I'VE read a number of times in social media, postings about "Jesus as an activist." So, seriously, was Jesus an activist?
It is important to make a distinction between the historical political context of Jesus and the politicization of his image based on our political persuasion. Apparently, Jesus was against the injustices of his time but his vision was not to establish a political party or to prepare the victory of the proletarian revolution. It is true that Jesus should be socially relevant to our lives and even transform it, but this should not mean giving him political labels or colors that he was never into.
The attempt to portray Jesus as an activist may come from the intention to make him an icon of social transformation, hence the statement "Jesus is an activist." To some extent this is understandable, after all, he's a religious figure who lived a life in the fringes of society. New Testament scholar N.T. Wright wrote an essay last year titled "The Revolutionary Politics of the First Christmas." According to him: "[t]he original, historic Christmas stories are about power. They are about the kingdom of God breaking in, dangerously and unexpectedly, into the kingdoms of the world."
Social change, however, is a goal that can be viewed from different perspectives. Precisely the need to ask: can we speak of the public ministry of Jesus, and thus, speak much further about his birth, as entirely directed towards activism? Although he taught (coming from Isaiah) that the Good News is fulfilled with the release of the captives, the giving of sight of the blind, and the healing of the sick, but did he speak of these things in the same way as social change is understood by activists? Or did he speak of these things coming from the conviction that ultimately, it is our faith in God that will allow us to gradually realize the coming of "His Kingdom."
In a short work on the infancy narratives, Joseph Ratzinger opened his discussion with Pilate's question to Jesus: "Where are you from" (John 19:9). Apparently this verse from the fourth Gospel is not a typical passage to open a book on the origins of Jesus. A second look at the matter however would provide a relevant explanation. The significance of the person of Jesus makes anyone, both believer and critic, ask the same question as Pilate's: "where is He from?" This question on the provenance of the alleged messiah is not just about his 'geographic origin.' Much deeper and from the viewpoint of Christian faith, it actually asks: "who really are you (Jesus) and are you really the savior of the world?"
Basically this is a question which those who would prefer to reduce Jesus to an ideologue or an activist -- would have the temptation to set aside. The reduction of his figure to the likes of Karl Marx or Che Guevara may yield some inspiration. But, again, from the viewpoint of Christian faith, would a politically successful activist Jesus save humanity? Would it make sense for Christians to repeat what John the Baptist said of the messiah as the "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" if all of his life was nothing but plain activism? A political Jesus may be a hero of a country but what would his life mean to those who would not follow his political convictions?
It has been said a number of times that Jesus died as a criminal. For a Christian the statement is not only incomplete but meaningless. It becomes meaningful only in the light of the resurrection. From this we can understand much further that the meaning of Christmas is a hindsight of Easter when the power of God is made manifest through the vindication of his Son. What does this mean? If Jesus was a plain activist his first followers could have ended their lives only crying for worldly justice. Fortunately the hope in the resurrection made them assured that the vindication of a suffering servant is an act that belongs to God, which each and every believer could only await.
The first Christmas was not the birth of a political activist. It was the starting point of what the Early Christians believed as a Divine intervention in the history of humankind that would be fully understood in Easter. This, a Christian must confess.
Merry Christmas!