Let’s imagine for a moment that someone, completely unfamiliar with everything related to Christmas, arrives in our northern cities, now wealthy. They would see the frenzy of our people buying and buying, with our frenzied pace of consumption and waste. And they would say, “But what is this, why…?” And someone would try to answer, “It’s Christmas.” “Christmas, what does that mean?” they would reply. “Well, it’s the time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ Child, according to the Christian-Catholic faith,” we would try to explain. And they, even more surprised or disoriented, would say, “But this Jesus, this Christ Child, was born buying and consuming like this, in a market or shopping mall, with this bacchanal of food, alcohol, and other drugs…?”

This fictional dialogue, with its somewhat humorous tone, with which we begin this piece, is clearly an ironic and critical commentary on our current way of understanding and celebrating Christmas. The system and ideology of consumerism and neoliberal capitalism, as in so many other things, has managed to pervert the meaning of Christmas to such an extent that it is almost unrecognizable in its original and true sense. It is here, above all, that we wish to focus, to recall the heart of Christmas’s reality, the very essence of this event and its message.

And the first (and best) place to delve into this event is to go and read the Bible, specifically the New Testament, more precisely the first two chapters of the Gospels of Matthew (Mt) and Luke (Lk). To do this, it is also very interesting and important to consider qualified and current biblical or theological studies on Jesus. Of course, we should be guided by the feelings and living faith of the Christian community, in our case, especially the Catholic Church community, for example, the beautiful and profound Apostolic Letter Admirabile signum by our beloved Pope Francis. In this way, we should try to avoid fundamentalist, relativist, or individualistic interpretations of Jesus Christ.

Let’s begin by saying that the so-called Infancy Gospels, the first two chapters of Matthew and Luke, are read from the perspective of Jesus’ overall life. And, like the rest of the Gospels, they don’t aim to provide a strictly literary or historical biography of Jesus’ life. The Bible is not strictly a book of science or history. Although, as with the event of Jesus, it has a true, highly reliable, or rigorously certain historical basis, like few other sources or similar documents of historical events viewed from the perspective of historical science. Furthermore, what it primarily seeks to convey is a spiritual-theological experience of the person and life of Jesus, his message and work, or living legacy, relevant to the community (the Church) and the history of humanity.

Likewise, it is very important to turn to the first chapter of the Gospel of John (Jn), known as the Johannine prologue (cf. Jn 1:1-14), because it gives us a comprehensive worldview of the profound meaning of Christmas. That is, the central truth of the Incarnation: God himself, the God of life and savior who liberates us completely, has become incarnate in humanity, more specifically in the weakest and most fragile aspects of humanity; this brings about a true transformation in history.

God is not the passive and immobile being, distant or isolated from the life and reality of human beings, as was thought in certain philosophies or worldviews of that time. God, in the Child Jesus who is about to be born, is Emmanuel, “God with us” (cf. Mt 1:23). The God who becomes incarnate and is born in the womb of a woman, doubly poor and excluded, Mary of Nazareth, the God of love and mercy, of the poor and oppressed, in opposition to all power and the idolatry of wealth—being rich—as Mary sings (cf. Lk 1:46-55). And this will be called Jesus (cf. Mt 1:21), which means the God who saves and liberates from evil, from sin, from selfishness, from death, from all slavery, all oppression, and injustice. He is the God of Grace, of the Gift of life who gives us happiness and the integral development of human beings, the fulfillment and fullness of people that culminates in eternal life, in the new earth and new heavens.

Indeed, the reality of God incarnate in the Child Jesus, who brings us salvation and integral liberation in fraternal love, justice, and peace, becomes real, concrete, social, and historical. The Child-God is born into a poor and excluded family, in a marginalized place on the periphery, in a manger (cf. Lk 2:7). This liberating salvation is thus manifested from those who are excluded from this love, justice, and peace, from the poor and the excluded. Just as foreigners were at that time (the Magi, astronomers from the East, known as kings (cf. Mt 2:1-2), and the shepherds (cf. Lk 2:8-18)), social groups despised and humiliated by the powerful, the wealthy, and their sociocultural system.

Estos poderosos y potentados, que como Herodes, no aceptan esta salvación liberadora de todo egoísmo e ídolos del poder y de la codicia-riqueza, ya que pone en peligro su dominación y privilegios. Por tanto, los poderes herodianos persiguen y quieren matar al niño pobre, liberador y a su familia, causando innumerables víctimas inocentes por defender (asegurar) sus intereses y beneficios (cf. Mt 2, 16-18). Y a pesar de todo, Dios, en su misericordia y fidelidad, sigue adelante con su proyecto de salvación universal desde este lugar de los pobres y excluidos, desde Nazaret (cf. Mt 2, 19-23).

Como decía un filósofo y pensador muy importante de nuestra época, de origen marxiano (que no marxista integrista) y no creyente, E. Bloch: un acontecimiento así, con estos rasgos, no puede ser inventando; las sagas o tradiciones religiosas tienden a encumbrar a sus fundadores. Más en la Navidad es todo lo contrario, es un acontecimiento escandaloso y subversivo a los ojos del poder, es un acontecimiento que revierte la civilización de la riqueza y del capital, que nos libera del egoísmo e individualismo y del poder dominador. La Navidad apunta a la civilización de la pobreza y del trabajo, este hacer posible que la solidaridad, la justicia y la vida digna sean el motor y el sentido de la historia.

¡Qué actualidad y belleza tiene entonces la Navidad!, que transformadora y liberadora, ya que subvierte nuestro actual e inmoral sistema e ideología individualista, consumista, materialista, capitalista… , poniendo en su lugar la civilización del amor fraterno que nos trae el Niño Dios. De ahí, ojalá, que nos vayamos impregnados más intensamente de este mensaje y realidad viva de la Navidad, como nos revela Dios en Jesús de Nazaret. En este sentido, vivir y testimoniar todo el año este acontecimiento navideño de la encarnación de Dios, comprometernos todos los días de nuestra vida por ese otro mundo posible, más fraterno y justo, como Dios en Jesucristo quiere. Esta es la felicidad y salvación libertadora que trae la Navidad, con el niño-Dios pobre y ya crucificado por el mal e injusticia.

As another contemporary witness, Saint Charles de Foucauld, said, “How could one look at the manger and still be rich? He couldn’t.” That is why he shared his life of poverty and solidarity with the poor and excluded of Africa. Yes, another Christmas is possible. History shows us this with testimonies and saints like this one, like Francis of Assisi, the poor man who invented the Nativity scenes we set up at this time of year, like Saint Nicholas of Bari (the true Father Christmas or Santa Claus), and so many others who have followed this poor, crucified Christ Child. They all show us that through faith, hope, and love, through service and commitment, it is possible to transform the world in the Christmas-Easter of the Christ Child, culminating in the full and eternal Easter, in that new earth and new heavens, where every tear and pain will be wiped away, for God in Christ already conquers evil, death, and injustice. And as at Christmas we will eternally sing, together with the Angels, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will” (Lk 2:13-14).