Christmas on the margins

Christmas is the story of God stepping onto the scene not with powerful, but with the poor, the overlooked, and the oppressed.

A Different Kind of Arrival

Christmas begins with a poor, young woman from an obscure village singing that God "has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly," filling the hungry with good things and sending the rich away empty. Mary's Magnificat is not a cozy lullaby; it is a worship song announcing that God's salvation will reorder the social ladder from the bottom up, not the top down.

Good News In the Margins

When Jesus is born, the first invitation does not go to kings, priests, or influencers, but to night-shift shepherds on the edges of society. The angel's "good news of great joy for all the people" begins in fields with workers who were considered unreliable, unclean, and unimportant, signaling that God's kingdom takes the side of those the world pushes aside.

The Mission Announced

Years later, Jesus reads from Isaiah and declares, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me ... to bring good news to the poor ... release to the captives ... freedom for the oppressed." In that moment, he makes clear that what began in a poor family and a borrowed manger will continue as a life poured out among the poot, the imprisoned, the sick, and the crushed in spirit.

What This Means For Us

If Christmas is God choosing the lowly over the lofty, then following Jesus cannot be neutral about poverty, injustice, or oppression. To celebrate Christmas faithfully is to stand where God stands - alongside the poor, to listen to their voices, share their burdens, challenge systems that keep them down, and embody a hope that looks like justice wrapped in mercy.

• Steven Chapman