For the story of the birth of a christ by the name of Jesus is about rising above the 'status' of power to realize the dignity of the individual and the survival of the masses in the face of ideologies that ignore them and crucify them.
The event of the birth is truly interesting and mired in all kinds of indigen images and circumstances.
Jesus was the son of a miracle. I have entered into this blog at a previous time (years ago when Mr. Kristof of the NYTimes inspired a discussion of it.) the fact that James the Lesser (A Christian Disciple of Jesus) recorded the virginal birth Mary. She was assigned to the temple at the age of three having never been allowed to touch the ground before she scampered up the temple steps to be raised by the manna of angels as she wove the colored cloths for the temple over years.
At the age of twelve, what would be considered a "Bat Mitzvah" she was betrothed to a ninty year old man by the name of Joseph. He was entrusted with her virgin status and hence the conception by an angel of Jesus.
When the time came for the birth, it was realized the Romans were seeking to destroy all babies of that year and possibly that generation although history doesn't paint it that way. So, Joseph traveled with Mary to Bethlehem and found only a stable capable of giving shelter to his donkey and birthing wife.
It is quite understandable how a woman could give birth in such a structure considering the body heat of the animals that lined the stalls would provide a comfortable temperature for the infant to be comfortable.
Then, of course, once again we are told of the angel and its heralding to wise men and shepards. They were all men other than Mary. Interesting, huh? Men were viewed at that time as authority and it was authority that Christians most needed in their lives to secure their status as a people of a single god.
The stories of Jesus, even after this birth, virtually happen at the witness of men. Not women. That is profoundly Hebrew concept.
But, none the matter. The wise men witnessed, the shepards told the stories to the common people and slaves of Rome and a savior was born of a virgin, whom herself was recorded as a virgin birth while not given status by the Council of Trent.
Jesus esteem was not among the wealthy. It was not among the powerful. It was among the powerless, the entrapped and the victimized.
