Was Jesus a Palestinian, Illegal Alien and Born to a Homeless, Unmarried Mother?

Every Christmas we get swamped with all kinds of crazy ideas — attempts to debunk Jesus, Mary, Israel and the Catholic Church.

This year we have heard repeatedly that Jesus was a Palestinian. Even scholarly works seem to assert the same.

Was Jesus a Palestinian?

The answer is, NO! The word “Palestinian” originates from the word Philistine, and it was applied by Rome in teh 2nd century to the land of Israel — Galilee, Samaria, and Judea. Jesus, living in the first century was a Judean Jew, not a Palestinian. He would’ve never heard the Roman imposed word in his lifetime. Anyone who uses that word in realtion to Jesus is being anachronistic and should be corrected.

The land surrounding Jerusalem, the land known to Jesus was called Judea. We find the word “Palestinian” zero times in the Bible, but we find the word Judea 45 times. If one wants to be historically and biblically accurate, they would never say Jesus was a Palestinian Jew. They would say he was a Jew from Judea. In fact, the word Jew itself originates from the word Judea.

Was Jesus born to an unwed mother?

Yes and no. Anyone who says that Jesus was born to an unmarried woman should be more careful and precise. Even today in the Middle East betrothal means legally married, though the spouses have not yet moved in together. Marriage is a two-step process. To be betrothed is to be legally contractually married. However, about a year later the groom comes for the bride and takes her into his home (Matt 25:10). Today there is a ceremony that that seals the deal. This is hardly unwed. Mary was not an “unwed mother”.

Were they illegal immigrants?

Also no. They had family, in Nazareth, and Bethlehem and in Egypt. There was a large Jewish community in Egypt — modern day Cairo. All of these areas were in one Empire, under the Roman Empire and therefore you could travel along the Roman roads between them “without a passport”. They were hardly illegal immigrants. And when King Herod died, they left their Jewish community in Egypt and went back to their Jewish community in Nazareth.

Be very careful what you listen to. The secular, modern media has every reason to promote their secular propaganda. Too often Christians sadly join them. They have every reason to deceive us in the promotion of their anti-Catholic agenda. They try to deceive for political purposes. They are also ignorant of the facts.