmas is about a Palestinian Jew. How often do you find those words put together? A Palestinian Jew born into a time when his country was occupied, right? They can’t find a place for her to even give birth, his mother. They’re homeless,” explained Father Beck.
But, putting aside the “Palestinian” issue for a moment, we see already the erroneous revisions to the biblical text creeping in.
Joseph and Mary were not “homeless.” They had come from their home in Nazareth down to Bethlehem to fulfill a decree from Caesar Augustus regarding taxation (Luke 2).
Mary ended up giving birth outside in the cold because the town was overcrowded due to the Roman census, not because she was homeless.
An educated priest should know this. But when trying to politicize the biblical text, it’s more expedient to cherry-pick passages and give alternative interpretations.
Father Beck’s next error comes when he says: “They eventually have to flee as refugees, into Egypt, no less. I mean, you can’t make up the parallels to our current world situation right now.”
Two problems here:
- It does not parallel our current world situation because Egypt today is outright denying refuge to Palestinians; and
- Joseph, Mary and Jesus fled not from the occupying power (the Romans), but from their own paranoid king, Herod, who feared Jesus had come to unseat him.
And about that “Palestinian” label Father Beck and others are so eager to apply to Jesus, hopefully at this point we no longer need to explain that the term didn’t even exist at the time of Jesus. The Romans applied the term “Palestine” to the region many years after Jesus’s death and resurrection.
The biblical text is quite clear that Jesus was born in Judea (Matthew 2:1). As Jake Wallis Simmons, editor of London’s Jewish Chronicle, noted: “To retrospectively call him ‘Palestinian’ suggests a political agenda.”
Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, suggested that Beck stop watching Al Jazeera and actually read the New Testament.
That would be prudent advice for many Christians, especially those pastoring churches in the Holy Land.
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