Lessons from the Jesus birth story for our leaders
Mary’s visit to her cousin constitutes the essence of Christmas, which is hinged on the spirit of service.
Few biblical stories resonate with the spirit of Christmas as does Mary’s visit to her cousin, Elizabeth, who was expecting John, the Baptist, around the time the archangel Gabriel appeared to her to announce her conception by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Gabriel’s message of God’s plans for Mary instantly transforms her from a maiden betrothed to a carpenter, Joseph, to the mother of God.
If you belong to any of the Christian denominations that confess the doctrine of a trinitarian God constituting the Father, the Son (incarnated as Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit, you understand what I mean.
Mainstream Christian churches, including Anglican, Catholic, Congregational, Lutheran, Methodist, Moravian and Presbyterian churches, confess Jesus in the Apostles’ Creed as ‘born of the virgin Mary’.
However, even for Christians, there is a lot in the Christmas story that does not make sense. Let us go back to the intro, which alludes to Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. Archangel Gabriel has just dropped a bombshell to a virgin girl in a community where unwed pregnancy is anathema. The same Gabriel has appeared to Joseph, who though a just man, wishes to relinquish Mary quietly.
Mary’s visit to her cousin constitutes the essence of Christmas, which is hinged on the spirit of service. Raised in a quasi-rural community untainted by modern-day individualism where everyone is virtually on their own, Mary visits her elderly cousin to offer her support that every pregnant woman needs. This is an awesome gesture considering her prospective status of mother of God.
Tomorrow’s celebration is about God the Son. Although God would have provided a better birthplace for his son — God the Son — circumstances at the time of his birth are such that there is no room in the inn. Mary and Joseph have only a stable for a lodging.
And yet his lowly birth — the lot of many Kenyans today — does not deter the three wise men from the East from pressing on in their search for the newborn king — a king who identifies with ordinary people.
They find Jesus lying in a manger. While human logic would have prompted the wise men to look elsewhere than in the stable in high-end equivalents of Nairobi, Aga Khan and Karen hospitals (if such existed then), the star the astrologers had followed on their long journey guided them to a stable.
Now, the wise men would have balked at the sight of an infant king in a manger. Instead, they unwrap their gifts of gold, incense and myrrh, all symbolic of Jesus’s status and ministry. Gold symbolised his divine kingship, incense his eternal priesthood and myrrh, his death — an ignominious affair on the cross.
There are lessons from the Christmas story for the rulers of this country and the ordinary citizens as we commemorate Jesus’s birth tomorrow. The teachings don’t end with the Christmas story but span the entire New Testament. One, servant leadership: instead of being carried away by her upcoming status of mother of ‘Immanuel’ — God with us — Mary heads to her cousin Elizabeth to help her during the remaining months before she gives birth to her son.
Two, humility. How many young men, and even the not so young, leave their girlfriends in the lurch at the first mention by the girls that they are pregnant? While some beat a retreat when the girl produces a photocopy of them, many simply vanish for good.
Three, Christmas 2023 comes at a time of unprecedented economic hardship for ordinary Kenyans. Can the ruling class reflect on the abomination of an unjust system where few live large while the majority wallow in poverty, contrary to the Christmas spirit?
- Ms Kweyu is a consulting editor and contributor to Nation publications. [email protected]
