Can Jesus Christ Really Be Described as a Refugee?

[erpowers]

Although I do not have a problem with people describing Jesus Christ as a poor refugee I do wonder if he can accurately be described in such a way. Can you be a refugee if you were born in the homeland of your father/stepfather? I may not have the Christmas story right, but my understanding of the Christmas story is that Joseph had to return to his homeland for a census, which caused Jesus to be born in Bethlehem.

My question was sparked by a tweet from Joy Ann Reid. As you can see, in the tweet below Reid claimed Jesus was born as an impoverished refugee.

Link to tweet

[dflprincess]

1. The family became refugees when they fled to Egypt

but I think you would be correct that they were not refugees in Bethlehem.

[PragmaticDem]

2. Jesus was not born a refugee. He and his family became refugees when they fled Herod.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. The way the story goes, Jesus wasn't born a refugee but became one

shortly after his birth. His family fled to Egypt when an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream to warn him that Herod, who had sent the Magi, was going to kill all the male babies in Bethlehem. Matthew 2:1-15

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Maybe this is circular reasoning, but here goes:

Wherever you're born, it's your birthplace. I was born in Manhattan (New York, NY) and that's my birthplace. So regardless of where Joseph was born, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, making that location his birthplace.

Jesus was a refugee from the kingdom of Israel because King Herrod was not going allow a child prophesied to replace him to live to see that inevitability. Thus, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus had to flee to avoid arrest, imprisonment, and possible execution at the hands of Herrod. And as they couldn't live where they were legal residents, they became refugees.

[KWR65]

5. The Refugee part is really for the family fleeing to Egypt after his birth to avoid murder.

Whether the massacre of two year olds and younger actually happened in Bethlehem is open to debate. In Luke Jesus was taken to the Temple in Jerusalem after birth and then the family returned to Nazareth. Just sayin...

[Wounded Bear]

6. Not a "refugee"...

after all, after he returned from Egypt, his home town is listed as Nazareth, which is in Palestine. Remember Jesus of Nazareth?

Not to mention that Palestine and Egypt were both provinces of the Roman Empire at the time. They didn't really flee to a "foreign" country.

[MaryMagdaline]

8. Yes. The family was seeking refuge from the

Tyrant, Herod.

[pandr32]

9. Only according to the Christian myth

The historical Jesus' family had no need. The Gospel stories of Jesus, his birth, etc. started with Mark, the earliest and which served as a source for the others. Mark begins its version when Jesus was a grown man and legend of him was already circulating. I believe it was in Matthew, probably written in the 2nd century, where the story of the flight to Egypt originated.

In the Matthew story, it is told that an angel alerted Joseph to impending danger and so they fled to Egypt. This is necessary in order to do a couple of things: to date the birth of Jesus and to tie the early life of Jesus to Jewish tradition needed to establish Jesus as the prophesized Messiah. Moses leaves Egypt for the land of Israel and in Christian tradition Jesus leaves Egypt for Israel (Matthew 2:20 story corresponds with Hosea 11:1 "Out of Egypt I called my son&quot . In Christian traditions, Jesus must become at least as important as Moses, especially in order to claim he is the son of God). Moses fled Pharoah so Jesus fled Herod--in both stories the wicked king eventually dies. Also, in both stories, lots of male babies are killed.

The whole purpose of the story of the Bethlehem birth was to claim Davidic lineage through Joseph--needed to fulfill the Messianic prophecy (which is silly if you consider the myth that Jesus was born of a virgin).

[Mariana]

10. Is there anything at all in the story to indicate the family were poor?

It doesn't say they couldn't afford lodgings, but rather that there weren't any vacancies.

Even if they were poor when Jesus was born, he received some valuable gifts shortly thereafter, that his parents could have used to provide for his needs.