I have long been a fan of Jackson Browne. He was someone who seemed to have been a good fit for the 1970s – part troubadour, part social commentator. His work Lives in the Balance was a work that marked his movement from self-reflection to activism for the causes in which he believed.  But it was a song he wrote in 1991 for the Irish band The Chieftains  which is an unlikely Christmas Carol.

As David Lose writes: “But Browne isn’t an acute observer of the biblical story only, but also of what we’ve done with it. And so when he suggests that we have, in our displays of devotion and petitions for favor, actually fallen prey to Jesus’ own accusations, you can’t help feel the sting. Moreover, there is an ominous but, I think, historically accurate warning in his observation that while it may be fine at Christmas to give a bit  to the poor, “if any one of us should interfere / In the business of why there are poor / They get the same as the rebel Jesus.” But if he is a critic, he is a generous one, making allowance for our failings by granting that “In a life of hardship and of earthly toil / We’ve a need for anything that frees us.”

“The Rebel Jesus,” by Jackson Browne

All the streets are filled with laughter and light
And the music of the season
And the merchants’ windows are all bright
With the faces of the children
And the families hurrying to their homes
While the sky darkens and freezes
Will be gathering around the hearths and tables
Giving thanks for God’s graces
And the birth of the rebel Jesus

Well they call him by ‘the Prince of Peace’
And they call him by ‘the Savior’
And they pray to him upon the seas
And in every bold endeavor
And they fill his churches with their pride and gold
As their faith in him increases
But they’ve turned the nature that I worship in
From a temple to a robber’s den
In the words of the rebel Jesus

Well we guard our world with locks and guns
And we guard our fine possessions
And once a year when Christmas comes
We give to our relations
And perhaps we give a little to the poor
If the generosity should seize us
But if any one of us should interfere
In the business of why there are poor
They get the same as the rebel Jesus

Now pardon me if I have seemed
To take the tone of judgment
For I’ve no wish to come between
This day and your enjoyment
In a life of hardship and of earthly toil
We have a need for anything that frees us
So I bid you pleasure
And I bid you cheer
From a heathen and a pagan
On the side of the rebel Jesus