This is a radical story about Bethlehem under occupation both now and 2,000 years ago, when Jesus Christ was born. The roads are blocked between Hebron and Nazareth and down to Ramallah, to Al Quds, or Jerusalem as it is sometimes called. Recent and past events are described by a person in Palestine. Usama is introduced by Andy Payne from (Paradigms shift – 4ZZZ – Fridays at noon ) Andy tells, in his own words, the story of Christ and relates it to the current events.
So let’s go now to Andy and Usama. Andy begins by telling the story of Jesus birth: “Mary, a young woman, its 2000 years ago in what is now the West Bank of Palestine. And she is unmarried, which probably means she was a teenage girl, and she is visited by an angel and told that she is going to be divinely impregnated, which, obviously, is an uncommon occurrence.
And Mary is a bit taken aback, but she does celebrate. And she writes, she sings his song, as reported in the Bible, which doesn’t just talk about, you know how happy she is to have a baby. But also, this idea that his baby will be a hope for a whole different way of society. And it does say that God scatters those who are proud, brings down rulers from their thrones and lifts up the humble, fills the hungry with good things, and sends the rich away empty. And that this is somehow connected to the story of this baby that’s to be born …”