The streets are decked with lights, stores are flooded with frantic shoppers, and advertisements promise joy at a discount. Yet, in this season celebrating the birth of Christ, the poor are pushed further to the margins, exploited by a system that turns sacred traditions into profit margins.
The very holiday that proclaims “peace on earth” and “goodwill to all” has been co-opted by an economic empire diametrically opposed to the values of the gospel. This is more than just misguided. It is blasphemous.
One of my favorite theologians, William Stringfellow, once said, “Idolatry is pervasive in every time and culture, no less now than yesterday, no less in Washington than in Gomorrah.”
To marry the birth of Christ with capitalism is to bow before the golden calf, trading the radical message of the incarnation for the hollow promises of consumerism. As Jason Upton reminds us in his convicting song “Poverty”:
“There is a power in poverty that breaks principalities and brings the authorities down to their knees.”
The Christmas story, far from affirming wealth or power, begins in poverty and vulnerability, confronting the systems of greed and exploitation that dominate the world as Jesus begins the process of dismantling those systems in his ministry and crucifixion.
The Subversive Power of the Nativity
At its heart, the nativity is a revolutionary narrative.
Jesus was born not in a palace but in a stable, his crib a feeding trough, surrounded by animals and shepherds—outcasts and laborers. His mother, Mary, a young, unwed woman, sang a prophetic hymn that proclaimed God’s justice:
“He has brought down the rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty” (Luke 1:52-53).
Mary’s Magnificat is not a sentimental lullaby. It is a political manifesto, a declaration that God’s kingdom upends earthly power structures.
For early church fathers like Saint Ambrose, this narrative wasn’t symbolic—it was foundational. Ambrose wrote, “You are not making a gift of your possessions to the poor; you are handing over to them what is theirs.”
For Ambrose and virtually every other early church writer, care for the poor wasn’t charity but justice. And it wasn’t an optional aside for Christians.
The Heresy of Christmas Consumerism
To celebrate Christmas through the lens of capitalism is to reject this foundational message. Capitalism thrives on inequality, turning basic needs into commodities and exploiting the vulnerable for profit. This system is not neutral; it is antithetical to the gospel.
When we participate in this consumerist frenzy, we replace the Christ child with Mammon, committing what Saint Augustine called a form of “disordered love”—valuing material wealth over God’s kingdom.
Writing from a prison cell during World War II, Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned of the ways in which cultural Christianity compromises the gospel: “Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves… grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.”
Christmas under capitalism offers cheap grace. It is a holiday stripped of its prophetic power, reduced to sentimentality and self-indulgence.
Poverty as a Theological Reality
Christian Scripture is unequivocal in its concern for people experiencing poverty. Jesus begins his ministry by proclaiming, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18). In the Sermon on the Mount, he blesses the poor and warns that wealth is a spiritual hindrance: “You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24).
Theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez describes poverty not just as economic deprivation but as a rejection of God’s will for human flourishing. He writes, “Poverty is an evil—it is the absence of life. It is the result of sin.”
To celebrate Christmas while ignoring the systemic causes of poverty is to side with that sin.
This critique extends beyond individual actions to the broader economic systems that exploit people experiencing poverty. Consider the reality of seasonal laborers, retail workers and those in precarious jobs who endure long hours and low wages to fuel the holiday economy.
Their struggles stand in stark contrast to the glittering storefronts and opulent celebrations, exposing the deep injustice embedded in our economic structures.
Reclaiming the Prophetic Spirit of Christmas
The way forward begins with repentance.
Christians must confront the ways we have allowed capitalism to distort the meaning of Christmas, turning a season of hope into a season of excess. Repentance requires not only individual acts of generosity but a collective commitment to systemic change.
Saint Basil the Great’s challenge remains as piercing today as it was in the fourth century: “The bread which you do not use belongs to the hungry, the garment hanging in your wardrobe belongs to the naked.” Basil’s words call us to reject the hoarding of wealth and embrace radical generosity.
This season, we are called to rediscover the subversive power of the nativity. This means aligning our celebrations with the gospel: prioritizing relationships over possessions, serving the marginalized, and challenging the systems perpetuating poverty.
A Radical Witness
Christmas should be a time when Christians bear radical witness to God’s kingdom.
Imagine if, instead of spending billions on gifts, we invested in affordable housing, healthcare or education. What if churches, instead of pouring resources into elaborate productions, used those funds to support families experiencing hardship?
These are not hypothetical gestures; they are practical manifestations of the gospel.
As Elie Wiesel said, “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
To celebrate Christmas without addressing poverty or at least protesting the unjust systems that create it is to betray the very meaning of the holiday.
The Hope of the Manger
The nativity is not just a story of what God did but a call to action for what we must do. Jason Upton’s reminder that poverty “brings the authorities down to their knees” invites us to see Christmas not as an escape but as a confrontation with the powers and principalities of our world.
This Christmas, may we abandon the idols of consumerism and embrace the Christ of the manger. May we rediscover the sacred truth that God’s power is made perfect in weakness, that hope is born not in palaces but in stables, and that true worship is found not in glittering lights but in acts of justice and love.
Scholar, minister, educator, and consultant deeply involved in community outreach and development. With a PhD from Southern Methodist University, he teaches religion and ethics and has served on staff in outreach roles at various churches across denominations.
