On Christmas eve, outdoorsman Bear Grylls jumped to his X account to falsely claim that Jesus’ mother Mary was a “Palestinian” and that she and Joseph were “refugees” when they traveled to Bethlehem, where Christ was born.
It is that time of year again when left-wingers warp the Biblical story of the birth of Christ to support their agenda, and in doing so they often abuse the story by saying Christ’s earthly parents, Joseph and Mary, were either homeless, or refugees, or immigrants. And like Grylls, many even make the false claim the couple were “Palestinian.” But in truth, they were none of those things.
Grylls launched his false recounting of the birth of Christ saying the world is celebrating the “birth of a Middle Eastern refugee” who “changed the course of the world forever.”
“This is just a short extract from near the beginning of the adventure. When Maryam, a young, poor, and no doubt terrified Palestinian girl, gives birth in a run-down animal pen, to a baby who was foretold for hundreds of years,” he continued.
“Yet she was not alone. And she never would be. Because this was the moment that God Almighty broke into our fallen world in person,” he wrote, concluding, “To many of us, it is undoubtedly: The Greatest Story Ever Told.”
Of course, Mary was not a “refugee” at all. And neither was she a “Palestinian girl.”
For his false claims, X slapped a corrective community note on Grylls:
But Grylls’ mischaracterization of the birth of Christ is the same lie passed around by leftists for decades.
This claim that Joseph and Mary were “immigrants” is a lie long used to push a modern-day policy of immigration amnesty. The left’s argument goes something like this: If even Jesus Christ’s parents were immigrants, how can today’s American Christians be against open borders and amnesty?
But the truth is, the famed Biblical couple were not “immigrants.” Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem to register for what was Roman ruler Caesar Augustus’ version of our Internal Revenue Service. The pair had made their way to Bethlehem to register for a government census so that they could be assessed their tax bill.
The key excerpt comes in the Book of Luke, Chapter 2, verses 1 through 7, which read:
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them. (the Bible, New International Version)
Manger scene depicting Mary watching over Baby Jesus in the manger (Ben White on Unsplash)
Neither Joseph nor Mary were in town to “immigrate” to Bethlehem. They were there to be identified and registered by the government for taxation. But even if Joseph and Mary did intend to move to Bethlehem in the Christmas story, they would still not be “immigrants” because their hometown of Nazareth and the Christmas story town of Bethlehem were in the same country. You can only be an “immigrant” when you are leaving one country and entering another.
In addition, neither Joseph nor Mary were “Palestinian.” Both were Jewish people who were from Judea and living under the rule of the Roman Empire.
Liberals warp the Christmas story in other ways, too. Joseph and Mary are often claimed to be “homeless” and “poor.” In truth, they were neither. They had a home in Nazareth, and Joseph worked as a carpenter for a living and had a middle-class lifestyle for his day.
The left’s attempts to retell the birth of Christ are all just a cynical endeavor to use Jesus for their own political agenda. Joseph and Mary were not homeless. They were not trying to immigrate to Bethlehem, they were not refugees seeking respite from anything, and they were also not “Palestinians.”
Regardless of the facts, Grylls still seems proud of his false representation of the birth of Christ, and his post remains live.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston
