Luke 2:7

“She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.”

When we were children at the home or at the school, we had pleasure to stage the narrative of the Christmas story, often enriched by songs, that made it sound like a small children’ opera. In every representation, the most moving part was when the " holy couple " walked from house to house, from door to door, knocking shyly, begging in a trembling voice: " The young woman has to give birth, it is urgent, would there be a small place in your home?" And the scathing retort: " No place for you! Go, look somewhere else!”

It was not a question of the child Jesus or the Son of God, if the proprietor had suspected that, he would have thought twice and re-examined the question! No, it was a question of rejecting “foreigners, potentially criminal who, it is known, are only parasites coming to undermine our laboriously constructed system.

So it was so in that time and so it is today.

The prophets knowing well the Law of the Old Testament were aware of this terrible reality. Almost no other group of people, i.e. the foreigners, the widows, the orphans - was so expressly entrusted in the care of the citizens, as this particular group. And the prophets constantly repeated this urgent duty: to give shelter to foreigners, widows and orphans.

Furthermore, the same group of homeless people was particularly close to the heart of the man of Nazareth, to the great displeasure of “well respected people”. These people were shocked to see Jesus share a meal with them. But Jesus went still farther, even to explicitly identify himself with them. " I was foreign and you did not welcome me " and "Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you didn't do it to one of the least of these, you didn't do it to me!”

Yet neither the prophets, nor the teachings of the Old Testament, nor Jesus himself, nor our representations of his nativity when we were children at the home, at school, seems to have had a lasting impact! It seems to be a cry in the wilderness of our modern society! Just note the Swiss popular Initiatives for the expulsion of foreigners, the opposition of our municipalities to grant homeless people a place to stay. We know the song! A sad Christmas song indeed!

Hermann-Josef Venetz

Translation: Claire-Marie Jeannotat

with kind permission of the author

“She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.”

When we were children at the home or at the school, we had pleasure to stage the narrative of the Christmas story, often enriched by songs, that made it sound like a small children’ opera. In every representation, the most moving part was when the " holy couple " walked from house to house, from door to door, knocking shyly, begging in a trembling voice: " The young woman has to give birth, it is urgent, would there be a small place in your home?" And the scathing retort: " No place for you! Go, look somewhere else!”

It was not a question of the child Jesus or the Son of God, if the proprietor had suspected that, he would have thought twice and re-examined the question! No, it was a question of rejecting “foreigners, potentially criminal who, it is known, are only parasites coming to undermine our laboriously constructed system.

So it was so in that time and so it is today.

The prophets knowing well the Law of the Old Testament were aware of this terrible reality. Almost no other group of people, i.e. the foreigners, the widows, the orphans - was so expressly entrusted in the care of the citizens, as this particular group. And the prophets constantly repeated this urgent duty: to give shelter to foreigners, widows and orphans.

Furthermore, the same group of homeless people was particularly close to the heart of the man of Nazareth, to the great displeasure of “well respected people”. These people were shocked to see Jesus share a meal with them. But Jesus went still farther, even to explicitly identify himself with them. " I was foreign and you did not welcome me " and "Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you didn't do it to one of the least of these, you didn't do it to me!”

Yet neither the prophets, nor the teachings of the Old Testament, nor Jesus himself, nor our representations of his nativity when we were children at the home, at school, seems to have had a lasting impact! It seems to be a cry in the wilderness of our modern society! Just note the Swiss popular Initiatives for the expulsion of foreigners, the opposition of our municipalities to grant homeless people a place to stay. We know the song! A sad Christmas song indeed!