A nativity scene display unveiled at the Vatican demonstrates just how far Pope Francis is willing to go in his demonization of the nation of Israel.
The “Nativity of Bethlehem 2024” exhibit features olive wood carved statues of Mary and Joesph in a stable with the infant Jesus resting in a Palestinian keffiyeh-wrapped manger. The “keffiyeh” is a Middle Eastern scarf worn as a symbol of Palestinian resistance, often adorned at antisemitic and pro-Hamas rallies across the globe.
The nativity scene was accompanied by a plaque written in Arabic and Latin and was presented to the Pope by “two Palestinian children,” according to the Times of Israel.
The display was created by artists Nastas Mitwasi and Johny Andonia, who live in the now Palestinian Authority-controlled city of Bethlehem. The exhibit was organized by the Palestinian embassy to the Vatican and the Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine, which is run by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
During the ceremony, Pope Francis insisted that the display should stand as a reminder of the “suffering from the tragedy of war in the Holy Land,” adding, “Enough with wars, enough of violence!”
The unbiblical claims underpinning the display are hard to miss: The often-repeated assertion that Jesus was “Palestinian” and the implication that if Christ were walking the earth today, He would be standing on the side of brutal terrorists who began the war by massacring 1,200 of His Jewish brethren.
Was Jesus “Palestinian”?
The first thing that needs to be established is the genealogy of Jesus, provided in Matthew 1:2-16 and Luke 3:23-38. The Savior of the world was not only a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he also emerged from the tribe of Judah through the royal line of Israel’s King David. It is a difficult task to reject the ethnicity of the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ, when the pages of Scripture and history declare his Jewishness to be indisputable.
Additionally, Jesus did not live in “Palestine.” As explained by antisemitism expert Olivier Melnick, over one hundred years after the birth of Jesus, the name “Palaestina” came onto the scene after the Romans, in a show of disrespect to the Jewish people, changed the name of Israel to that of their enemy: the Philistines.
“In A.D. 132, a Jewish revolt took place against the Romans,” Melnick described. “Things didn’t end well for the Jewish people, and in addition to a bloodbath of gigantic proportions, Israel was renamed Palaestina by the Romans. The rebranding of the Land with the name of their enemies, the Philistines, was an effort to undermine Jewish history and humiliate the Jewish people further.”
Does Jesus Stand With The “Palestinian Resistance”?
While there are many areas of Scripture that could be used to refute this falsehood, perhaps the most pointed example as to why Jesus does not support “the Palestinian resistance” can be found in Psalm 83. In this prophetic chapter, the psalmist reveals that hatred of modern Israel is indelibly linked to a hatred of Almighty God.
Psalm 83:1-5 KJV – “Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not Thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, Thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against Thy people, and consulted against Thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against Thee” (emphasis added).
The above passage makes a clear point: the enemies of Israel, who would like the name of Israel erased “From The River To The Sea,” have made themselves enemies of Christ.
Suffering Servant And A Conquering King
On the day of Jesus’ miraculous conception, God stepped into His own creation, choosing the Jewish people to be the avenue by which He would come. He was born in a humble (keffiyeh-free) manger, knowing that the purpose of His first coming was that of a suffering servant (Isaiah 53).
The Catholic Church has long sought to demonize the Jewish people for the death of Christโusing it to argue that the Church has replaced God’s chosen people. This deadly theology served as a breeding ground for centuries of antisemitism, which included (and continues under Pope Francis) support of those who massacre Jews.
They forget that it was God’s will, before the foundation of the earth, that Jesus would be executed. He arrived as the Jewish Messiah and the Savior of the entire world, laying down His life and taking it up again so that all people could be offered the forgiveness of sin and the free gift of Salvation.
The Pope has also neglected to read what the Bible says about the day when Christ steps foot on the earth a second time, not as a suffering servant but as a conquering King: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son” (Zechariah 12:9-10).
On that day, when the Jewish people cry out to Jesus Christ, He will return to save and spiritually restore Israel. He will also judge nations and individuals based upon how they treated His Jewish brethren (Matthew 25:31-45).
The Bible is clear about the identity of Jesus and His heart toward Israel. Without repentance, the Pope and all those who despise and belittle the Jewish State will face trial, not standing before a world court eager to malign Israel but before the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
